Bad Experience at a certain shop in Sim Lim

[goering]

Hi all,

I was apalled because the price he sold me at was only $30 less than a quote I got from CP!.....

....I later went to TCW after this episode and found out I could have saved almost $90 (and service with a smile too) if I had bought my lenses from them.

Grey market items and local warranty items differ only marginally in price. For example B&H which sells both grey market and local warranty items - most lenses diifer in price by only US$20-$30 or so. An example: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=4657

TCW in fact sells mostly grey market items. So the supposed $90 savings may simply be due to this - the very issue that you are complaining about

I do however agree with you that if the store esp a big one were to sell grey market items, they should have alerted you about it. Then you will have made a more informed decision. However, all the quotes I got from TCW were for grey market items and they have never alerted me about this. Neither am I complaining because as what the others have said, it's our responsibility to find out

I was wondering if you had made too much of an issue (or perhaps due to your tone) out of this that the salesman got a little turned off and hence reacted negatively. Maybe you could cool off a little. In my opinion, this isn't all that bad. I personally had a good experience with this store

 

[Dennis]

Does the warrenty card matters so much when you have a proper receipt to show the actual purchase and date. Assume 6 mths down the road and you bring the product to canon for repair and said look I lost the warrenty card but here is the receipt to proof would they repair the item ?. Afterall proof of posting the warrenty card is not proof of delivery !!. Maybe you actually sent the warrenty and actually lost the customer copy. Would Canon argue with you over this ??.

 

[goering]

According to B&H, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=1N9gVFL61Q!-2073165705?O=productlist.jsp&A=getpage&Q=GreyMarketStatic.jsp

A "USA" warrantied item is a manufacture's warranty that would be repaired by any manufacturer's authorized service facility worldwide if the item required in-warranty service. A "direct import" item would have to be returned to B&H Photo-Video Corp. in New York City if it required in-warranty attention

So I guess in the case of cameras and lenses, yes. Manufacturer warranty entitles you to go directly to any manufacturer's authorized service facility worldwide if the item required in-warranty service.

For grey market items, you must go through the shop you purchased from in case of repairs or servicing

 

[blurblock]

Does the warrenty card matters so much when you have a proper receipt to show the actual purchase and date. Assume 6 mths down the road and you bring the product to canon for repair and said look I lost the warrenty card but here is the receipt to proof would they repair the item ?. Afterall proof of posting the warrenty card is not proof of delivery !!. Maybe you actually sent the warrenty and actually lost the customer copy. Would Canon argue with you over this ??.

Your Warrenty and your lens serial number is the same. It will be optimum if you send your warrenty and bring the customer copy there. However, if you had, say, misplaced your warrenty but you had send your warrenty card to them, then chances are they will still honour it as the serial number is still the same. However, if you never sent any warrenty card to them and bring the lens, then claim that it is a warrentied item .... then sorry lor ..... you have to pay ;P.

Whether warrenty is important to you depends on what you want to do with it actually. Take for example, if you the the type that always bring your lens and your camera to Canon to align or optimise both to work together, then it would be free during warrenty period.....

 

[SNAG]

Your Warrenty and your lens serial number is the same. It will be optimum if you send your warrenty and bring the customer copy there. However, if you had, say, misplaced your warrenty but you had send your warrenty card to them, then chances are they will still honour it as the serial number is still the same. However, if you never sent any warrenty card to them and bring the lens, then claim that it is a warrentied item .... then sorry lor ..... you have to pay ;P.

Whether warrenty is important to you depends on what you want to do with it actually. Take for example, if you the the type that always bring your lens and your camera to Canon to align or optimise both to work together, then it would be free during warrenty period.....

Speaking of this, this post reminds me of something.

There was once where I sent in my F80 to reprogram the firmware to leave the film leader out.

I sent in my warranty card already, but on that day, I forgot to bring along my warranty card, only the receipt. To my greatest horror, the lady said that they would not be able to service my camera for free (unless I showed the warranty card). It was not possible for them to trace my warranty status from the camera serial number.

Apparently it seems that Nikon does not have a user database of all warranty-registered products.

Can anyone confirm this?