Reports - To buy or not to buy from overseas ?

To buy or not to buy from overseas ?

As far as the price and support are concerned (I)

Nowadays the electronic trade (e-trade) became a very easy way to made his purchases and to pay his invoices by Internet. One find everything on the Web and even products that are unobtainable in traditional shops. There are several ways to secure paiments, of which the surest is the credit card at FINREAD standards.

However, european statistics state that one e-buyer on five has experimented problems and that 12.5% of e-buyers will no more make any buy by Internet. This fact highlights the main problem of Internet and the one of any purchase made remotely : what to do in case of administrative problem or hardware failure ?

Ce document est disponible en français

If it is very easy to click on the button "Add to basquet", "Ajouter au panier" or "Order in 1-click" to place an order, better is worth to think about it two minutes before making a stupid thing on a sudden impulse. Here are the reasons.

All amateurs living outside the U.S.A., mainly European, quickly note that U.S. prices are very attractive. The same difference also exists for American's wishing to buy german brands... usually 30 to 50% cheaper over their local dealers ! But have you think about charges and potential maintenance if you want to import some items directly from overseas or simpler from another country ?

Before planning the purchase of some expensive gear from abroad, let's already see what happens locally, at the national level when you get in trouble for administrative reasons or when a device breaks down or fails to work. The problem will emphase if the distance or the language barrier has to be taken into account.

The contract

First of all, if you don't know the manufacturer or the dealer, read with attention your order *before* signing, specially the name of people involved, the date, the description, the quantity, the price, and, if there are, all sale conditions, including the warranty terms, often written in small print.

If you buy the product to a major dealer by Internet there are few problems to expect. But in all cases, take your time as the product will be probably still available tomorrow at the same price. Read all information listed in the ordering section, how to pay, to get confirmation of your order, what charges will be added to the price, what is the delivery time, what are conditions, etc. Accept the deal only when you are sure to have well understood all the process, not to forget to read charges for handling and shipping, litigation proceedings, etc. In the negative send an email to the seller and ask him for more detail.

I personnaly known the case of a French company working by Internet registering copyrights which prices were so-called the cheapest on the place, 10 € to protect a website although a notary requests 13 € for the same registering. However, the comment was limited and confused as it didn't give the price according to the volume of information to protect. The listed price was it given for 10 MB or for any volume ? I wanted to get more information questionning it with simple questions. The company refused to give me the least information on the pretext that any form of support affected the price offered. It takes all the same time to write it in 15 lines although a 2-line anwer would have been sufficient... Sure on my good right and my argumentation, in spite of everything I explained it again the object of my most important question. And the end they comply with my request, recognizing that the information was uncomplete, after what they make two small corrections in their internal pages of their website. Obviously, it changed their price, multiplying the price of the registry of a 10 factor or higher ! At the final, for a volume larger than 700 MB, this company is even more expensive than others ! Being given that on their home page, the price is always listed without mention of volume, a way to attract clients in an ambush, I decided to not work with this company showing a dubious deontology in spite of appearances.

If you don't get an answer after a few days, either to your reminder if it is urgent, consider that the company does not offer a very performing customer servicing or hides additional administrative charges quite high for some optional services. The product is maybe withdrawn despite misleading appearances of its website. Some companies also update their pages once a month of each quarter. As an example, I asked to a canadian manufacturer who listed among his representatives a dealer in Spain slow to answer to my requests, if frankly it was worth to work with his Spanish dealer if he wanted to make profit. He answered me.... that he worked only with the English dealer !

At other occasions you can't get any information contacting the dealer by email and only the manufacturer will sometimes accept to help you. In worst cases call him by phone; he could not escape, Hi !

With bordering countries or even inside your own country, the situation is the same. The shopkeeper can favor its direct customers to the detriment of email contacts. You wait, and wait, without never receive any news, although a direct contact, by phone or de visu, would have allowed you to solve the question. It is valid for any enterprise working on the Internet.

Thus, be wary in particular of any reseller working only by email or on the Internet. Check first the importers list provided by the manufacturer and then take the time for assessing the vendor quality.

When the order is confirmed and sent, don't forget to save or to print a copy of the confirmation and later to attach it your account notice. This will make searches easier and will serve as proof in case of contention.

Buying a secondhand device on eBay for example is another affair, and more than once we learn that a buyer was confronted with a swindler, and in prey to major troubles to get his material or his money back. Sometimes Internet places a true wall between you and the seller and only a justice decision can solve the contention. So, be aware of the potential dangers of e-trade before making any purchase on the Internet. Hopefully, statistically in 80% of e-buys, the transaction is successful... but this will not prevent your material to fail for one or another reason...

