"Cleaning" and "servicing" a new camera?

I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

MIFrost

wrote:
I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

The instruction manual for my Coolpix 5000 doesn't say anything about
cleaning or adjustment.

Other than cleaning the front of the lens, that is.

Bob

sfro asks:
ust bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it.

Twaddle. Typical salesman's bull****. What lens service are you going
to get on a CP 4600, fer pete's sake? Cleaning? Get a microfiber cloth
for about 3 bucks. Use canned air to blow out the card slot every so
often. That's it. If they're charging 40 bucks for cleaning, they are
screwing you out of $30. If they charged you 50 bucks for the
agreement, they screwed you out of 50 bucks.

Charlie Self wrote:

Twaddle. Typical salesman's bull****. What lens service are you going
to get on a CP 4600, fer pete's sake? Cleaning? Get a microfiber
cloth
for about 3 bucks. Use canned air to blow out the card slot every so
often. That's it. If they're charging 40 bucks for cleaning, they are
screwing you out of $30. If they charged you 50 bucks for the
agreement, they screwed you out of 50 bucks.

I suspected as much. It's refundable so there's no real loss. I can get
my money back. Thanks.

MIFrost

wrote:

I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

MIFrost


He's half right - "most people never service their cameras" - but the
rest is bull****.

They may have a decent sale price on items like cameras, but never buy
any accessory or add-on of any kind at BB - no cables, memory cards,
readers, batteries, cleaning kits, etc. They nail you on the high-markup
extras.

wrote:

I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

MIFrost

www.bestbuysux.org

You have just been scammed if you bought it (service plan).

Wes

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wrote:

I suspected as much. It's refundable so there's no real loss. I can get
my money back. Thanks.

Do it soon and let us know if you got all of your money back. Did
hook you into a free trial subscription of sports illustrated on the
way out?

Wes

--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?
Highly unlikely that you will ever need this service. If it does, you will
probably find that you can a newer model with even more features for not
much more that the service.
Jim

In article .com,
wrote:

I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

These cleanings and adjustments don't exist. 95% of the time, servicing
this class of camera consists of throwing it away and getting a new
one.

They don't require periodic maintenance, period.

If, and ONLY if, the service agreement allows for repair or replacment
of the camera in case of accidental damage, might this be worth while.

When I ran my camera stores, I paid the sales people a 40% comission on
extended warranties. They were the single most profitable thing in the
store.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I just bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4600. The
salesman at Best Buy encouraged me to buy a 4 year service agreement
(about $50) because it includes free regular cleanings and adjustments
that he says are very important. There are lenses and alignments that
should be serviced regularly, he said. One cleaning ($40) almost pays
for it. Anyway, do these cameras benefit from regular "cleaning" and
"servicing"? He said most people never service their cameras and they
often live to regret it. Any thoughts?

MIFrost


Generally, service contracts are one of the biggest rip-offs there are.
Statistically, all electronic and most mechanical devices are most likely to fail
within the first few weeks of use, the failure rate dropping steadily to stabilise
after a few months.
After a few years of use the failure rate will gradually start to rise.
Environment and design factors, maintenance and long term reliability of
components will determine the ultimate failure of any equipment.
Normally, a 12 months warranty covers any initial failures so any extended service
warranty only covers the period when a failure is least likely to occur during the
equipments life (try getting a service contract on a 10 year old camera).
There are a few exceptions to this, for example a service contract may be of value
to a photographer that regularly uses a camera in extreme environments, say in
dirty, humid and/or very hot locations or where a piece of equipment gets a lot of
hard use like a photocopier in a school.

Peter