BigNorman.com and European Warranty

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trickards

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So I am looking to buy a new lens and (of course) get the cheapest price possible without going for a "grey" import.

I have been very interested by the prices at BigNorman.com but was concerned about the warranty. After phoning them they confirmed it is a European warranty and is such is covered for the first year by Canon in the UK and accross Europe.

Skeptical about this I phoned Canon about and after jumping between a few people in the call centre I got to speak to someone in the know. They assured me that any items purchased from within mainland Europe (inc. Germany, France, Spain etc) would be covered by a European warranty which could be used in the UK.

That seems pretty definitive to me. If this is the case, BigNorman has some great prices. Anyone here have a good experience with them? Experienced members only please - I don't want Mr. BigNorman himself vouching for his own website ;)

Thanks.
 
Hi
Just bought a EOS60D with 18-55 & 55-250mm lenses from them for £869.99.
I chose them for price and also because for this package their webpage stated it came with a free 5 year warranty.
I also bought 2 filters, one of which was missing from the parcel, so i emailed them asking when i could expect the missing filter and also because no paperwork had come regarding the 5 year warranty.
Their reply was

"That’s odd as no of our products state warranty, they state to see warranty click here, we have never offered a 5 year warranty either. I will get the UK filter off to you so its with you Friday."

I again told them the web page does indeed state on it 'free 5 year warranty', and if this is a mistake to change it before someone more 'picky' picks up on it.
Anyway this morning a package comes and they've gone and sent another CPL filter by mistake!!
Email them again telling them this and again ask about the warranty to which i get this reply;

"The warranty is for three years, as said previously we have never offered a 5 year warranty. Sorry!



I can’t believe they have sent you the same again, I am so sorry about this. Will call now and have another sent correctly this time."

They have now changed the web page and removed the text that says it comes with a free 5 year warranty, but i'm curious to know if i can hold them to the original offer?
Another couple of things worry me. The box the camera, 18-55mm lens, charger, strap, cd's etc came in was a 18-135mm kit and had no warranty card to fill in with it. And, the 55-250mm lens had a US Canadian warranty card in it!
I will be contacting Canon shortly with the serial numbers of all to see what's what!
Other than that the jury's still out on how good they are!
 
Great to hear from you, please keep us updated on how this goes on. A less than perfect situation! I think I will hold off for now.

I spoke to them again earlier and they said items are not shipped with warranty cards as they remove them and register them themselves - which is strange to say the least. They said you are expected to use the invoice as proof of purchase within the EU and the european warranty will be honoured.

It is still possible that its legit, but why remove the warranty card?
 
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Hi Carlo,
Would you mind letting me know what happened with regards the 60D and registering it with Canon?
I'm in exactly the same position - I'm considering buying one from BigNorman next week, so would be extremely grateful to know how you got on.
Best Regards,
Ray
 
hello

so having never ordered anything off the Internet for a sum more than £100.00, last night I order a CSC camera from bignorman.com..

Today being eager to get my new toy I went onto the website expecting to be able to login and track the order, however I can't find anyway to do this! So I go googling and start seeing lots of Posts from people who are at best 'disappointed / regretting using bignorman' and at worst (by inflection in tone of comments) 'feel ripped off'.....

......so you can imagine (having never spent more than £100 on an online order & having never purchased from bignorman) I am very very nervous about this transaction which is for a lot of money!!

I am yet to receive an email from them confirming receipt of order (which i would have thought would have been automated) although I did get an email from google wallet confirming the spend...

I have just emailed them asking them to answer some basic questions to put my mind at rest giving them the instruction to hold despatch until I am satisfied as I may wish to cancel...

I will post again as this plays out so that if it turns out I have made a stupid mistake using this company then hopefully others can learn by my mistake.

In the meantime if anyone can advise me on how best to go about getting a refund ( so I'm prepared) I would be really grateful - for example as it was a payment from my current account rather than a credit card am I stuffed or can I for example ring my bank monday morning and stop the transfer / payment or is that all too late now?

Thanks for your reading time!

R.
 
I bought my 600D from them without any issues. It is a grey import so f anything goes wrong you have to send it back to their uk address and they send it on for repair either to the country of manufacture or a separate repair company. They effectively offer you heir own 3year warranty which is the same as other companies such as Panamoz do.

