At my Nikkor 24-70 the focus ring got stuck in 70mm position. The lens was sent to Nikon Poland service, where from I received such a response:
'(...) Nearly whole mechanism needs to be replaced, due to it being impossible to fix. It is being assembled and calibrated only when manufactured.(...) Cost is 3.946,50PLN' When I asked if there was anything that could be done to the lens (except for the repair described above) I received an answer that no. Obviously, the repair was cancelled and the lens got back to the owner. The same lens was then sent to an official Nikon service in United Kingdom. The fault description was exactly the same as when sent to the Polish service-focus ring blocked in 70mm position.
The cost estimate received from the british service was 112,59GBP (75GBP for labour, 37,59GBP for part), the lens was fixed within one week and it got back to the owner. The repair was carried out by an authorised Nikon service in UK, not by any other company.
I think anny comment is not necessary. Only question is whether it was incompetent technicians fault that they didn't diagnose the case properly, or the service trying to get more money from the customer?

kichu1979

Translators edit: 1GBP equals roughly 4.5PLN. So 112,59 is about 520PLN. 3.946,50PLN is about 877GBP
 

translation: Marek Pietrzyk