JohnH Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 This is some general advice. If you are from Canada and you buy a new keyboard or other product from a US dealer to save a few dollars, your warranty will be invalid if you take it back to Canada. Most US companies can't even send out RAS to the Canadian address for the repair, and you will not be able to get the product serviced under the US warranty in Canada. The Canadian division of the company you bought the product from will also not be able to do anything for you. You will have to find a friend or shop in the US that will accept it and ship it down to them and then they can either service it under the warranty or take care of the shipping to the US MFG. I never see this topic mentioned in keyboard or anywhere else, it's come up frequently lately in my daily work. It's really a nightmare. Yes you've saved some dollars buying it in the US, but as Col Parker once said: "How much does it cost if it's free"? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 This is not only true across the Canada/U.S. border, but in many other international situations. If the product is distributed in the country you take the product into, the original warranty will not be honoured within Canada. I've got numerous stories of customers coming into the store I worked at, spending hours picking my brain on various models, then disappearing, only to show up some months later with one of the model keyboards we discussed, wanting to get it serviced under warranty. I took great pleasure in informing them that their warranty was a U.S. warranty, and could not be honoured by a Canadian service center. The best experience I had was with one irate individual who insisted that I get the Canadian office of his synth's manufacturer on the phone, and watching his face as the manufacturer not only told him that his warranty wasn't valid outside of the country of purchase, but that he would have saved himself money in the long run had he simply bought the keyboard from me in the first place. Ahhhh... have I mentioned that I don't miss retail in the least? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Nightime Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 The first time I played in Canada, back in the late 70's, people buying instruments in the US and bringing them into Canada and reselling was so rampant that we had to put up a deposit for our equipment guaranteeing we would tkat it back out of Canada with us before we were allowed into the country. This was so new that the Canadian Consolate we called for advice in advance didn't know of it. We had to sit in no-man's-land in between the borders until a representative of the club drove the 60+ miles to the border with the deposit. Getting in was a serious pain, but we enjoyed every minute we were there once we got in. "In the beginning, Adam had the blues, 'cause he was lonesome. So God helped him and created woman. Now everybody's got the blues." Willie Dixon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundscape Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Typically how much more expensive is gear in Canada than the US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Originally posted by soundscape: Typically how much more expensive is gear in Canada than the US? Given the current exchange on the U.S. dollar, and the tariffs levied by Canada Customs, there's really no advantage to buying cross-border, unless it's some insane blow-out type sale. The same couldn't be said back in the late 80's/early 90's... For some reason, old habits seem to die hard for some folks north of the border... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzwee Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 This is a big thing with Yamaha acoustic pianos. I'm referring to the so called "Yamaha Gray Market". Piano comes from Japan. Yamaha claims there's something wrong with pianos from Japan. Of course, if the piano from Japan is sold here, dealer doesn't make money. So they come up with a ludicrous explanation of the wood not being seasoned for the lack of humidity in the US. Of course, there's no such place of single humidity here. It depends on where you live. So I ignored it and bought a gray market anyway. Of course, being used, I don't really care about a warranty. Hamburg Steinway O, Crumar Mojo, Nord Electro 4 HP 73, EV ZXA1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Originally posted by Sven Golly: I took great pleasure in informing them that their warranty was a U.S. warranty, and could not be honoured by a Canadian service center. Ahhhh... have I mentioned that I don't miss retail in the least? Oh to be a fly on the wall when that customer walked into Sven Golly's store - PRICELESS. "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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