The Nun

I have been notified by Futaba they do not and will not warrant any of their products brought into Australia.


If anyone else has recieved a warranty from a Futaba product please PM me as I have spend alot of money on the product for it not to work and getting dissapointed in the whole hobby.

rob@phc

Will Futaba only not warranty the tiem if you import it or not at all???
I am sure if you bought it from your LHS than you would get warranty from futabas agent toy traders??

Maybe if the item is imported and noth bought from australia you will not get warranty from toy traders???

I find it hard to believe futaba wouldn't waranty something just cause it was bought in Aus

Craig1

iTrader: (49)

In the case of a Futaba 3PK, you can only buy 29mhz units from OZ distributors. These are warranted by Toy Traders as their stock that they supply.

The 40mhz unit you can buy OS (if returned for service) won't be warranted by Toy Traders because you didn't buy it from them.

I'd guess if you sent it back to your place of purchase you could get a warranty repair.

The Ideas Man

iTrader: (1)

Hi The Nun,

Did you buy your radio here or OS?

What mhz is your radio (i.e. 29mhz)?

Cheers,

IDM

Mkal

What type of repairs is covered by waranty?

I have a 9550 servo which needs attention, can Toy Traders repair this, even if I pay for the repair (hopefully less than new price!).

The Nun

It dosn't matter where you buy your product from if the Australian agent does not want to warrant it that is called discrimination. So if you took it to office of fair trading Toy Traders would have to fit the warranty.

The Ideas Man

iTrader: (1)

Craig1

iTrader: (49)

So if the X-Box you brought at Target stuffs up, just take it into Big-W or K-mart and they will fix it for you.

Don't think so.

warex

You can buy 29MHz modules, crystals and transmitters from overseas, not just in Aus.

Havago Racing

iTrader: (3)

The manufacturer supplies the warranty - not the distributer.

Although the warranty repair bills are paid by the manufacturer, if a repair agent chooses to only to undertake warranty work on equipment distributed by them, that is their prerogative.

but....
If an internet purchase in australia to an overseas shop is legally said to have occured in Australia at you PC (jurisdiction), does that mean that the Australian Trade practises act applies and the manufacturer is obliged to repair or replace faulty goods as per the trade practises act? thus their representative company in Australia (Agent) may be forces to do the work by pressure from the manufacturer.

It's a good question....

AMGRacer

As Havago mentioned the manufacturer is the one which supplies the warranty. The distributor can fix the item themselves or they can ship the item back to the manufacturer or they can replace the item and get a replacement from the manufacturer. All this is worked out between the manufacturer and the distributor. Of course the distributor does not HAVE to do this for items which are not sold by them (the Kmart and Target analogy) but if a warranty is offered by the manufacturer (and many in RC dont) then the manufacturer IS obliged to honour it under Law. Ie you can go around the distributor and send the item back to the manufacturer for repair. I buy many things overseas and I have had my items warrantied by sending them back overseas to where I bought the item. Done this twice now no problems.

I do find it beligerent on the part of the distributors to just cross their arms and not help, it sure does not help the image of the manufacturer in Australia. Nobody is saying that they should offer warranty as a free service to stuff not bought through them, but you would think for a fee they would assist the BRAND by offering to send the item to the manufacturer for a postage fee for ANY customer not just local ones. Before everybody laughs this is a common practice in several industries including the computer industry.

rob@phc

I think the oz wholesalers and hobby shops are only doing this to customers who do not support them or the local market. Why would toytraders or any other agent for that matter warranty something if it is the first time they have heard from you??
I know I wouldn't!! Maybe if you had imported your radio but bought servos or spare parts etc from the local market the local hobby stores and agents would be more than willing to help you!!!

AMGRacer

Agree. However the other side of things is it does not cost them anything except some time and potentially some shipping costs which they could charge back to the customer. Anyway you are right about how they see it.

rob@phc

it is a bit like you scratch my back if i scrach yours!!!!
I work in a hobby shop in Perth and the amount of people we get come in and look at things and then go on the net and buy it!!!! sometimes on a $300 item to save $10-$20 I personally don't think it is worth it!!! It is very frustrating for the hobby shops as i would imgaine the wholesalers to act as a touch and feel catalogue to cyber space shops who pay cyber rent to have lowe prices


I know our store is more than happy to send things back on customers behalf if they have made purchases from our store whether it is the item in question or not

AMGRacer

I am glad to hear that you do that for your customers

I buy stuff locally as well when the difference in price is not extreme. Saving $10-20 is crazy.