Re: Canon USA Inc, Suing Get It Digital LLC & Others Over Grey Market Sales
scyrene said:
Incidentally, I'm naive and lacking in understanding of such things, so can someone explain warranties?
Canon makes a camera. There's a fault or flaw in it that means it needs fixing. This is down to manufacturing error, say. If the problem is demonstrably Canon's fault, why does it matter where it was bought? Or is this something different?
Depends on what country the seller of the item is in and how soon after purchase the fault(s) appeared.
In most western countries, if a product shows a fault within a short period—usually 14 days to a month, but sometimes up to six months for certain types of product in a small number of countries—either the manufacturer or seller is required to provide a replacement, pay for repairs, etc, regardless of any warranty as long as you have proof of purchase and can return to the original seller. To give a simple example, if you bought a Canon 5D in Germany and the screen died the next day, the shop will replace the unit (they'll be reimbursed by Canon) and this won't be counted against the warranty. For second hand items, the seller is typically obligated to offer a full refund.
However, if you can't provide proof of purchase, or you can't return to the original seller, this is where things get complicated. A shop obviously can't replace, repair or refund an item for you if you can't get back to the shop (or another branch, if it's a chain of shops). If you can't prove you bought the camera recently or in the place you said you did, no store is under obligation to fix anything for you. Generally, if something has gone wrong within that initial period—as I said, often 14 days—it is on the seller to sort out repairs/refunds/replacement and Canon will tell you to simply return the item to where you bought it. Problems right out of the box are not a matter for warranties.
And this is where grey market items cause problems. The seller only has to adhere to the laws of their own country, not the country of the buyer. Sellers of grey market items are often based in countries where they are under no obligation to provide or cover repairs, replacements or refunds, or the time period in which they are required to cover these things may be much shorter than the period your own country requires. They may not provide a valid receipt, calling into question any proof of purchase you may think you have. Canon may not be responsible for certain types of fault as particular parts of any electronic device may be made and installed specifically for certain regions—especially anything which connects to mains power, such as a battery or battery recharger—and using the product in a different region could be responsible for the faults, which is considered a user error and not something Canon is responsible for. Product misuse like this can be grounds for a manufacturer to refuse service or charge additional costs for repairs.
Essentially, when you buy a grey import item, you're getting in the same situation as if you bought a second hand item with the added caveat that the manufacturer can put the blame of any faults on you and the seller is too far away for you to realistically return the item. You're giving up both the full warranty and the basic consumer rights of your country, which are usually better than the rights offered in the country the seller is located in.
tl;dr: If you buy a grey import item, do it knowing that if things go wrong, you're on your own. If you can buy a second hand item in good condition within your own country, you may be better off doing that than buying a grey import. If you have any doubts, don't buy a grey import. Grey imports can be fine, but if things go wrong they go
really wrong. Your call to risk it or not.
