Re: International Warranties

[David Young <youngs@IslandNet.com>]

Here's the story:

  >This whole story about this makes me ill.....
  >a) buying a $2000+ camera in Japan,
  >b) it breaks down in the USA 1 week later, 
  >c) Your USA camera "DISTRIBUTOR" refuses to repair it at no cost under the
  >warranty,
  >d) You are stuck paying for the repair..... or returning the camera to the
  >original country and face the inevitible time waits and customs problems.

                *** rest of rant snipped ***


Fellow Lugnuts:

There is one major reason why the warranty on a Japanese purchased Leica
would not honoured in the US, or anywhere else, for that matter.  

People assume that because Leica USA Inc (or whatever it's called) has
Leica in it's name, that it is owned by Leica. Not necessarily so.  Often,
nationals in a country set up corporations to distribute a product, and use
the manufacturers name by agreement. Frequently they have no legal or
financial connection with the manufacturer other than as a local (national)
distributor.

Importers offer warranties within their countries to encourage you to buy
locally. To buy out of country (or gray-market product within the country)
and then expect the locals to bail you out strikes me as unreasonable.

Put yourself in the position of the authorized importer of any product, in
any country. Someone buys the product you sell in another country. This
means that you make no money from the sale. Yet he asks you to pay for his
repairs.  Would *you* pay for his repairs in this situation?

Many (but by no means, all) manufacturers do have an "international
warranty", which is usually *much* more limited than the national
warranties of the various importers.  Such warranties are often hard if not
impossible to collect on, as  [a] the importers have to do so much
paperwork to get the manufacturers to pay them (often a pittance), and [b]
they do not get too enthused about people who go out of their way to
deprive them of their living.

Think about it.

If you bought your Leica in Japan, deal with the Japanese Leica
distributor. He is the one who has a financial interest in the deal!  

Cheers!
- ----------

David Young, Victoria, CANADA     | If this is tourist season...
http://www.islandnet.com/~youngs/ | why can't we shoot them?