Hi! I have a digital camera that is a piece of crap. It’s having stupid electrical problems. Probably a loose wire somewhere. I won’t mention the (OLYMPUS) brand, but … oops. Oh well. I bought it in the US before I came here six months ago, so it is still under warranty. Well, it turns out that since I purchased it in the US, it must be repaired in the US to be covered under the warranty. That means I have to ship it back.
I thought I’d just have it repaired here, so I took it to the shop in Taipei, and they say that in order for them to even LOOK at it, and give me an estimate, there is a MINIMUM NT$6000 fee. Yes, that SIX THOUSAND NT DOLLARS just to tell me how much it would cost to fix it. So, I basically told them I’d much rather shove the thing up their respective arses then give them a single NT to look at it. Yeah. I’m pissed.
So, (thanks for letting me rant) can anyone recommend a good way to ship it back to Los Angeles so that they can fix it there? It needs to be insured obviously (it’s a US$600.00 camera) and it needs to be tracked, but I think FedEx is insanely expensive. Does anyone know of a less costly option? And where would I go to do something like that? Is there an equivalent of Mail Boxes Etc. here or something?
Oh, just to make things more complicated, I’m in Taichung!
Thanks again for letting me vent about the horrible customer service I have received from OLYMPUS! Needless to say, I won’t be buying from them again in the future!
I’m surprised Olympus don’t give an international warranty. Almost every piece of electrical equipment you buy in the UK has a worldwide warranty. Have you been in touch with Olympus in the USA, or even the Japanese HQ ?
Hi! Yeah, I’ve talked to both (well, emailed both). They both said the same thing. It was definitely my mistake not reading the fine print before purchasing the camera. I saw the warranty and checked to make sure there was an authorized repair shop in Taiwan (there is) but didn’t make sure that the warranty would cover the camera internationally. Chock that one up to a “learning experience.” I just assumed the warranty was international. Oh well.
Still, I can’t believe that the repair shop would require NT$6000 just to LOOK at the camera! NT$2000 I could accept, though unwillingly. But NT$6000 is absolutely unreasonable.
I know the problem is going to be one of those silly PITA electronic things, and it’s an intermittent problem, making it even harder to diagnose. So, I guess I’m better off just sending it back home, and forking out the dough to FedEx. sigh
Just go to the Post Office and use EMS postserv.prsb.gov.tw/Trade/CN_Postal50.htm
I just sent some documents back to Aus, and tracked them the whole way on my laptop. They arrived 2 days later. I doubt it’ll be expensive, I forget what I paid, around 250nt, I think. Just ask what it’ll cost. They obviously have insurance too. Pretty cheap.
