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What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
T.I.A.

Generally unless it states it comes with a world wide warranty you'd have to
send it back to the country of purchase for warranty service.


"Hoss" <> wrote in message
news:bsgbkv$drr$...
> What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
> T.I.A.
>
>

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 05:50:23 GMT, "zip" <>
wrote:

>Generally unless it states it comes with a world wide warranty you'd have to
>send it back to the country of purchase for warranty service.
>
>
>"Hoss" <> wrote in message
>news:bsgbkv$drr$...
>> What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
>> T.I.A.

However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:52:51 +1300, Brian Harmer
<> wrote:

>On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 05:50:23 GMT, "zip" <>
>wrote:
>
>>Generally unless it states it comes with a world wide warranty you'd have to
>>send it back to the country of purchase for warranty service.
>>
>>
>>"Hoss" <> wrote in message
>>news:bsgbkv$drr$...
>>> What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
>>> T.I.A.
>
>However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
>surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?

Yes, they would have to cover all the costs and handle it all for you.
Essentially the retailer has to remedy the issue, and within a
reasonable time period. (For a digital camera I would think it would
be between 2-3weeks for a repair or replacement)

sal <> wrote in
news::

> On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:52:51 +1300, Brian Harmer
><> wrote:
>>However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
>>surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?
>
> Yes, they would have to cover all the costs and handle it all for you.
> Essentially the retailer has to remedy the issue, and within a
> reasonable time period. (For a digital camera I would think it would
> be between 2-3weeks for a repair or replacement)

And if they took 5 weeks what would your recourse be?

For a D-SLR I would be reluctant to take the risk. For a compact digital
there is less to go wrong, on a $500 camera I would probably chance it.



--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~markh/
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

It would pay to get an extended warranty from a company such as "Mack". They
allow local repairs. I bought a Minolta from the States but that has a
worldwide warranty.
~~~~~<*)))))><{~~~~~~~~~~<*)))))><{~~~~~~~~
~~~<*)))))><{~~~~~~~~~<*)))))><{~~~~~~~~<*)))))><{ ~~~~ ®
Roy Price - May the Fish be with you!

Brian Harmer <> wrote:

>On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 05:50:23 GMT, "zip" <>
>wrote:
>>Generally unless it states it comes with a world wide warranty you'd have to
>>send it back to the country of purchase for warranty service.
>>
>>"Hoss" <>
>>> What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
>>> T.I.A.
>
>However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
>surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?

The main issue with either parallel importing a camera yourself, or purchasing
one from an importer, is whether the benefits outweigh the risks. It's also
worth noting than retail shops will do deals to get sales, so you can often get
assessories included in a local package to make it more competitive. You have
to be confident that if you buy from a parallel importer they will actually be
able to immediately honour their responsibilities under the CGA, and not muck
you about trying to minimise their cost.

Worldwide warranties may only apply to goods sold via approved dealers, eg My
international Canon lense warranty notes that all repairs will be charged if:-
"Malfunctions resulting from repairs, modifications or disassembling cleaning
performed by any party other than authorised Canon Service facilities."
"Omission or alteration of dealer's name and purchase date." I'm not certain
that a parallel importer putting their name and date on the card would be seen
as the start date by Canon, it may be the date they purchased it overseas.

They also note that it does not limit any of your statutory rights, and the
Canon Australia-NZ warranty for the camera body notes that it should be read in
conjunction with the Consumer Guarantee Act, and that customers are responsible
for all transport costs if failure is outside Australia-NZ.

Depending on the brand, all the warranty provisions from the manufacturer may
not be available except via approved sales-service organisations, and the
parallel importer may just offer an exchange or refund if products are
regional, as they can't get the service performed by trained service people in
any reasonable time.

Note that most warranties require some proof of purchase and usually start from
date of purchase from the authorised dealer, and also say that customers are
responsible for ensuring the camera reaches the authorised dealer or service
centre without further damage, and customers should ensure that goods are
insured in case of loss during transit to their authorised service centre.

Some cameras are region-specific eg Canon sell almost identical digital SLR
body as "Digital Rebel" in the USA, " 300D" in most of the world and "Kiss" in
Japan ( with a better lens than the others ), so the local dealers may not be
able or willing to offer support for an orphan that has been imported.

Digital SLRs tend have a lot more mechanical things that can, and do, go wrong,
especially for the "cheaper", mass-produced ones ( that are still above NZ
$2000+ ). Issues like out-of-focus and shutter-life tend to dominate complaints
in discussion groups on DPreview. Most dealers ( and probably parallel
importers ) offer an extended warranty-service plan that is usually
underwritten by an insurance company or the camera manufacturer.

It's really a choice of how lucky you feel, and whether the benefits will
outweigh any potential future hassles.

Bruce Hamilton

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 17:12:57 +1300, Hoss wrote:

> What is the deal with the warranties on imported digital from the USA ?
> T.I.A.

Depends on the vendor.

When I bought my SONY camera in Hong Kong, I paid extra directly to the
SONY office in HK to register a global warranty....and they sent me a
global warranty document a week or so later.

It turned out to be a good thing to do as the shutter button failed within
weeks of returning to NZ (condensation short?)....and I had to send it to
SONY in Auckland to get it fixed...which they did, free of charge - but
only after I proved I had a global warranty cover.

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:27 +0000 (UTC), MarkH <>
wrote:

>sal <> wrote in
>news: :
>
>> On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:52:51 +1300, Brian Harmer
>><> wrote:
>>>However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
>>>surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?
>>
>> Yes, they would have to cover all the costs and handle it all for you.
>> Essentially the retailer has to remedy the issue, and within a
>> reasonable time period. (For a digital camera I would think it would
>> be between 2-3weeks for a repair or replacement)
>
>And if they took 5 weeks what would your recourse be?
>
>For a D-SLR I would be reluctant to take the risk. For a compact digital
>there is less to go wrong, on a $500 camera I would probably chance it.

You could demnda a refund or replacement under the CGA if it took too
long.

sal <> wrote in
news::

> On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:27 +0000 (UTC), MarkH <>
> wrote:
>
>>sal <> wrote in
>>news: m:
>>
>>> On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 21:52:51 +1300, Brian Harmer
>>><> wrote:
>>>>However, if you bought it in NZ from a parallel importer, they would
>>>>surely be bound by the Consumer Guarantees Act?
>>>
>>> Yes, they would have to cover all the costs and handle it all for
>>> you. Essentially the retailer has to remedy the issue, and within a
>>> reasonable time period. (For a digital camera I would think it would
>>> be between 2-3weeks for a repair or replacement)
>>
>>And if they took 5 weeks what would your recourse be?
>>
>>For a D-SLR I would be reluctant to take the risk. For a compact
>>digital there is less to go wrong, on a $500 camera I would probably
>>chance it.
>
> You could demnda a refund or replacement under the CGA if it took too
> long.

If they said no, please wait another week, what then? By the time you
could get them into small claims, the camera would have been repaired and
returned. It may not be the cleverest move to buy the camera and think
that if they took any more than 3 weeks you can just walk in and grab a
replacement.

Who is to say that a reasonable time is 3 weeks and not 5?



--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~markh/
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"