I didn't get an automated response but got the email with the tracking reference 24-48 hours later an tracked it over the weekend down to the 1 hour time slot they delivered it in to my work address.
 
gblades said:
I bought my 600D from them without any issues. It is a grey import so f anything goes wrong you have to send it back to their uk address and they send it on for repair either to the country of manufacture or a separate repair company. They effectively offer you heir own 3year warranty which is the same as other companies such as Panamoz do.

I didn't get an automated response but got the email with the tracking reference 24-48 hours later an tracked it over the weekend down to the 1 hour time slot they delivered it in to my work address.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments.

Note: I spent ages researching which camera to buy, just wish I spent some time researching the supplier (fingers crossed I hit lucky!)
 
I've not used Big Norman before but I have used Panamoz and I have to say they are fantastic. I ordered a Sigma 150-500 OS on New Years Day (bank holiday) and I still received it on the 5th day after ordering it.
Last week I ordered a 60D and it was here in 4 days (and I tracked it on UPS all the way) and last thursday (19th April) I ordered a Sigma 120-400 OS for the wife and it is down for delivery on the 23rd April and it's about £30 cheaper than Big Norman.
From now on I think I'll be getting most of my gear from Panamoz as it's consistently cheaper and I know how good the service is. I've never had any body or lens need a warranty claim (5 bodies and around 12 lenses) but even if it takes a few extra days to get sorted through Panamoz the savings are worth it.
 
Hey. I'll consider that, but tbh if all works out with bignorman then I'd I'll probably stick with them, my theory being that hopefully building a purchase history with them will work in my favour in the long run!

Update about order: I did get an automated email, It was in my spam folder.. There is an option to click for update on order but when I do it just asks me to log in to google wallet, then it just gives me their telephone number. I guess with me ordering on a Friday evening there will be no update until sometime Monday morning..
 
They do quite clearly state in their terms and faq that your warranty is with them and not the manufacturer, thus you are subject to their warranty terms and conditions rather than the manufacturers.

This is also made abundantly clear by the fact that you have to register your item for warranty with them.

A little while ago I looked into a similar company that my brother had purchased his nikon from, he was overjoyed that it came with a free 5 year warranty, until I looked into the small print and found that after year 1, he would have to pay shipping, labour charges and delivery back to him, they would only cover parts, after year three they would not replace the whole camera either.
In other words the 5 year warranty wasn't worth the paper it was written on, he had no 2 year nikon warranty which that camera came with as standard here and nikon UK wouldnt touch it as it was a grey import.

To my mind the peace of mind offered by buying legitimate UK goods far outweighs the initial savings made purchasing a grey import.
 
I must admit rushing in, after spending 5-6 weeks thinking about which camera (and With Jessips running out of stock) I just googled it and when I saw it for only £10 more and a 3yr warranty and only 2 left in stock I just thought 'I better get that fast'!

Ok so anyway, lots of emails between bignorman and me today, I'll write it all up after I take delivery I think towards the weekend ...
 
Still no camera, clearly I left my brain in the jar when I clicked to buy - website clearly shows that order monday may not receive until the following Tuesday. I just need to e patient.!
 
So apparently the courier lost my camera, I accepted a silver version (in desperation).No confidence with this company, i think i got olayed tbh think & ended up with a used camera too. I will never buy from them again.

R.
 
If you were having second thoughts about the company then surely the courier loosing the item would be the perfect excuse to get your money back.

If you think the camera isn't new then maybe there is a way to check the shutter count (number of photos taken).
 
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Yes it would have been, but all the other (similar priced) suppliers had sold out so I decided to stick it out...

With electronics there are always engineer modes which allow you to reset counters so no point, besides no need, every item had clearly been out of its bag - that aside the box had the original serial number pealed off (bigger than the new one applied giving the game away).

I'm guessing this camera at some point in its life has been a RTM, now classified as a graded unit. Why else rip off the original serial number!!

Ps. I've not gone in to all the ins and out of the various communications between me and 'Norman' but suffice to say it has left me just wanting to move on..

Lesson learnt - Research the seller before handing over your hard earned cash..
 
As BigNorman provided no goods and no refund after many of my attempts to contact them over the last two and a half months, I am getting a charge back processed on my credit card.

BigNorman did communicate, and did attempt to refund the money, but my definition of a refund is that it arrive in my bank account. It is their responsibility to see this happens.

They have no New Zealand presence, despite the ".co.nz" in their website address. There is no contact details on their invoice. When I asked for their address, they just gave me the address of their lawyer in Gibraltar. :'(
 
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