Black Vertical Bar In Photo, Please Help.

[PhotoBoyBC]

** UPDATE TO POST ***

I may have just figured out what the dark bar/stripe is. Could it have been the shadow of the foreground wooden post cast from the flash I used?? I am relatively a beginner with portrait photography. Please provide feedback so I can put my mind at ease that there is nothing actually wrong with my camera and that I can learn how to avoid this happening in future shots.

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I recently took a photo (attached) which resulted in having a dark vertical bar which spans down the length of the photo. I sent the photo and my concern to Nikon and this was their response:

'If this is happening with more then one memory card then you may have an issue with the sensor of the unit. Please send the unit into service if this is a re-occurring issue.'

As I can not get a straight answer from Nikon as to how long the camera may be in service, and I have a trip coming up soon, I don't want to risk being without the camera. It was only one photo that this happened to(that I have noticed out of the 1000+ I have taken so far), so it may just be a simpler cause?

Notes to keep in mind:

- I took the photo with a polarizing filter on. I know it is not ideal in shade, but could it have been the culprit? The vertical bar looks a bit too perfectly geometric to me to be caused by a filter.

- I took the photo in RAW format and it is available if the photo setting details could help resolve what caused this. Let me know and I will post the camera settings.

The bar/stripe runs down just left of center of the subject model.

I appreciate all the help.

John