From: Fstop008@aol.com Date sent: Wed, 3 May 2000 07:13:17 EDT To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI Subject: EOS: gray vs USA Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI I know it's been posted before but I can't seem to retrieve the information about buying Canon stuff gray vs. USA market. I know the fundamental difference about warranty but wasn't there something written a while ago that said buying Canon gray was superior to buying Nikon gray; and that warranty work could be obtained locally even with a gray market item. My memory is a little gray on this and I would appreciate a quick refresher. I'm specifically interested in the 17-35L lens and 550EX Flash buying gray. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------ Eos maillist - Eos@psych.helsinki.fi http://www.psych.helsinki.fi/mailman/listinfo/eos Date sent: Wed, 3 May 2000 20:40:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Meyer Subject: Re: EOS: gray vs USA To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi --- Fstop008@aol.com wrote: > I know it's been posted before but I can't seem to > retrieve the information > about buying Canon stuff gray vs. USA market. A little background (this should answer a couple of other questions/comments on this issue, too). In the US, warranty service on Canon camera equipment is provided by Canon USA, which is not a division of Canon Japan. Rather, it is the official US importer of Canon equipment. As an independent company, Canon USA is under no obligation to provide service, warranty or otherwise, to equipment they did not import and sell. If you buy gray market equipment, you'll notice that is DOES come with a Canon world wide warranty. Send it back to Japan, and Canon will happily provide warranty service. Being a far more customer oriented company than Nikon*, however, Canon USA policy (last time I checked) is that they WILL provide warranty service on any Canon equipment purchased in the US, as long as you have a receipt to prove purchase date and place. This policy could, of course, change at any time. If you're contemplating the purchase of gray market gear, you might want to call Canon and verify their current policy. Finally, if you buy gray market from a reputable store like B&H, B&H provides a store warranty for the same duration as the Canon one, so you have a backup position should Canon decide not to honor the international warranty. *When Nikon introduced the F5, not only would they not honor the warranty on gray market bodies, they wouldn't repair them at all. Worse yet, as the only importer of repair parts, they refused to provide repair parts to independent repair facilities until the first official F5s were out of warranty. If you owned a gray market F5, and needed service, your only option was to send it overseas. ===== Bob Meyer Step outside. The graphics are AMAZING! From: TRUCCO Martin TENCO To: "'eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI'" Date sent: Wed, 3 May 2000 11:42:49 -0300 Subject: EOS: Business (Was: Grey Market Canon?) Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI > I think that I saw something recently on this list that Canon US honors the warranty on grey market cameras and lenses. Can anyone confirm this please? I would like to know what happens with this worldwide, not only in the US. I think that my two main statements are not compatible: 1- Canon shouldn't honor warranty of products not imported by the official importer on that country. At least where I live the taxes are quite high and there are lots of people that import things not only by themselves but also illegally (without paying taxes). This is not fair, IMHO, because the official importer has (compulsorily) a service nationwide, spares provision, etc. and has to pay all the taxes when importing goods while all the other people just bring the things and, only in some cases, pay the taxes. If you let this go, everyone is going to buy at the cheapest price but is going to ask for Canon's warranty. 2- Canon should honor warranty of all Canon products, wherever they were bought. As a Canon products owner, I feel that Canon has to protect me against any technical problem. For free, if it is under warranty, or charging me if it is not (but keeping spares and service for the items for as long as possible). Any feedback? Martin Trucco Proud Member of the Foto Club Argentino www.martintrucco.com.ar It is always better to shut your mouth, and let everyone think you are a fool, than to open it and let them be sure about it. Date sent: Wed, 03 May 2000 18:02:05 +0200 From: Thomas Bantel To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Subject: Re: EOS: Business (Was: Grey Market Canon?) Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi TRUCCO Martin TENCO wrote: > > I would like to know what happens with this worldwide, not only in > the US. I think that my two main statements are not compatible: > > 1- Canon shouldn't honor warranty of products not imported by the official > importer on that country. At least where I live the taxes are quite high and > there are lots of people that import things not only by themselves but also > illegally (without paying taxes). This is not fair, IMHO, because the official > importer has (compulsorily) a service nationwide, spares provision, etc. and > has to pay all the taxes when importing goods while all the other people just > bring the things and, only in some cases, pay the taxes. If you let this go, > everyone is going to buy at the cheapest price but is going to ask for Canon's > warranty. > > 2- Canon should honor warranty of all Canon products, wherever they were > bought. As a Canon products owner, I feel that Canon