Nikon lens 18-55mm problems?

I didn't use my camera for 2 weeks or more and when i used it, it was working fine till now. I tried taking a picture recently and it was so blurry even if i zoom in to 55 or zoom out all the way to 18. I cleaned the outside of the lens and in the back of the lens and nothing. I reset all my settings in case that was the problem and nothing worked. I tried on a different lens at a store to my camera and the pic came out perfect. Any tips or should i just buy a new one?

Blur is caused by trying to shoot at slow shutter speeds hand held. It has NOTHING to do with your lens being dirty. Hopefully you only had to clean your UV filter, NOT the actual lens.

Make sure that the lens is set to auto-focus, not manual.

Your problem may be as simple as not knowing the fundamentals of photography.

What did the guy at the camera shop have to say?

All you can do at this point is call Nikon and ask them to help you. 800. NIKON-UX

It would be a very very odd case that a lens would be broken. Possible but very few times it is.

Right lets begin simple, you certain the AF switch is set on Autofocus? If the AF switch is on Manual the lens won't even try to focus.

Second how long is the exposure, as ace points out, you need a quick enough shutter speed. If you shoot your lens at 55mm on a nikon DX body [1, 5x] then you need something like 1/80th exposure speeds or quicker. That way the movements of the camera are limited to the minimum. Even in lens stabilization only can get you so far.

Second it being a kitlens, as you try to focus do you see the front move? Most kit lenses get longer/shorter while focusing. This movement is the focusing glass being moved to shift focus. More expensive lenses do not do this. But kit lenses pretty much all do this.

If your lens is in AF mode and you point at the sky and press the shutter half way then point at a close by tree [lets say 7 feet away] and press the shutter half in again the front of the lens should move.

You might even hear it make a sound as it focuses. Again cheaper lenses tend to come with noisier focusing motors. Some are more silent then others.

If that fails then go to a local camera store again to get the lens cleaned up/checked out professionally. This might costs you some money of course but you ought to get it back all working again.

But first make sure it isn't a case of manual focus switch