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Warranty for graphic card bought abroad?

Marine-RX179

Marine-RX179

Marine-RX179

Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
14,583
I know in UK when I buy a graphic card that got two years warrenty, the 1st year is covered by the retailer and the 2nd year covered by the manufacturer. But what about graphic card that is bought from aboard?

I will be going to Hong Kong today for just under 2 weeks, and I may or may not get a new graphic card (depending on the price). Let's say I bought a BFG/XFX/Sapphire brand card from a local (small) store/shop there...how is warranty gonna work? The chances is that the shop would probably not be covering the warranty when I'm back to UK (not even sure if they cover it at all at the first place), would I still get 2 years cover by the manufacturer or just one year or something else? Also, I have to make sure I get the receipt as prove of purchase right?

I'm really not sure how the warranty gonna work...

Also, if I do buy a graphic card, I should stick with brands that got manufacturer warranty cover in Europe right?

Cheers.
 
I'd be very careful, you need to really look into to warranty c and c's for the particular vendor your interested in.
I would have thought as long as you register on the vendors website when you get back to the uk it wouldn't matter were you purchased it from, obviously state were it's from if asked, if something did go wrong as long as you did register it, there shouldn't be an issue with going direct with vendor as apose to retailer.
Just my thoughts
just read the c and c's tho
 
Can I just add that, I contacted XFX about the exact same question and they came back to me to say that gfx warranties are not transferable across regions. Which is a real bummer. However, this may not be the case for other manufacturers so would need to contact each as I suspect they may have different approaches to warranties.

Such is the case with 'grey imports' dude. If anyone can shed more light then that would be good.
 
.......... For something like an XFX where you need to deal with issues through your retailer it is probably best to avoid. Research other retailers and see if they will honour warrenties here, or would you have to ship back to point of purchase.

Personally, I'd be considering whether the price good enough to effectively be buying the card without any warrenty at all - including DOA issues. And of course, you may get stung with VAT/Duty when you get back into the UK, not to mention the least favourable-exchange rate your CC provider can get away with charging you in addition to the 2.75% foreign currency handling fee.

For me, it would have to be under half UK price.
 
rounddodger said:
For sake of saving a few quid mate, it's not worth sacrificing your piece of mind.
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I know...but buying from Hong Kong I would save the entire bit of the VAT amount, plus at lower price...I think.

Well, I don't know for sure if I bit buying anything yet. Just asking in advance just in case. I supposed it is possible for send the card back to Hong Kong for repair/replacement if it's cover over there, but we all know how Custom would love to put extra 17.5% import VAT on things entering UK, and then how Royal Mail/ParcelForce LOVE charging us extra £8/£13 on the so-called 'clearance fee' for doing a simple task of paying import duty to Custom (probably just at the press of a few button) on our behalf...
 
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Marine-RX179 said:
I know...but buying from Hong Kong I would save the entire bit of the VAT amount, plus at lower price...I think.

Well, I don't know for sure if I bit buying anything yet. Just asking in advance just in case. I supposed it is possible for send the card back to Hong Kong for repair/replacement if it's cover over there, but we all know how Custom would love to put extra 17.5% import VAT on things entering UK, and then how Royal Mail/ParcelForce LOVE charging us extra £8/£13 on the so-called 'clearance fee' for doing a simple task of paying import duty to Custom (probably just at the press of a few button) on our behalf...
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You makes your choices you takes your chances.. :P

That said I imported an 8800 Ultra couple years ago from the states and it worked out fine but if you need to warranty that you're up **** creak without a paddle.

Overall I don't think it's worth it.
 
Well the warranty on most cards isn't worth the paper its printed on... but that aside in almost every case the manufacturer will wriggle out of it if you try to use the warranty outside of its intended region and you will have no way to use any warranty with the retailer unless you actually go back to HK. So unless you travel frequently to HK or its a massive saving that would outweigh the potential lack of warranty its not worth it.
 
.............. Worst case scenario - caught at Heathrow - pay duty. Get home, card is dead out of the box. 30 days later - credit card bill arrives, savings 5% less than originally thought. One week later - 'This week only' at OcUK - same card £10 more than you paid for your dead one!

Crap always happens - I think it would be a false economy!
 
well i dont think you will get the warranty, because i have brought a few thing like this from hk and they told me i wouldnt get a international warranty, so if anything happens to my stuff i would have to bring it back to hk to repair...but on the bright side components are hell LOT CHEAPER in hk than it is here. (two years back, i saw an asus gtx295 mars for about hk$9000, which is roughly £800)
 
It's always worth a look if you're in HK. I bought a Ps3 in HK for about £210 when they were still £300 over here. Came back through the airport at 5am in the morning and there wasn't even anyone in the customs checking area. Whoops :D
 
SirCanealot said:
It's always worth a look if you're in HK. I bought a Ps3 in HK for about £210 when they were still £300 over here. Came back through the airport at 5am in the morning and there wasn't even anyone in the customs checking area. Whoops :D
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i bought a a3 graphic tablets lol it was like a massive cardboard box hanging on my head when i got though the airport!
 
vian_siu said:
..but on the bright side components are hell LOT CHEAPER in hk than it is here. (two years back, i saw an asus gtx295 mars for about hk$9000, which is roughly £800)
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Two years back you say.. Funny that as the GT200 series hadn't even been released back then. :P (June '08 For the GTX260/280- the 295 followed on much later)
 
isnt 2008 two years ago? sry i dont count the months lol, but it was late dec 2008-jan 2009...in fact i cant even remember what time, all i remember its dec-jan of my second uni year, and i graduated july last year, so it must some where 2 years ago.
 
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oppss...sry i must have got confused with my other trip to hk and japan last year around late aug...that must have been when i saw the mars bar!
 
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