Nikon pulls D600 on mainland after Consumer Day expose

Nikon has agreed to pull a digital camera model from mainland shelves and will offer free repairs to comply with an order from Shanghai industry authorities, a spokesman for the Japanese company said on Monday.

Owners of the D600 model, a digital single-lens reflex camera retailing for about 10,000 yuan (HK$12,630), have reported dust or oily stains on the digital sensor, leading to black spots on the image.

Complaints have surfaced not only on the mainland but in Europe and the United States, where customers are pursuing a class-action lawsuit over the D600’s defects.

CCTV devoted part of its annual consumer rights programme on Saturday to the topic, using hidden-camera footage of mainland customers being denied refunds or exchanges from local service staff, who blamed smog for the poor-quality photographs.

Officials from the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce  visited the headquarters of Nikon China  on Sunday.  “Under the TV cameras of China Central Television, they have also agreed to replace problematic products with new ones,” an administration official said, declining to give his name.

Nikon spokesman Ryota Satake  confirmed that the company would halt direct sales of the model. The company recently released an upgraded model, the D610.

The CCTV report came on World Consumer Rights Day, an annual occasion that state media often use to focus on the mainland practices of large multinationals.