Thread: Importing, Shipping, pitfalls and work arounds

Originally Posted by mikee

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

I understand that some cannot see past the dollar signs on what they want, they cannot see any value in service and cannot see the implications or consequences of their actions. Why is there so few small retailers in hunting goods? Why did Hamils disappear? It wasn't because they were making a big profit. None of them are.

From a legal standpoint and the CGA a retailer is ONLY require to cover goods THEY sold. They are NOT required to cover any goods they did not sell themselves. If the Distributor (in the case mentioned above Swaro) chooses to then that's good for them, but understand, the CGA does definitely not cover goods that someone imports themselves from overseas. The only seller that is the required to fix is the one who sold it to you. And if they are overseas then the law here has teeth so blunt they will need dentures.

As for moral High ground. Well that comes from dealing day in and day out with customers for 25 years in retail and customer service. The one thing we have over cheap imports is service and reputation. We stock what we believe in and we back it up with service that you will not get from a overseas supplier. I have dealt with all manner of complaints, and most of them are genuine. We have a few try it on and I have even had people tell me they want me to honour another retailers product they we have never sold. Rule of thumb here is if it doesn't sell then we dont stock it. If everyone imports their own we wont carry any in stock as it is dead money and will not sell.

With so many companies trying to make ends meet, how any of them would cover someone else's warranty issues and continue to survive is challenging to say the least. Do you honestly think that if everyone imported their own Swaro scope and the local distributor sold none, that they would continue to service them under warranty? I suspect more likely they would stop importing them, stop stocking them, dump the agency and tell you its not their problem.

I do import products that we cannot obtain locally, but I do my own research, and any warranties are covered by us. We cover anything that goes wrong as more often than not the cost of returning it to the factory exceeds anything we would bet back. Usually the retailer can take a return to the original distributor if it was sold by them and as a sign of good faith (read honest trading) most suppliers will honour this, especially if they want to sell more of them. They are not obligated to as retail is not covered by the CGA as the act only applys to non commercially supplied goods. You buy it for a company or business and the CGA changes very quickly.