Twobuells

Bought a new Canon Sx70HS from a New York camera shop only to find out from Canon that it is not approved for sale in the USA. In turn they would not repair the broken LCD screen under warranty. The repair cost is $308.00. What if anything can be done , as Tri-State camera will not reply or return my calls.
Thanks for any input.

philo Loc: philo, ca

I would contact my credit card company.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Welcome to the world of grey market. However, in your case if the screen was "broken" no ones warranty repair policy would cover it anyway. Canon often repairs grey market gear but typically doubles their repair labor price to do so. MOST companies won't work on grey market gear at all, for any price.

Abo

It occurs to me that "Grey Imports" must be a native of some part of the world...
Find out where that is and get it repaired there... if transport costs arn't worth more than the lens
of course.

No doubt Canon Japan will repair it, whatever market it was sent to.

Keen

Contact the card issuer, and get them to cancel the sale. You then return the camera. Next time buy from B&H, or Adorama.

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

When I worked for Popular Photography & Imaging, they had a page dedicated to educating readers about gray market photo gear. It is a double edged sword. On the one hand, you get a better than average deal on the equipment, but as you have pointed out, if something goes wrong with the camera, you could be looking at a steep expense. Tri-State has been around for a long time- I even remember seeing them in the old Modern Photography. Your experience with them seems to be pretty common. My advice to you is buy from a "name" company, such as B&H or Adorama. You WILL pay more, but they have great customer service and stand behind their product(s). Another option that I can HIGHLY recommend is looking at used equipment from businesses such as KEH. Their grading is very strict and I have purchased from them for nearly 30 years now and have never, ever had a single issue with any of the many purchases I have made. They are the gold standard for customer service and supporting you if there is an issue with the equipment.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with your repair.

Mark Lent

Pixeldawg Loc: Suzhou, China

Generally, you have to have a "world wide" warranty, which is typically different from the US warranty and those in (some) other countries. I live in China, and if I move back to America and my Z7 breaks, it will have to be shipped to China because it has that "world wide" warranty. Costs more to ship then the repair will cost, so I purchased the camera knowing this and am OK with it. Just know and understand what you are obligating yourself to in the warranty that the equipment has.

Mark Lent

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

As you found out, gray market has a better price, but does not have a better warranty. When buying camera equipment, one must make sure that the low price is on USA warranty equipment. If not, one must decide if it is really worth the price. I know this does not help you now. And it is not very likely that Tri-State will answer you back or help in any way, since they sold the camera as a gray market camera and the legal assumption is that you knew that it was a gray market camera by its price. Logic dictates that if two of the same model camera are two different prices, there is a reason for the difference in price.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

This is clearly not a warranty issue - even if it were a Canon USA version, it's still not Canon's, Tri-State's or anyone other than your responsibility to repair. In this case, saving the $100 or so up front may cost you more in repairs and lower resale later. Tri-State is one of those resellers that constantly gets terrible reviews here and on other forums - and the biggest complaint is that the sell gray market products without telling you - that is the rip off. Not the fact that you broken your camera and they won't fix it under warranty.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Who told you they double the repair cost on grey market products?! I know you are a camera retailer but I also know from experience, Canon does repair grey market products for a fair cost. After all, Canon did manufacture the product.
Canon USA does not honor USA warranty on grey market products, but they don't double the repair cost. They charge the same as an out of warranty repair will cost.

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

I thk you are confusing warranty with repair.
They would repair the screen, right?
How did it break? Why would you expect a warranty repair?

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

These are the three camera shops to stay away from. 42nd Street Photo Shop, Abe's of Maine, and Tri-State. Everyone likes to save money. And, these Photo Shops know, that the average camera purchasers, probably never heard, or know about gray market camera gear. I didn't know, until I became a member of this forum. I was lucky, because I unknowingly bought my camera gear from authorized dealers, before being a uhh member. Also, depending on what's covered under the one year USA warranty, everything is not repaired. Negligence, causing damage, will not be covered under an authorized USA one year warranty.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

What did they do that they didn't say they would do??
Was it advertised with a warranty? If so, the implication that it was a manufactures warranty was probably correct. Did they give an address?

BebuLamar

My question really is this. In which country/countries do cameras prices are less than that in the USA so that they can buy gray market cameras?

Jagnut07 Loc: South Carolina

So you are asking how and where do they get their gray market cameras in the first place? The follow up questions are 1) why are they cheaper from that source and2) can’t Canon control that source chain?