MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Buy in the US, use in the EU (price, warranty)

Storm27 · 10-13-2009, 11:57 AM

I'm interested in expanding this question a little bit beyond just the Sony readers.

I'm in the UK, so if I do decide to buy a Sony I can get it from a choice of three bricks and mortar stores within 10 miles of my home. That's nice from a warranty point of view -- I could probably take a malfunctioning reader back to the shop and even if not I would be covered by the Sony European warranty so I would have to be saving a lot of money for it to be worthwhile ordering from the States.

But if I am thinking about other readers, it stops being so straightforward. Presumably if I bought from either Bookeen or MyBebook.com I would have to return the reader internationally (to France or the Netherlands respectively) if something went wrong. What is the warranty term on these readers?

Right now it could be cheaper to buy -- for example -- the pocket pro from Astak than the bebook mini. For anyone who has experience of having done it, is returning something to the States so much more inconvenient than returning it to another European country? Would the warranty be any better if I buy it in Europe? (I seem to remember seeing US devices with less than a year warranty in the past.)

And if I bought one of the Hanlin readers from Pixelar, I believe that's technically a UK seller -- do they handle warranty in the UK at all, or what would I have to do if the device broke?

Even with Bookeen this might be an issue -- I'm sure I've seen the Opus reader much cheaper on American websites than in Europe (although once I’d paid shipping it might not be worthwhile.)

Generally I'm the kind of person who prefers to have nice in country support/warranty/ways of resolving anything that goes wrong. However some of the price differentials are pretty large and depending which device I go for there might not be a UK way to buy it anyway.

10-13-2009, 11:57 AM	#34
Storm27 Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 201290 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS T3S, android phone	I'm interested in expanding this question a little bit beyond just the Sony readers. I'm in the UK, so if I do decide to buy a Sony I can get it from a choice of three bricks and mortar stores within 10 miles of my home. That's nice from a warranty point of view -- I could probably take a malfunctioning reader back to the shop and even if not I would be covered by the Sony European warranty so I would have to be saving a lot of money for it to be worthwhile ordering from the States. But if I am thinking about other readers, it stops being so straightforward. Presumably if I bought from either Bookeen or MyBebook.com I would have to return the reader internationally (to France or the Netherlands respectively) if something went wrong. What is the warranty term on these readers? Right now it could be cheaper to buy -- for example -- the pocket pro from Astak than the bebook mini. For anyone who has experience of having done it, is returning something to the States so much more inconvenient than returning it to another European country? Would the warranty be any better if I buy it in Europe? (I seem to remember seeing US devices with less than a year warranty in the past.) And if I bought one of the Hanlin readers from Pixelar, I believe that's technically a UK seller -- do they handle warranty in the UK at all, or what would I have to do if the device broke? Even with Bookeen this might be an issue -- I'm sure I've seen the Opus reader much cheaper on American websites than in Europe (although once I’d paid shipping it might not be worthwhile.) Generally I'm the kind of person who prefers to have nice in country support/warranty/ways of resolving anything that goes wrong. However some of the price differentials are pretty large and depending which device I go for there might not be a UK way to buy it anyway.