International Warranties For Items Bought From Overseas

Mark#1

Hi,

I contacted Olympus UK to confirm what sort of warranty I'd get when buying an E-410 + twin lens kit from an overseas on-line seller.

The response was:

"All products are sold with world wide warranty for the first year."

Can those of you who have purchased on line from Kea, Chinaarts, emilyandlily, URGalaxy, komplett.ie, etc let me know what sort of warranty registration you got with whatever you bought?

I'm not just interested in Olympus gear - I basically want to know how a worldwide warranty works, in contrast to a UK-specific or IRL-specific warranty.

I'm assuming/hoping (perhaps naiively) that a "worldwide warranty" provides that, regardless of where you purchase your item, any (every) dealer for that brand in any part of the world will be obliged to carry out any warranty repair or servicing?

What's the point in a "worldwide warranty" if you have to send faulty goods back half-way accross the world for any warranty issues? IMO, that cancels its effectiveness as a "worldwide warranty".

Aside from purchasing from a seller in HK via your home PC, lots of people buy stuff while on holiday. So international warranties must allow for this, mustn't they?


Thanks for any replies,

Mark

mickoneill30

A warranty is an extension to your statutory rights. It's decided by the manufacturer so it could be anything but once they put it on paper it's a legally binding contract.
http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Learning_Zone/Jargon_Buster/W%20-%20Waiver%20to%20WEEE.html

Stephen

Nikon UK/Irl won't honour warranties for equipment bought in the US/Asia, as I learned the hard way

You can buy Mack warranties yourself, which should be good worldwide.

Paulw

From what I know of Canon, the body warranty is only for 1 year, and is a local warranty. So, if you buy it over seas, then you need to return it to the place you bought it from.

After that, it's just a support issue and won't matter where you bought it.

I'm not fully sure what way it is with the lenses.

nilhg

Mark, how do you define dealer? All any shop or dealer will do with a defective camera is ship it to their local service centre, maybe at their own expense if you bought it there. If you buy from outside the EU then you can send it in yourself.
If you buy Olympus inside the EU the warranty is 24 months.

Mark#1

Stephen wrote:

Nikon UK/Irl won't honour warranties for equipment bought in the US/Asia, as I learned the hard way

You can buy Mack warranties yourself, which should be good worldwide.

This is what I'm talking about.

Was your warranty a "worldwide" or "international" warranty?

How can a manufacturer claim that their products are sold with a "worldwide warranty" if you have to return it to the place of purchase in the event of any warranty issue?

I'm trying to ascertain exactly what "worldwide warranty" means.

Let's see what Olympus UK say...

I understand that any manufacturer's or seller's warranty is in addition to my statutory rights - I've taken one seller to the small claims court over out-of-warranty defects, and won I might add.

That said, I need to know what will happen if I buy from outside Ireland. I know my warranty claim will be looked after, but will I have to send my camera back to the seller, or will an Irish agent for that manufacturer look after it for me, as would be the case if "worldwide warranty" meant what I take it to mean.

Thanks for the replies,

Mark

nilhg

With Olympus you can send it in directly yourself, from their warranty T&C-

"During the one year period of the World Wide Warranty the customer may turn the product in at any Olympus service station. Please note that such Olympus service station do no exist in all countries."