Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

[tone?]

Why the heck do music Instruments/Amp compnaies only provide there lengthly warranties in the U.S and a couple other companies??

this leads me to believe that they sell b-products to other countries.

whats up with that??!

[Scott_F]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

In terms of an amp, I'm sure it has to do with the less than ideal power conditions in many foreign countries, perhaps? Do they normally offer free return shipping after a repair? If so, worldwide shipping of a big heavy amp will take out all profit in a sale.

In an amp, I'm not sure you can have a B-product. In my opinion, it either works or it doesn't. It's either safe or it isn't.

[Rich_S]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the legal aspects. Warranties are a bunch of very precise legal weasle-words. To get them just right you'd have to have a legal team in every country of the world, and still wouldn't get one warranty that could work everywhere.

I think most legit manufacturers use importers or foreign subsidiaries to get their gear into other countries, and also provide warranties in those locales.

[Zerberus]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

Why the heck do music Instruments/Amp compnaies only provide there lengthly warranties in the U.S and a couple other companies??

this leads me to believe that they sell b-products to other countries.

whats up with that??!

When did this happen???

My Jacksons still have a lifetime warranty.... my mesa equip is no longer covered but the warranty was the same one in the US... all the Gibsons and Fenders Iīve ever sold also had the same warranty as stateside......

The large manufacturers almost all have the same warranty as in the US or anywhere else.. teh small ones usually canīt afford teh higher costs associated with transporting warranty work from one country to another and often shorten them to a year (bare minimum pretty much worldwide IIRC), but they still are obligated by law to offer one......

Iīm very curious as to how this impression came to be.... the only thing I can think of is so called "gray imports", where someone imports the guitar "past" the local distributor, and then sells it as new... thes instruments are not covered by any manufaturer warranty, because theyīre officially used instruments... many also have the serial number defaced or otherwise removed.... In Europe this is common with for ex. Gibsons....

Thatīs the only thing I can think of, a shop thatīs bypassing the official channels, saving themselves money, but ultimately ****ing the customer over

[More-Gear-Than-Skill]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

yeah even in African countries you get some form of warranty. Albeit a "we'll wait for the agent to swing by and we'll show him the problem and see from there." But heck if my fender snapped in two after a bit of strumming, I'd be covered?

[tone?]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

well companies that import instruments here in Greece and amp and stuff do NOT have the same warranties as in the US.

Crate for example offers 5 years in the US and here they offer only 1!
Seymour duncan has the thingy where you can take the pickup back i think if you are not satisfied with it, but here in Greece we have never heard of anything like that.

all the warranties which i know of here are for 1 year. period.

5 years to one year is a huge difference if you ask me. and they have a service center here as well.

i just dont get it.

[Zerberus]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

Well, it certainly varies a bit from country to country and brand to brand, because it surely depends on distribution channels...

Is it the same with the "big players" like Fender, Gibson, PRS? Iīd have thought distribution in Greece would be better.... I have nowhere near those problems here. But then again, I also use equip that carries a lifetime warranty when new, so I could probably even live without one at all... as well as being my own "service center"

[tone?]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

Zerb,

MArshall which is a HUGE co. only gives one year warranty. i really have never ever heard of ANY company that offers more than a year for anything.

and i just dont get it.
i think it is a total rip off.

what on earth makes other countries different if the distributor has a service center???

[fenderiarhs]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

as you probably already know European Union has imposed that items sold as used within the EU MUST have a 2 year warranty.....so it is difficult to believe that an importer has no warranty for a NEW product he imports and that's what i have confirmed by asking at the fender/gibson e.t.c importers here in Greece.

You are right though that warranties(or return policies......i wish i could exchange the duncans i didn't like for something else from their range of pickups)) are not the same for every country....

They should be............

[tone?]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

well Fenderiarhs,

as you know since we live in the same country that the service here sucks cause of lack of proper competition.
companies like MArshall here BOn studio give only 1 year on their amps. not to mention others.
and the prices suck compared to the rest of europe.

look at some german web stores for amps and compare the prices for the same thing here in Greece. and that is including shipping!

i think that our country is full of business men/theives

[Zerberus]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

I donīt want to bash Greece, but I have to agree on the thieves comment....































.... because everytime Iīve been to Greece I managed to get robbed

[fenderiarhs]

Re: Why Companies offer their Warranties only in the U.S

well Fenderiarhs,

as you know since we live in the same country that the service here sucks cause of lack of proper competition.
companies like MArshall here BOn studio give only 1 year on their amps. not to mention others.
and the prices suck compared to the rest of europe.

look at some german web stores for amps and compare the prices for the same thing here in Greece. and that is including shipping!

i think that our country is full of business men/theives

I am not at all satisfied with the prices over here(yes they are thieves ) as i am not happy about the customer support.....(although there are some very good repairmen-luthiers over here.....even better than some US ones.....check http://www.odysseybass.com/home_en.htm) and that's largely due to the fact that the Greek musical instruments market is the 1/10th of what the German market is.......I have stopped buying anything related to musical instruments from the local market many years ago.....and there are a lot of people i know that are doing the same.......but i think that lately they are starting to realise that they have lost a very big share of the market because of their bad policies in the past and the fact that most musicians are better informed now and it is very easy to buy something from the internet at a much more competitive price....................

So yes i agree with you that they are responcible at an 80%.
I think, though that most companies are also responcible (at a lesser extent) cause they have the ways to impose in every country their warranty/service policies but they do not seem to be interested in that.........