Uh oh.
Sounds as though you might not have gone through the "official" process for submitting your lens. Did you go to the tech support section of the Nikon site first--- before shipping off your lens? They have a procedure, by which you submit an email query and they respond with a PDF mailing label and tracking #. You ship off your gear with the printed label on the package, and when they receive it they respond back by email. At that time they tell you what's wrong, how much it will cost to fix (if not under warranty), and asking for your authorization to proceed. All further communications will be via that email contact, always with reference to your order number.
If none of that was done, I can only suggest that you go to the Nikon site and use the email features there to try and help them sort out your repair order.