On 1/2/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: >Last night I sent this email to both B and H and Adorama:
[snip] Tan, There are two things that I can add to for you. First, I have purchased from B and H in NY before, and they are a very busy place. In fact, unbelievably busy. Also, don't forget, it is staffed by New Yorkers! Now, I'm not saying that New Yorkers are rude or short or impatient, but by and large, new Yorkers are rude and short and impatient (KIDDING). There's no excuse for rudeness, but don't confuse brevity with rudeness. The email is direct and to the point, if short. It conveys the info you wanted. I bought a lens from them a few years ago - a Sigma 70-200 2.8 and had a friend who works a few blocks down the street pick it up in person. Because I ordered from the UK, I avoided sales tax, and my friend later flew over to visit and brought me the lens :-) The only addition to ordering via the internet was that they wanted a fax of my AmEx card sent through, which I did. Now, point 2: if you order your *ist D from B and H, and something is wrong with it, what are you going to do? I don't know what the consumer laws are like in Australia, but they may be similar to the UK, which differs from the USA. If a UK customer buys a UK camera from a UK store, and the thing breaks down, then the UK customer returns the camera to the store where it was purchased for repair or replacement. In fact, the contract is with the store and not the camera manufacturer. So if anything gets out of hand, we sue the store and not the manufacturer. USA customers - well, strange things happen there ;-) I understood that the contract is between the purchaser and the manufacturer, with the store as middleman. However, Paul Stenquist recently had his camera replaced (actually got a new one and waited for a reimbursement) as it was faulty out of the box, and I think he dealt directly with the store. I have known US folk buy a computer and then deal directly with the manufacturer when in dispute. I'm not altogether clear on this - I dare say some US listers will help out here. When I was shopping for a D60, I considered buying from abroad, but didn't pursue it because I felt that if there was a major problem, it would be real hassle in sorting it out. I bought from within the UK, at higher prices (although I got the VAT back, so I paid �1600 instead of �1850 - ouch). The 'Canon Warranty' <ptui> that comes from a camera purchased in the USA is not apparently not applicable to someone living in the UK. But in effect, the 'Canon Warranty' <ptui> is pretty meaningless here because as I mentioned, if a UK purchase is defective, we don't ring up Canon to complain, we ring up the shop from where it came, even a year later! Warranties allegedly exist for one year, but in fact in the UK, this is moot. Goods are sold on the baiss that they should be fit for the purpose - this means that if my �1600 camera goes kaput *even now*, some 16 months after i got it, i would still call the shop from where it came and say, 'Hey - this camera cost me sixteen hundred notes and had just expired - what you gonna do about it pal?' they are bound by law to provide goods fit for the purpose, and i don't call breaking after nearly a year and a half fit for the purpose! If they agree, then something will happen. If they don't, I can take them to the small claims court and let a judge decide. Based on previous court cases, in this instance i would have a good case. We have a Miele dishwasher that started leaking *6 years* after we bought it. After negotiating with Miele (purchased direct) they agreed that the workmanship was faulty and gave us a 50% discount on a brand new machine. Not bad, but not worth going to court over. 6 years and 300 quid. But 16 months and 1600 quid is a different kettle of fish. This is one of the reasons that UK goods can be slightly more expensive than US goods of the same kind. The point is, if you buy from an Australian dealer, even though they may be based hundreds of miles from you and might as well be New York in terms of time and distance, there are definite benefits in that they speak your language ;-) and can provide the sort of backup that you would expect based on the country you live in. You both know where you stand. This is a very effective argument in favour of buying from within Australia for you, and I would consider very carefully if it may be worth saving a few hundred and foregoing the peace-of-mind aspect. Sorry for the bandwidth (as the actress said to the bishop). Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _____________________________ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
