Nikon Has an “F” Rating From the Better Business Bureau
Here’s something interesting that we spotted over at Nikon Rumors: Nikon has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, suggesting that the company’s customer support leaves something to be desired.
By comparison, Canon’s support division has an “A+” rating:
On ConsumerAffairs, both camera companies have pretty lousy ratings (according to customer reviews): Canon has just less than 2/5 stars, and Nikon has just more than 1/5 stars.
Commenters around the web suggest that the BBB discrepancy is due to the fact that Canon pays for BBB accreditation, while Nikon has chosen not to.
However, Wikipedia’s article on the BBB seems to suggest that not paying for accreditation is not to blame:
Initially there was a 17th factor worth 4 points for businesses that were Accredited and paid a fee to BBB. That process was changed in November 2010 in response to criticism in the media and from the Connecticut attorney general who accused BBB of using ‘pay to play’ tactics. There are currently over 625,000 companies rated “A+” that are not accredited and pay no fees to BBB and almost 300,000 accredited firms with an “A+” rating that are paying annual fees.
If a business chooses not to provide basic information about his/her business, such as size and start state, the BBB does not have sufficient information and may assign a Not Rated (NR) rating. A low rating due solely to a company not providing information would read: “BBB does not have sufficient background information on this business.”
If you’re a Nikon shooter, how has your experience with customer support been so far?