Buying from Panamoz, what are the risks?

[stu.artd]

I've has similar with Parcel Force this week.

I had 2 recorded deliveries, the first, I heard a knock at the door. I went to answer, opened the inside door to see the delivery guy getting back in his van, the parcel was left lying against the door.

The second, I was out and came back to find the parcel tucked in behind a plant at the front door.

No cards left through the letterbox for any of these and when I checked online for the proof of delivery I discovered that someone had signed for it using my name.

I had 2 dodgy deliveries a few weeks ago. One through courier A and the other through courier B. Both from well established companies located in the UK.

I checked the delivery status of the courier A item and it was "left in my outhouse". Strange as my wife was in all day and we don't have an outhouse. We have a garage that remains locked unless one of us is in there, so I knew it couldn't be there. I checked with neighbours to see if they had it, but they hadn't signed for anything. They even checked their garden sheds for me, but turned up nothing. One of my neighbours found it the next night when they were putting card / papers into their recycling bin, and the card that was supposed to go through the letterbox was in the bin along with the parcel!! Never mind the fact it was in the recycling bin, it wasn't even in mine!!

I'm not sure if courier B did better or worse, but here goes. Once again, my wife was at home all day and nothing was delivered. The online tracking stated left at No. 170 (I'm 168). I asked my neighbour but they said they had been out all day and nothing had been delivered to them. They also have a surname that's different from the one on the website tracking info. I had a brainwave and did a search on all no 170's + the surname from the website in the town I stay in and discovered someone about a half mile away in a different street. Lo and behold that's where it was. The street names are totally different (only one letter is the same, that's how different they are) and the guy that took the delivery in said to me that he'd told the courier that the house he'd tried to deliver to was unoccupied just now.
This one could have turned bad quite easilly I guess, they're new neighbours that we don't know very well and I could have maintained the courier did deliver something to them and they were just denying it, after all who'd have thought it would have been delivered to the entirely wrong street. Thankfully I just believed them and got to the bottom of it myself.

 

[careless_adi]

Putting the morality and legality of buying a gray import to one side, does the gray import equivalent item vary in any way to that of the exact same item bought in the UK? Are both manufactured in the same factories and gone through the same quality control procedures?

 

[HoppyUK]

Putting the morality and legality of buying a gray import to one side, does the gray import equivalent item vary in any way to that of the exact same item bought in the UK? Are both manufactured in the same factories and gone through the same quality control procedures?

No, and yes.

The only differences may be the charger (usually only the lead/plug) and wrong language handbooks.

 

[careless_adi]

No, and yes.

The only differences may be the charger (usually only the lead/plug) and wrong language handbooks.

So what about buying lenses or filters?

 

[Original Poster]

So what about buying lenses or filters?

Identical, made in the same factory to the same standards.

 

[HoppyUK]

So what about buying lenses or filters?

Yes, identical.

The only slight danger is there are a few fake filters about, and batteries too. The only way you can be certain about those, short of actually comparing the two side by side in your hand, is to buy from a retailer supplied by the official importer.

 

[dave_bass5]

Putting the morality and legality of buying a gray import to one side, does the gray import equivalent item vary in any way to that of the exact same item bought in the UK? Are both manufactured in the same factories and gone through the same quality control procedures?

The lower end Canon Cameras are also named differently for different global regions, so i assume they do go down a sightly different path at the factory but thats purely cosmetic.

 

[Towny]

Well it seems you grey importers have succeeded. Jessops going into administration this afternoon.

 

[careless_adi]

Yes, identical.

The only slight danger is there are a few fake filters about, and batteries too. The only way you can be certain about those, short of actually comparing the two side by side in your hand, is to buy from a retailer supplied by the official importer.

Identical, made in the same factory to the same standards.

The lower end Canon Cameras are also named differently for different global regions, so i assume they do go down a sightly different path at the factory but thats purely cosmetic.

Thank you all for the comments. I was lead to believe from a friend who bought a gray import Canon 60D was the quality control was not as stringent as the 'normal' cameras people buy from Jessops, Park Cameras et al.

Is this true? And if they are built in a different factory, surely they can't be branded as 'Canon'?

 

[dave_bass5]

Well it seems you grey importers have succeeded. Jessops going into administration this afternoon.

I'd say its more on line retailers rather than grey importers.

 

[insertusernamehere]

Well it seems you grey importers have succeeded. Jessops going into administration this afternoon.

What a supremely narrow minded view!!!
What about everyone who buys online from UK companies because their prices are better??

Or all those people who dare to buy from other high street shops??

I for one had better service from panamoz than i ever had in my local Jessops given that and the price difference I would have no issue buying from them again!

 

[HoppyUK]

Thank you all for the comments. I was lead to believe from a friend who bought a gray import Canon 60D was the quality control was not as stringent as the 'normal' cameras people buy from Jessops, Park Cameras et al.

Is this true? And if they are built in a different factory, surely they can't be branded as 'Canon'?

No.

Well it seems you grey importers have succeeded. Jessops going into administration this afternoon.

Greys are probably a factor, but the biggest single blow is the collapse of the compact camera market in the run up to Xmas, though everyone has suffered there - sales lost to camera-phones.

But either way, it was sadly only a matter of time.

 

[Towny]

True sadly inevitable - high street shops with all the associated costs cannot compete with on-line offerings. High end specialists like Grays and Robert White have a chance as they attract premium customers. I happen to live close to one of the large one shop on-line dealers. Chatting to some of the retail staff it is apparent even they struggle to cover the overhead of one large showroom when the likes of Amazon just shift from warehouses. Without the new Nikon Fuji and Canon higher end products they would have been in the doo doo. No profit in compacts before the smart phone anyway.

Actually always found Jessops dreadful even in their flagship stores - bit like the old Dixons when all the assistants were Assistant Managers but did not have any product knowledge. The example of Comet who had no response to online could be an indication that Jessops may struggle to find a buyer willingbtonchuckngood money after bad. Sadly the punter looking to try before they buy is going to have a bit of a struggle.

Back on the grey importers - having checked the maths, if you strip duty and VAT out of prices from Park or Wex the boys in HK are actually making a bigger margin than UK retailers. Just relying on the incompetence of HMRC to sustain their business model.