Why international gadgets don’t have local warranty

That why gadgets & other items not brought in the country should be given extra care. Study and inspect these gadgets very carefully before buying them or else it’s a waste..

Ask ko lang po ah(please answer)
paano po kung bumili ako ng apple product from grey market(e.g. Widget City :D) na may international warranty, ang ibig sabihin po ba nun pagka nagka sira yung laptop tatanggapin siya sa authorized service center dito sa philippines pero ipapadala siya sa bansa kung saan siya binili para ayusin? or dito na mismo sa philippines aayusin?
sorry for the stupid question, salamat na rin po sa sasagot :D

buti na lang may shop warranty pa :D hehehe’

My IPAD had a hardware defect, i sent it to the service center and they told me apple will replace the unit. Its been with me for four months. Thing is, I have to wait for 3-4 weeks for the replacement since they have to order it abroad.. But if your IPAD has bumps or scratches or faded areas.. Say goodbye to the free replacement im talking about..

Blackberry phones are the same.. A local distributor will acknowledge your phones and send them to sg.. And thats for 30-45 days which leaves u no phone for that waiting days.

What I dint like about service centers here is the fact that opened units or repaired units most of the time, barubal po ang pagkakagawa, like what happened to a friend of mine with his new psvita, the shop says 1 year warranty for the unit, but fuck when problem arose with his unit he sent it to service center and boom binaboy vita nya, instead idikit ng maayos ung parts like hinang, iniscotch tape lang ung loob, parang greenhills style po ang ginawa. Natuklasan po nya un ng pinaopen na lang nya yung unit sa greenhills talaga na nagbebenta ng parts ng vita.. Imagine if that happens to your unit.. May shop warranty ka nga, ung shop ba na yun ayos gumawa? :)

Indeed this is a very interesting article. However, taking into consideration everything that’s been said, can someone please explain to me HOW COME SOME AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS ONLY GIVE 1 WEEK/1 MONTH/6 MONTHS WARRANTY? Honestly, even 1 year warranty doesn’t cut it for me. After all, when you purchase from an authorized distributor, you are paying a premium for it’s supposed warranty. So why is the warranty only that short? Don’t tell me that when you buy an iPod, the life of that gadget is only for a year. Ridiculous!

You want economics? OK. Here’s the economic thinking of a typical consumer. Most often than not, the devices you purchase from an authorized distro is equally the same quality as that of grey market devices. Syermpre, pareho nga silang BRAND NEW and SEALED, eh. So when an item is used from a brand new state, and used with utmost care, 90+% of the time your device should work flawlessly. So I’d rather buy a BRAND NEW/SEALED device from the grey market (and test it thoroughly before paying for it) then take extra care of my device to make sure it works well for more than a year, than purchase it from an authorized distro, pay a premium for it, just so that I could reast easy for a few months, and if some shit happens to my device after a year, kahit na nag-bayad ako ng mahal, sasabihin lang sa akin “sorry, sir, out of warranty na po”.

Guys can you help me out? I bought an iPod Touch from a stall in SM and not from the iStore because of the huge difference in price. After the one week “store warranty” I found out that my unit suffered the white screen of death and I managed to isolate it to be a hardware defect after restoring software. I’ve checked Apple’s website, entered the serial number, and confirmed that my unit has warranty until next year. Will the local authorized resellers honor that warranty? I’m goin to SG next month, should I have my unit exchanged there instead? Is that even a good idea? Thank you!

I love grey units from grey units from grey market….

I don’t think the tubo + VAT is included…. or if it is, it’s very minimal…

Warranty?

Is a concern only
for those careless people only.

Anyway Is CDRKing a grey market too?

Duh duh duh

I do care about the warranty…but IMO, I’d rather spend it on insurance for my device.

Well does anyone out there know regarding insuring “expensive” mobile phones?

Even if you purchase an iPhone from Globe or Smart, it doesn’t have a good warranty since it still needs to be sent to SG. Just like BlackBerry phones.

same thing happened to my Nintendo 3DS, had to send it to Australia for the warranty…tsk

VERY timely. I just bought a grey market SIII. Before I did, I spent a couple of minutes thinking about the warranty since I had very good service with my Blackberry 9900 that I bought from an official distributor. Good thing there was a Samsung service center in Greenhills and I asked them if they accept grey units for repair, and they said yes, but of course you’ll be paying, which I’m totally okay with. I’ll just have to take extreme care of my unit. :)

Just like what Kendra said, if you’re too worried about grey units, don’t buy them. It’s really up to you, the buyer naman if you’re willing to pay for repairs in the future.

Another thing to consider… grey units are cheaper NOT only because they don’t have local warranty BUT the plain and simple truth is that the retail price for these units in other countries is way cheaper that the retail price in the Philippines.

Take for example a Samsung Galaxy S3 which retails for around 32k from reputable stores. In other countries, it would retail for around PHP 25k – PHP 26k.

Assume that a grey unit importer will talk to a distributor of said unit in another country and he gets the distributor price of 21K (assume 15% retail margin) and he can also further reduce the price by removing the cost of warranty provision (assume 5%-10% allocation for warranty returns). Therefore, it is possible that grey units can be had for 20k or less in other countries by these grey unit importers.

I will not go into the discussion of duties and taxes since I am pretty sure that these enterprising folks are quite creative on how they get the goods in. :-)

medyo off topic lang..

guys ano babayaran sa customs if i buy gadgets like laptop sa amazon or tigerdirect? may nabasa ako, 12% EVAT lang daw and fixed fee na less than 500 pesos.

thanks.

Because of hard disk failure and mabilis na pagdrain ng battery, I bring my dell laptop (w/warranty) on a Dell concept store in SM MOA nung last 2nd week of July and paid P2500 for labor fee daw and up to now di ko pa nakukuha, mag 2 months na. When I call the Dell on SM MOA, ayos na daw and for delivery na daw sa kanila yung laptop (nung last 2 weeks pa ako tumawag). Pero pag nag-call ako sa kanila for update, wala pa rin dun laptop ko. Di pa rin daw dinedeliver sa kanila.

Grabe sobrang tagal ng service nila. Sabi nila 2-3 weeks lang yun makukuha ko na laptop ko, until now wala pa. I’m so frustrated on their service. I miss my laptop. :(

I have lived in the Philippines for 13 year (British) there is so much corruption in this country, it would take decades to get rid of, it’s inbred with the nation, they actually think it’s normal, they have a weak sense of moral here, there are good people here, but they are far out numbered by the BAD, it’s a great shame as the few how are good are usually better than their counter parts in other countries, it’s just something we have had to endure, along with their dual standards, if your white you pay white mans tax, double what the locals pay, Pirated games can be purchased just about anywhere.

How is Apple able to pull off an international warranty?

PowerMac in the PH all the way to the Apple Store in the USA will accept my Mac with no questions asked, exclusive of iPhones. They do not charge extra. PowerMac explained that as long as it is an Apple product and NOT stolen, they are obligated to honor the warranty period.

How does their service fit into your research? What are they doing differently than the rest?

DELL/Alienware honors international warranty WITHOUT having to send the units to the regional hub. You only have to transfer the warranty to your name and/or the region the unit is in. Ex. an Alienware laptop bought in the US need only have to be transferred to the South East Asian region and the warranty from the North American/US region would be carried over. Also, you do not have to carry your unit in any service center, they have home/on site service.