A-S servicing and the standard way of repair

Most of the time your material is covered with a legal or commercial warranty signed by the manufacturer, and recognized by his dealer or the importer at national level.

But already at this step there are two possible cases. In the first case the shopkeeper signed a contract with the manufacturer stating that he will ensure the after sale support only for products bought in his shop. All other articles will be refused, and you will have to ensure yourself the mail or shipment of your defective material to the manufacturer. However many sellers will accept to infringe this rule in repairing your device for commercial reasons. If there is no importer in your country, in this case this is the manufacturer warranty that will draw its effects in the event of breakdown. In both cases this warranty is attached the the purchase invoice (on as an attachment to the bill itself).

Let's imagine that you ask the seller to whom your bought your material to repair it. Depending on his attitude you will quickly recognize the well organized seller from the casual one. Unfortunately you will not discover this fact at the first handshaking but rather with experience and sometimes by the rumour.

Here also there are two possibilities. Either the shopkeeper can pay a full-time or part-time qualified technician. In this case the repair will be carried out in the repair desk of his shop. Taking into account his planning and the technical difficulty, the time of repairing can be spread out over several days or several weeks. Indeed, several factors come into play.

If it is a hardware failure it will be necessary to get some spare parts from stock. But very often, to avoid useless investments and expenses, the shopkeeper does not have much stock and will have to order the part to the importer or directly to the manufacturer, living sometimes abraad. But it happens that this last refuses the exchange for only one unit and obliges the shopkeeper to make a grouped order; that exposes you to an additional delay from 1 to 2 weeks, time required for the shopkeeper to gather all his orders. In the worst cases your material will thus be returned to you after 2 or 3 weeks only.

The repair desk of an electronician : yes yes it is tidy ! We recognize the soldering irons, the multimeter, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, ...

In the second case your shopkeeper is not able to carry out the repair. If he is well organized and serious and if he has technical skills he will already make a preliminary test to ensure himself of the breakdown. The same day or the next one he will send your material to the importer for repair. But quite often, your material will remain in a corner waiting for other parcels which finally will be sent a week or even 10 days later in grouped form. Sometimes this time is ascribable to the extra work of the technician or worst, simply due to his casualness; Mister is on holidays and will deal with his customers only when he will come back... but he will perhaps not tell you that. If it is conscientious he will inform you of his holiday period and will send your material immediately to the importer. Thus ask him precisely when your equipment will be repaired or sent to the importer.

Sometimes it is the only way to enter into contact with the importer. A few years ago many major manufacturers had a national trading post at which you could directly deposit your defective equipment for repair. For financial reasons this support is often abandoned to the profit of the dealers network.

Once arrived to the importer your material will be repaired, more or less quickly according to the gravity of the problem. An application form attesting of the failure and repairs carried out, and sometimes taking in account the tests carried out and their results will be joined to the material like proof of accomplished work. The material will be then returned to the shopkeeper... if all is fine, because sometimes, but fortunately in rare occasions, the parcel can be mislaid, what will delay its return from one week to 10 days. The time spent increases thus from 3 to 4 weeks to which we have to add the preliminary week of useless waiting. Finally we arrive at an overall delay that can exceed one month if "all goes wrong"... And your beautiful material hasn't even left the country ! At receipt check well that the repair was made. It will not be the last time that a defective material is returned to his owner... in the same state. A one-month wait for a repair, sometimes ineffective, happens much more often than we can imagine, and not only with low-end or cheap equipment. These cases are also valid for high-end electronics, optics or furniture. Periodically posts on newsgroups remind us unfortunately that this is a reality that hits some of us.

I do not even discuss here the legal aspect, when the device is brand new but presents an obvious dysfunction. In this case you must request from the seller a standard exchange due to the nonconformity against the purchase order.

If repair desk technicians show true skills, we cannot always say the same about the organization of after sale departments. This also depends on the enterprise culture.

This assertion is not always easily accepted by your seller who will probably invoke the fact that you misread the user manual or did an error in setting the device... If this case happens, ask him with much diplomacy to visit you as soon as possible to state the fact, and try to negociate a fast exchange. In the worst case, an amateurs informed me that he recently has to wait for a standard exchange during... 1 year, simply because his local seller didn't believe him ! In the end the amateur won out and the faulty instrument was returned in the U.S.A. for standard exchange. In the meantime he was left without instrument...

Second part

Time for consideration and claim

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