has to protect me > against any technical problem. For free, if it is under warranty, or > charging me if it is not (but keeping spares and service for the items for as > long as possible). > > Any feedback? Well, I'll bite ;-) IMHO, as long as the (grey) imports are not illegal, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't do it. Protecting an "official" importer is not compliant with the notion of a "global player". Just my opinion again. They (Canon and other global companies) should not claim the right to produce in low cost areas and sell in high cost areas while they try to preserve different price levels in different countries by this "official importer" strategy. If they can produce in low cost areas, I should be allowed to buy in low cost areas as well. Same rights for both sides, it's only fair I think. They try to avoid this, but they should NOT get away with it. Others have tried that before (and still do) The german car industry comes to mind ... They sell their cars for a much higher price in Germany than they do elsewhere (within the EC). And they instruct their official vendors outside Germany not to sell any cars to Germans, in order to protect their high prices inside Germany. These are the same companies that will close their german factories and produce elsewhere to increase their profits and shareholder value. Well, at least they finally had to pay a huge fine. But it was obviously not high enough, because they continue their illegal practice. Talk about fairness ... Sorry for the ranting. And to come back on topic, grey market items aren't illegal. The import taxes are paid! And they are still sold cheaper! Private people buying abroad and smuggling their camera/lenses are a different story! If Canon USA finds it's unfair that they should pay for warranty of cameras/lenses bought from Canon europe or elsewhere, they should have a way to either balance these costs internally (within Canon) or they should adapt (lower) their prices in a way that makes such grey imports unattractive. Different price levels in different parts of the world, artificially created by Canon itself, are the reason why this "grey market" can exist and be profitable. Thomas Bantel Date sent: Wed, 03 May 2000 12:29:08 -0400 From: "F. Craig Callahan" Organization: Boston College To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Subject: Re: EOS: Business (Was: Grey Market Canon?) Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi TRUCCO Martin TENCO wrote: > 2- Canon should honor warranty of all Canon products, wherever they were > bought. As a Canon products owner, I feel that Canon has to protect me > against any technical problem. For free, if it is under warranty, or > charging me if it is not (but keeping spares and service for the items for as > long as possible). They do. But here in the US (can't speak to other places), non-US warranties are honored only by Canon's own facilities, not by independent "authorized service centers." At least in theory! I don't want to go on record as saying that no authorized service center will refuse warranty service on an international-warrantied item. :) As I mentioned in my original reply, service centers that (officially) accept international warranty work are shown in the "Canon Camera International Service Network" insert that comes with your piece of equipment (pub. CTO-7002-011). Of course, if you happen to live in a country where there is no such center, as, for example, Argentina, this could be a problem. According to the listing I'm using (dated 07/98), the *only* facility that handles international warranty repairs in all of South America is in Brazil (Cine Camera Service, Saġ Paulo). > 1- Canon shouldn't honor warranty of products not imported by the official > importer on that country. At least where I live the taxes are quite high and I'm not sure I agree. If it's a manufacturing defect, why should it matter whether the importer has made his profit for you to be entitled to a remedy? fcc Date sent: Wed, 03 May 2000 12:41:06 -0400 From: "F. Craig Callahan" Organization: Boston College To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi Subject: Re: EOS: Business (Was: Grey Market Canon?) Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.fi "F. Craig Callahan" wrote: > I don't want to go on record as saying that no > authorized service center will refuse warranty service on an > international-warrantied item. :) Oops!! I meant to say, "I don't want to go on record as saying that no authorized service center will *accept* warranty service on an international-warrantied item." :) fcc From: "Vesa Perala" To: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI Date sent: Thu, 04 May 2000 15:57:27 EEST Subject: EOS: International orders and warranty Send reply to: eos@avocado.pc.Helsinki.FI I have bought all EOS-stuff from where I live but I bought the DV videocamera Canon XM1 (GL1 in US) from ny-camera in Germany (and saved here about 800USD...). Afterwards, I asked from a photo shop if Canon would repair imported items under warranty. The shop said "NO, you have to send it to Germany". Couple days later I called local Canon service (Finland) and the lady there said immediately YES they would repair it under warranty. I understood that Canon pays the warranty repairs for them, at least part of the cost so the service and import/sales departments might be separate in this sense. I'm not sure if the answer would still be "yes" but I hope I don't need to check it... no problemos yet. --- I just wonder why wouldn't Canon repair my EOS gear under warranty if I e.g. move to another country (e.g. from Europe to USA)? It would be very bad customer service otherwise. Vesa