With a plain simple press text Olympus officially announced the termination of the global warranty program. This is going to affect all buyers that will buy Olympus stuff from abroad. This is likely going to affect seriously the large grey market. This is the official press text:
“Olympus Imaging Corporation has been providing Worldwide warranty for digital cameras and accessories since April 1, 2004, except for some countries and regions.
However, the time has come to stop providing Worldwide warranty because of regulation by laws and differences in the infrastructure of the repair facilities in individual countries.
Please kindly be informed that Worldwide warranty will not be provided with most of our Micro Four Thirds System and compact digital camera products shipped after September of 2014.The Worldwide warranty card you have, is currently still valid as long as it meets the conditions required for warranty repair. Also, the Worldwide warranty card enclosed with the new products which you purchase from now, is also valid. Local warranty card is valid only in the country where you purchase the product and all repairs undertaken in other countries will be a chargeable service.
For any questions please refer to the “Olympus Authorized Distributor List” and contact our Service Station or Distributor for assistance.”
83 Responses
Olympus should take the ‘Pro’ label off the products that carry that designation then.
And replace it with what? Semi-wanna-be-pro?
No. The professionals needs a international service. Like that is reason why professionals pay few grands for bodies and objectives for Canon/Nikon because if gear gets broken, they get quickly their gear to service and replacement for that time no matter where they are.
Some level services even offer on-site service where company man comes to place bringing new and picking broken one.
It is strange that m4/3 system benefit is small size and weight, that gives benefit to travel a lot. And if gear gets broken in other country, now you need to PAY extra. And typically that means it is cheaper to rent a new one and service at home then, getting again extra costs.
Nikon is much worse – they won’t even do paid repairs on gray market cameras.
https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/331/~/what-is-gray-market%3F
There will mostly be some kind of good will when you have an accident in a different country, but on paper most companies are very strict these days – especially if you didn’t bought the product in the country you’re living in.
We’ll see what this really means. “Most” sounds to me that there will still be some products with a worldwide warranty, otherwise they would just have said that they drop it for every product.
“Please kindly be informed that Worldwide warranty will not be provided with most of our Micro Four Thirds System “
Don’t worry, we don’t generally use m43.
Troll-Proof would be more appropriate.
Then almost every company would have to. They have been one of the last camera manufacturers who had an worldwide warranty without any limitations. Nikon for example doesn’t even do paid repairs on gray market cameras.
They’re talking about ‘grey market’ purchases which are in effect a tax cheating way of buying & if that’s how you buy, then that’s the risk you take. Suck it up! (There are some countries where there is not much choice unfortunately)
If you’re on a long term or working holiday in another country & you had bought it as approved stock in your own country (with it registered etc), then it wouldn’t hurt to try & actually talk to someone & maybe you can be looked after if genuine.
I recently traveled from Europe to Australia, where I bought an E-M1 and 12-40/2.8. I paid Australian sales/consumption tax. There was no cheating involved.
No, but you didn’t buy it in Europe & that will be the sticking point for warranty. The cheats, so to speak, are the ones buying it online through obvious grey market importers & they are the ones that have to take their own risk in doing so. You just did better while travelling & even though you gave our gov’t a bit of tax in the process, that is still the risk you take when taking it back home to Europe. I hope you won’t need to worry about that though.
It seems inconsequential to me. Cameras rarely die during the warranty period.
Yeah this isn’t going to change my buying habits at all. Generally I get my gear off eBay. I let someone else absorb taxes and the “new in box” surcharge.
Bend over UK!
Well, so much for buying that E-M1 for US$840 with a warranty…
buy it before the end of the month.
Bad news for anyone who travel a lot. Could be a reason not to choose Olympus for them.
Could be at least “continental” and not limited to the country…
I remember the official communication some months ago:
“Focus on OMD and more professional market.”…
What do competitors do about warranties? Perhaps Oly is just now doing the same as others.
Panasonic is already that way, but didn’t stop me from buying 35-100 from Japan.
Sounds like a great slogan: “Olympus: We’re no better than anyone else.”
Stupid decision, it’s really idiotic and childish to “punish” customers.
Yes, especially through huge price difference from buying in UK.
