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Grey market cams warranty service
I bought my F350 from a grey market vendor and part of the value proposition he presented, aside from a good price, is that warranty work is done by Sony Japan. You ship it 1-day air, you get it back 1-day air, and while there it is supposedly worked on by Japanese factory techs (read “better” techs) and the wait is much, much less.
I took this at face value, but now that I’ve read this thread my feeling is that in Japan they would never provide, or tolerate, such sub-standard service.
So maybe getting the grey market camera wasn’t such a bad idea. Of course I’ve not had any issues with the camera so far, knock on wood, so I have no first hand experience that could bear out these suppositions.
Tip McPartland
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6 Replies
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What in the world are you talking about?
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck -
This was supposed to append to the thread below about domestic Sony service quality. When I saw that I’d started a new thread, I hoped it wouldn’t confuse anyone. Oooops.
Now that I’ve clarified that, anyone still not see the relationship between this post and the thread it refers to? If so, I’ll explain further.
Tip
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Dont be so confident about the Japanese tech,s.Plenty of horror stories,incredibly expensive,,and absolutely zero thinking outside the box.I wasnt ever told about digibeta software updates in Japan… because I didnt ask!!! It also took 4 hours and $800 for them to find out a gear in the motor had come loose.One guy came at the camera with this massive screw driver for no reason at all! I had to phyiscally get between him and my beloved camera.
I NEVER get my camera serviced here,and frankly wouldnt advise it,I know take it to Top Tec,s in the UK.Which has one of the worlds best camera tech,s John Shepherd. -
Redflag,
Thanks for your post, like I said, haven’t tried sending it to Japan for warranty work, could be you’re right, hope I have no need to find out. The bit about the guy advancing with the giant screwdriver is quite an image! Anyway…
The grey market purchase saved me about $3500 (camera and lens) over the best price I could find in the US at that time. Without that price, I could not have bought the camera and lens at all. I’ve now used it to shoot much of a reality pilot that could get our company a network deal (also used two HDX-900 and two HVX-200), and have started shooting an Indy feature.
None of that would have happened had I been more fearful of Japanese warranty procedures than I was (yes, I was somewhat nervous), so if I was lied to by the vender, so far I’ve come out well ahead.
Meanwhile, I have an excellent LA shop (by many accounts the best) lined up for any post-warranty servicing I might someday need.
Tip
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[Tip McPartland] “if I was lied to by the vender,”
I’ll bet that has never happened before.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck -
Not in our industry!
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