Important information on warranty

[Mazurka]

Those of us who consider buying a grey market Zeiss Ikon (even from an overseas official dealer) should know this: Hasselblad (or its distributor) in your country WILL NOT provide warranty service. Here's my e-mail to www.zeissikon.com and their reply:

"If I buy the Zeiss Ikon from an official dealer in Country A and bring
it back to Country B where I live, will I get warranty service in
Country B? "

"Your warranty will be handled by country A, where you bought the camera. This is the same as for Hasselblad products.

Best regards

VICTOR HASSELBLAD AB
Erland Pettersson
Product Manager Camera Systems"

e.g. Shriro Hong Kong will be the only one providing warranty service to people who buy from Dr Joseph Yao.

[sabrewolf]

Is this new ? Seems like all standard grey market warranty are all like this.

[Socke]

I think so, too.

The sales organizations are more or less independent from each other and the revenue is not distributed between them. So Hasselblad Germany doesn't want the cost for a waranty on a product for which Cosina got the revenue :-)

Even with a real international waranty it's sometimes not that easy. I just had that with an Acer Notebook bought in germany which failed in Mexico. They do honor the waranty but they only exchange a faulty harddisk with a preinstalled spanish Windows XP. If you want a german version, it has to be sent to germany. In this case it's an understandable matter of logistics, but not less anoying if it hits you.

Some gray market cameras come with an international warranty.

[bobofish]

which ones Frank.

Bobo, some Panasonic cameras come with an international warranty, but they are video cameras. The last letter or letters indicate the models which are. I don't know if Pana has similar warranty'd digital still cameras.

[rover]

For us in the US, an international warranty normally means, not valid in the US. So yes, this is standard operating procedures.

[Solinar]

Wait to see if Stephen Gandy will be offering the new Zeiss Ikon. If he does, then that will be the way to go. I got a feeling that when the black body arrives this camera is going to have enough sales to hurt Leica's bottom line.

Bobo, don't know but don't new Leica Ms come with an international warranty? They have to. Canada has no Leica distributor. Everything comes from the USA via Japan, Portugal and Germany.

[bobofish]

I'm not the final expert, but from what I understand, there is a difference between international passport warranty, and USA passport.

There is also grey market, that does not apparently include a Leica warranty.

What that has to do with a Zeiss Ikon, I have no idea.

[Huck Finn]

There is grey market . . . & there is grey market. A camera purchased from Joseph Yao or from Robert White comes with a Zeiss warranty, meaning that it is warranteed ultimately by Carl Zeiss AG & can be sent there as well as to the dealer or distributor in the country of origin. It also means access to parts from the manufacturer. Further it means that it has been distributed through channels approved by Carl Zeiss. These are international purchases & not strictly speaking "grey market" although they are often referred as the same.

Cameras sold by "grey market dealers" are normally sold with a store warranty only & do not have any manufacturer's warranty. If the dealer goes out of business, so does the warranty. After the warranty period, repairs can only be obtained through independent techs, or companies providing that service, or the dealer themselves. Of course, in individual instances this may vary & it will be interesting to see if it does anywhere with this product.

Hasselblad-USA told me 6 months ago that they would provide warranty service on a Zeiss Ikon purchased in another country if the owner could prove (via airline stub, receipt, etc.) that the camera had actually been purchased while the buyer was physically in that country. Zeiss Fan, for example worked in Hong Kong (?) for awhile & then returned to the USA. Had he purchased a ZI while working in Asia, I expect that Hassy-USA would have no problem providing him with service. My guess is that they will assess individual situations.

Whether Hasselblad-USA will stick with what they told me verbally is an open question - especially if international purchases become a major problem for them. This could well be the case, given comparative prices. It's not unusual to see price differences between Hong Kong & the USA, but it is very unusual in my experience to see a $250 price difference between New York & London - at least when the lower price is to be found in London & not in New York. The American dollar seems to have stabilized over the past 6 mnonths, so we could see rebates or price cuts in the USA if there is confidence overseas that the American dollar will remain stable. Of course, such confidecne is difficult to obtain with deficit spending, etc, etc. . . . , but that's for another forum.

Huck

[Bertram2]

Originally Posted by Mazurka

T

"Your warranty will be handled by country A, where you bought the camera. This is the same as for Hasselblad products.
:

Within the EU this would be simply illegal for a manufacturer's warranty.
The country does not play any role.
To avoid the EU law by granting a distributor warranty only should be illegal too, for a manufacturer producing in the EU and selling in the EU.

International manufacturer's warranties are different , if the manufacturer does not exclude explicitely several countries the warranty IS international. A matter of the warranty contract's content.

In other words if the ZI is "Made in Germany" it MUST have a 2 year warranty valid for ALL EU countries, no matter if Hasselblad or Zeis itself grants it.

Outside EU , if there is NO international Zeiss warranty exisiting, Hasselbld as the worldwide distributor can grant warranties valid for the buy-country only.
It could grant an international warranty too of course but obviously the don't want do do it.

If they want and expect professional photogs to use this camera system they'd better re-think that idea. A pro want to get his camera serviced all over the world without paying during the warranty time.

He does not give a damn for Hasselblad's intention to manipulate markets worldwide individually by an individual pricing, letting some pay the bill for others.

Bertram

[Mazurka]

Originally Posted by Bertram2

If they want and expect professional photogs to use this camera system they'd better re-think that idea. A pro want to get his camera serviced all over the world without paying during the warranty time.

He does not give a damn for Hasselblad's intention to manipulate markets worldwide individually by an individual pricing, letting some pay the bill for others.

Bertram, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately they aren't as reasonable as we are. First, I don't think Zeiss or Hasselblad is aiming towards the professional market (which is geared toward digital now, if not yet completely converted) with this system. Rather they are targeting the Leica market - and we know what that consists of.

Second, even Nikon Canada does not provide warranty service to products bought outside the country - and we know how much more pro-oriented they are compared with Leica. I'm not exactly sure what Nikon does in other parts of the world but I expect something similar.