I have bought my recent Olympus bodies in the US (mostly from Olympus refub – 20%) and sold the kit lenses in the UK on Ebay to get the bodies at very low cost.
We have seen that customers are not really buying a lot more of our product. Therefore, we must show customers who is boss. This will teach them a valuable lesson, don’t mess with us. Once we have taught our customers the meaning of the word respect, this will ensure they start buying more of our product.
Welcome Australia Tax 🙁 – just look at what panasonic have done.
However, I do agree that there must be various differences in warranties and guarantees applicable under different statutory regimes.
In Australia, regardless where the foods are sold, there are statutory warranties protecting consumers allowing recourse to either the supplier (regardless of jurisdiction, however enforceability is another issue) or to the manufacture.
Will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Grey market Olympus gear have not be repaired under warranty here for ages. That’s the risk you take when you bypass the proper importing channels. I don’t see Olympus refusing to repair at cost though.
I don’t give a fk of this news… Since the sellers and the service from Olympus Canada is so lame here in Canada, that I will still buy online in grey market..
It seems to be worse outside Europe. Here they have in many countries for the E-M1 a free service plus package with a special hotline and a pickup service. In the cases I knew people had their camera back within a week or if it was really urgent, like close before a holiday trip, they got a replacement within a day or two.
In other news, counterfeit warranty cards are now on the rise.
Good luck, as I have registered my Olympus objectives and bodies to Olympus, they know dates from there and can backtrack it to seller.
Benefits are like getting premium service package that covers body is only 3 days in service center.
Bad move. Wolrdwide warranty is one important feature that convinced me to buy the 12-40mm pro instead of the Panasonic 12-35mm even though the Pany is smaller, comes with OIS and have the same filter size as the 35-100mm.
You don’t lose anything as you already bought it. After now the things are different. You have world wide warranty to your camera.
Doesn’t matter. In russia we dont have warranty anyway of buying from ebay/amazon. Our local price is almost twice higher than USA and we have service in 1-2 big city.
And still it seems to me that russian hobbyists buy more stuff then we do(here we only complain)
Not agrees. I often buy from Amazon JP and once i get fully died E P5 body. I go to Olympus service point and after 1,5 week i have fully functional body.
They’ve been one of the last companies offering a worldwide warranty without limitations.
The chance of things going wrong… vs the extra cost of buying here in the UK… I think I’ll take my chances with import models from DigitalRev, etc. 😀
Oh, I didn’t realize that they had global warranty… Well didn’t have to use it so far. But would be great if they still had it next year when I go to Japan ~_~
Could be a way of keeping sales within territories, or, maybe Olympus are planning to introduce a “pro” global service and support scheme that “professional” photographers will have to subscribe to, as part of their effort to gain traction in the “pro” arena…
It doesn’t affect me so much as I am VAT registered (in the UK) and can claim the VAT back so buying from places like DigitalRev doesn’t have an advantage.
They’ve it already here in Europe with the E-M1 (free)
http://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/c/cameras_support/service_plus/index.html
Well, kind of. As far as I can see it is only for the EM1 body, and it only covers Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. Maybe they plan to build this out to a fully fledged global support scheme? It wouldn’t be a bad idea if Olympus really want the “pro” market. Product support/backup is one of the things that many Canikon pro togs mention when the topic of switching comes up. I switched anyway, as owning/carrying more m43 bodies is less expensive /easier than FF bodies. YMMV.
Presumably Olympus will have to offer a European wide warranty for products bought in any EU country, under EU single market rules?
They have local marketing and maintenance centers yet. But there are which are more up to scratch than others. like the German one. So would you rather wait for one month or ten days, which is the German performance?
I live in Italy, but that is no advantage.
That is the case, yes.
An explanation might be in the revised prices structure in Europe. PL7 is now 499 Euros, and $ 700 in the USA, while before it would have been € 700.
It makes sense that maintenance centers follow the local prices, since to Oympus they are part of the cost.
Personally, buying and repairing in Germany I am much happier like this.
500 in europe? wow this epl7 will have same effect on used prices of the ep5, like the em10 did with secondhand em5 bodies.
