Quote:
Originally Posted by sabredog
Therein lies the problem I guess. There is little choice available to Australians other than the Kobo and Kindle 2.
All the others need to be purchased "on the sly" from the US and thus the warranty does not apply.
The best thing to do is ask the distributor if they would sell to Australia and still honour a warranty. I decided that the risk was mine purchasing a Sony with no Australian warranty.
|
Well, buying from the USA or (anywhere else) is not really 'on the sly'. There is a still a valid warranty - you just have to get it back to the place that sold it to you. It will cost a bit more in freight, that is all.
I have found that the warranty problem is not an issue, at least not for me. The difference in price for the same object in Australia (if it is available, which is usually not the case) is so great, I can assume the cost of my own warranty.
For example, I recently bought a Pronto remote control from the USA for around $600. The local price in Australia (and there is only one dealer) is over $1800. I can afford to have TWO total write-offs of my Pronto before I even come close to what it would cost me here for one unit. ie warranty is NOT an issue - I simply chuck away the old one, and buy myself a new unit - it is still vastly cheaper.
eBooks are slightly different - we simply do not have that many here. Most are pretty basic units, and except for a couple of models, fairly expensive. The Kindle is so restrictive I would never buy one, but a good price.
I chose to buy from the USA - as I have a lot of other stuff. I have NEVER had a problem. It is often faster getting stuff from The USA than from Melbourne, so that is not an issue either. The exchange rate is not bad at the moment either - unlike with Europe.
And why use a freight-forwarder?? I have never used one. I bought my Pocketbook 302 (a truly top reader) through this forum. No problems at all.