Oceanic Warranty - Global or Not?

[BB1]

Hi,

Hopefully Doug or someone else from Oceanic can answer this.

If I buy an item of equipment - in this case an Oceanic VT3 computer - from an Oceanic Authorised dealer and it is correctly registered is it covered as I travel around the world?

A lot of us do a lot of travelling these days and I need to be sure that I am buying into products from a company that will stand behind them no matter where I am at the time!

Most global companies have global warranties to match and it would be good if you could make Oceanics position clear.

I have read your website regarding this and it does not say anything about items not being covered when in another country. It merely states that it is covered as long as it is purchased form an authorised dealer.

Please clarify this before I invest my hard earned dollars in your products.

Many thanks!

 

[BB1]

Hmm, does anyone know the answer to this?

This is taken from the Oceanic Australia site and appears to be exactly the same wording as OceanicWW except for the addition below and is not helping persaude me to spend my dollars on Oceanic products!

"Oceanic Australia offers product warranty for all Oceanic, Aeris and Hollis product purchased in Australia from an Authorised Dealer.

If you purchase your product outside of Australia, it will not be covered by warranty in Australia and a service charge will be levied if warranty or normal service is required. You can alternatively return it to the original point of purchase for service."

How come the worldwide site doesn't mention - "will only cover bought in the particular country"?

 

[bracko]

that's correct. if you take advantage of the US prices, have equipment shipped over here to find it breaks on or soon after arrival you will need to pay for shipment back to the US shop in which it was purchased.

you can't have your cake and eat it too...

Australia always gets the short end of the stick with regards to this. you can buy a Nikon D90 DSLR body from HKK for about 40% of the price you can buy them for in Australia. you do not receive an Australian warranty.

I'm actually not that familiar with many companies that offer world wide warranty... low cost electronics perhaps, but for the majority of items (high end CD players, amps… etc) and virtually all covered by region/country, as is the case with other expensive sporting equipment like (snow) skis.

 

[BB1]

Let me point out some companies that offer worldwide warranty:

Dell
Asus

I don't call a laptop low cost electronics do you? $1500 to $3000 dollar laptop and I can get warranty coverage in almost any country in the world. They do exclude some tiny pacific islands from this understandably!

 

[bracko]

I'm not entering into an argument with you... players in the same market also do not offer world wide warranty.

I work for a global manufacturer aside from importation tarriffs which vary for countries and class items, internally there are pricing agreements which depend on warranty support, O/H costs and many other factors.

as i said, Oceanic is by far not the only company or market to have Australian warranties....

NB, I'm not a Oceanic employee... (incase any of my posts indicate otherwise)

 

[BB1]

Nor me, Just pointing out that there are some very familiar companies that manage to give good worldwide warranties!

I think pricing agreements internally within Australia are what are commonly referred to as MAP -minimum advertised price - and are illegal within australia. The ACCC have already contacted at least 1 dive products distributor once before about this.

Unfortunately people with only 2 or 3 posts talking about this subject are always viewed a little suspiciously......

 

[bracko]

no. I am not referring to MAP pricing at all. Inter-company pricing agreements between regional divisions and the parent company. i.e. PURCHASE price, not required sell price.

stock is sold to regional companies, not distributed at zero cost. it is dependant on local O/H costs, market value and many of the same decisions any company would make to decide the final distributor to retail store price. then there's the retail markup again, who go through just what i've described.

there are many reasons that australia is generally more expensive than other markets, market size plays a role, as does hedging. I'm not completely defending any global company that don't have global pricing agreements at all... I've just paid a huge premium to purchase locally which I'm not entirely happy about, but that warm fuzzy feeling of having the support of my LDS lets me sleep at night....

p.s. a quick review of dell's "global" laptop warranty tells me it's not as global as the word suggests... the global warranty is for travellers and if the laptop stays in one country for more than 6 months then a "a Global Tag Transfer [is] to be completed "... there is also a non-transferable lists which i can't seem to find, but I'm guessing will be fairly extensive and full of mobile workstations. but... that's a different topic.

so is your question about travelling or about buying gear from OS?

 

[BB1]

No worries!

Sorry but for me that warm fuzzy feeling doesn't cut it all.......... The global market has changed the rules and pricing differentials are being exposed more easily now. This is not unique to the advent of the internet either. You just had to use a phone or fax before that. But if it keeps you happy then good for you...

PS, That DELL warranty is good - I speak from personal experience. Global tag transfer is no problem at all, zero costs and support remains the same high standard! Our laptop got repaired no questions asked once our warranty standing had been checked! Good GLOBAL warranty!

 

[bracko]

the last punishment left is warranty or refusal to even service O/S bought items (eg Nikon US for Japanese bought DSLR bodies)

I buy msot of my camera/sound equipment from Hong Kong because i know enough about the equipment. something i currently lack with diving. in the end the premium was just over 10% when taking into considering insured shipping and a deal my LDS were willing to give me. which could be easily racked up in repairs and I've scored some free dives... so in the end potentially the gain isn't that big for purchasing OS.

 

[BB1]

See, Punishment if you dare to buy at cheaper than the local pricing, no matter how high it has been inflated! You are sounding more like a dive shop owner or distributor all the time!

I thought you said you paid a huge premium!!?!?! I don't call 10% huge and would happily pay that myself within Australia. I am seeing markups of approx 100% or higher!

I currently stand to save approx 50% or $2500 buying overseas even allowing for UPS shipping which is faster than internal Australian shipping and trackable!

No amount of free dives makes up for that..........

I can't even be bothered with this anymore, I smell a LDS owner or employee!

Have fun with your gear and enjoy your diving - I am