I don’t know what everyone is on about. For as long as I can remember, most camera
companies only offered a warranty on cameras in the country (or the continent) where sold. If you bought “gray market” you had no warranty or had to send the item to the country in which it was
intended to be sold. If you lived in the USA and had a USA warranty and it broke while you were in Europe or wherever, you had to either pay to get it fixed or wait until you got home. Which was mostly fine, who drops a camera off for service while on vacation in a foreign country anyway?
If Olympus operated differently then I guess that was great, but what they are describing as their new policy is simply what you would find with Nikon, Canon and most other brands, including Panasonic. Do an internet search for gray market camera if you don’t believe me.
It has nothing to do with punishing customers; Most camera companies have subsidiaries/importers in various countries and they have to make money as well as offer products and services. They make a little bit from the sale of every product they import and in return offer services like technical support, parts sales and warranty repair. I doubt Olympus USA wants to provide free service for cameras that bypassed the official distribution chain. Maybe things are different in Europe and Asia, I don’t know, but that’s how it has been in the USA for most cameras for a long time, including when I bought my Canon F1 new…
Bottom line: If you want a mfr. warranty, you can’t buy gray market. Olympus has just joined the rest of the manufacturers.
Although they just stated this some states require by law that the warranty is covered regardless of place of purchase if they sell any goods in that state.
Except grey importing (online) could not be constituted as selling in that state.
If the sell ANY products in the state then any sold outside the state must be honored. If they have no sales of any kind then that is different. Same as you pay sales tax in CA if you order form AZ and the company has an office in CA.
I’m from Argentina. My 17mm f1.8 bought in USA is in service repair since june. Due to Customs regulations local service can’t get new parts.
Horaciux, decime que se siente..;-)
Great – one has to love how some country’s tax laws – I just think Olympus is is wanting to discontinue any kind of warranty – that will save them few dollars and in the process they will loose twice as many new customers
I have always assumed that anything I bough overseas would be rejected for warranty service over a technicality anyway, so this changes nothing for me.
I dont know…relying on a warranty is like relying on your life insurance to me….everyone sees to have so i might have one too
Believing warranty covers user error is mistake. Warranty covers only a manufacruring/design mistakes. And you can not as consumer affect to that by any ways. Only trying to get product be repaired by clear manufacturer error can be terrible experience. Example Nikon D600 oil issue in shutter. Only considerable effort from consumers finally got Nikon to accept design flaw and allowed to repair all D600 cameras by replacing the shutter, design change that Nikon did for D610 model.
Now think that You would have bought D600 from foreign country when you were on trip there when your body broke off and you choose to buy new one. You would not have a repair service for your camera at home.
now with internet exposure its easy to ah expose flaws etc and we read about it. I remember my Olympus OM-3 electronics drained the battery cell too quickly, while its a mechanical body, 2 times to repair station in the Netherlands but no solution. Later i read it was a major flaw, and maybe the only one were i could take advantage of my world warranty reg.( i bought the body in Germany)….so that made sense for the free check without solution…..afterwards I choose the second hand way as it saved me lots ofmoney since 2004, and i didnt think about warranty anymore.I was lucky that not one camera failed me since(except for minor hiccups)
This did not “kill” the grey market, it just presents buyers with another cost/benefit issue they need to factor in their decision to buy or not. I’ve purchased a number of Olympus products from Japan and Korea via Amazon. I’m amazed at how quickly they ship as well as how much you can save. The risk? I’ve NEVER had to send in a camera or lens for warranty or repair work. I’ve been a photo enthusiast for 42 years. I transitioned to Olympus MFT about three years ago and have amassed quite a collection of camera bodies and lenses. Again, I’ve NEVER had to send in a camera or lens for warranty or repair work. The risk/benefit analysis is simple: Warranty or not, if I can buy it in Japan or Korea at a substantial savings, it’s worth it.
It won’t kill the grey market. Most people in the UK don’t even know why online retailers are so much cheaper than in-store, and are only vaguely aware that it might be “risky”.
When did Adorama and BH become “grey market??”
They always clearly mark their grey market products as such. The price difference is usually only like $20 though
They are not gray market – but sometimes have had gray market items for sale – but always very clearly marked
gray market is selling one country warranty to another where the warranty is not valid in that country it’s being sold in. Adorama and BH sell gray market: lower priced but with a non-american warranty.
This will effectively start gray market for olympus. you can’t have gray market if the product is warranted everywhere, like it was with a worldwide warranty.
I guess the next move by Olympus is not to warrant their products period – yes it might save them few dollars – but also will kill sales of new stuff –
hmmm… what Oly did was pretty cool having a worldwide warranty, but maybe it ended up being too expensive, so they reverted to the old standard that EVERYONE else has. No big deal.
Why would they want to eliminate warranties???
Looks like Olympus is doing what Nikon has been doing for years. If not bought and used in the same country you don’t get warranty service. This guarantees that Olympus will make money on what used to be warranty repairs.
Only I don’t think it will work in EU.
I’m thinking you are right. There are directives… 🙂
Well, that also ends the option to buy Olympus for me…
And you’ll go to another company that already has that policy & probably have done so for some time?
Actually I don’t think they can pull this along the EC.
There are directives… 🙂
So, if I buy from the UK, France or Germany, they’ll be forced to repair it under warranty. My luck is that the European Olympus Repair Centre is in located here in Portugal, and grey imports were never an option due to Customs taxes.
I agree – a stupid move from Olympus – I guess they think they are doing so well they can afford to loose thousands of customers
Olympus Australia has not been in the WWW for many years. There are still a large number of sellers selling grey imports. (which is entirely legal in Australia, its illegal to try and stop them) These sellers offer a warranty repair service themselves. So buying local grey imports is fine. Also the big sellers from HK and such also have their own warranty coverage. As well as local payment facilities. Having said that my current e-m1 and newer lenses are all Olympus Australia product. Olympus Australia has been excellent at pricing their product to be very competitive. They deserve support.
Since our dollar got better & when the E-M5 came to market (& maybe with a little badgering from some of us might have helped too, perhaps), it has been good.
Olympus Australia have not supported warranty claims for goods purchased overseas for some time. Ask any of the dealers here. They will tell you that they knock back the claims because they do not get reimbursed by Olympus. Visiting Australia from overseas with an Olympus claim – no probs. So this announcement will make no difference to the status quo here. I tend to purchase my Olympus camera bodies here and anything else wherever it is cheapest, which is not necessarily overseas.
The JJC hoods come from China though. 😉 😀
Olympus continuing its SELF-DESTRUCTION. Crazy
I just switched to EM-1’s from Nikon here in NZ. Since Olympus Australia is the supplier in NZ too, I assume that both countries will be treated as one. I would like to know that if I were visiting London however, that Olympus UK could help me if needed ? Thoughts ??
I think that is the $64,000 question. The change seems to indicate that no they won’t!
Hey, another Micro Four Thirds user in NZ! 😀
I film with Panasonic GH1, G3, GF3. In Auckland.
Congrats Olympus, do everything to make your market share even smaller!
They are the only brand I know where all dealers ask exactly the same price, even 1 year after a camera came on the market. There is no competition possible, let alone the gray market.
I get that a company may want this but a company that is struggling so hard like Olympus really shouldn’t worry about stifling competition between dealers and they should lower prices. The first E-PLs and E-PMs went on fire sale a couple of months into their life cylce, the current bunch hardly moves at all after 1 year. Are they selling so well? No, they aren’t. All I said is true for Austria BTW, don’t know about other places.
Totally agree – horrible move
Self Destruction – so many need to buy from overseas due to crazy taxes in some country’s – and now will not be buying Olympus – Canon and Nikon and Pentax must be really stupid and Olympus so much wiser 🙂
As far as I know a product made by Olympus is still made by Olympus and should be warranted regardless what country it is bought in –
Now it will have to be something amazing for me to by an Olympus – Nice move Olympus –
You complain of crazy taxes but surely if you try to import ‘grey’ products, you are liable for customs duties when they arrive? Will this not make the cost the same?
Here in NZ, Nikon’s distributor (T.A. Macallister) will only warranty repair cameras actually bought in New Zealand as this has been the case for years. Not sure on Canons position but Olympus are only now doing the same. The case of lenses may be different however as I believe Nikkors still have a worldwide warranty. That said, I buy all my gear here in New Zealand and the OMD’s have a two year warranty.