As far as I see it, JL Audio is a prime example of a company supporting their line. You can’t buy their product online. If you think the online dealers are not selling legitimate products your missing the largest paradigm shift of the century, the manufactures and loving it. Just look where your spending your time. ONLINE???

EBay not a dealer, their an auction house so they don’t count.
I ‘m referring to legitimate online dealers.

The deal is that when you buy a product in Canada you rarely buy it from the parent manufacturer. 99% of the time you buy it from a distributor, whether an independent one such as SCL or Korbon, or a corporately owned one such as Pioneer Canada.

The Distributors purchase their goods from the parent manufacturer without warranty. They then offer the warranty themselves (most of the time a mirror of what the parent manufacturer offers)and have to leave margin in the product when they sell it to cover that warranty.

Thus - if you buy an MTX or Alpine or whatever amp/sub/deck from the US, the Canadian distributor is not responsible (and generally unwilling) to repair it. It's the way it is.

Plus, what kind of chance are you taking handing over a wad of cash to "Fly by Night Online Audio"? Not worth it IMO. [img]graemlins/dunno.gif[/img]

Buy from an authorized dealer in Canada.

Obviously you have it all worked out. You know what you are doing and have considered any risks that may be involved (none it seems).


The answer is obvious - Canadian distributors and especially storefronts have excessive, unwarranted margins on their products and offer no benefits from online, out of country vendors.

Go get shopping. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

Hmm, Etronics is a large "authorized" dealer then? Because the lawsuits against them says otherwise. I would trust Sound Domain and Genuine Canadian Audio and that's about it.

I can't wait for the day all retail dealers shut down due to online sales, and there is no where to demo or touch equipment, get it installed, take it too when it breaks, put on sound offs. I know I won't be installing, I will be off doing somoething else and if someone will want me to fix their car they screwed up I will be making $100/hr off them, because there will be no shops they can go to for reasonable priced help.

Ebay is a good for stuff you can't get anymore like Relic Gear. It's also good for stuff not avaible to Canadians like most Satellite Radio gear. I have never bought a peice of gear from ebay. My crossover was aqquired from a well known user on the carsound board. But I want to be able to walk into my dealer, say Hello to the guys, because I know them, try out a product. If I want it I can pay for it and take it home that day, no waiting for UPS with their brokerage charges. My shop, like all, can install what I just bought for a reasonable price. And If sometime, maybe in the next week this gear craps out, all I have to do is drive back to the shop and they can swap out the defective product for a new one in no time. You acutally get warrenty. No shipping charges. I'm sick of "I can get it cheaper on ebay". The only purpose it serves is trying to get a better deal in a store. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Rightly said Paul.
In order to request any kind of warranty repair you will need a sales receipt from an authorized dealer, if the dealer is NOT authorized then the warranty may be void even before you receive the unit. Just the same, more and more manufacturers have the clause of the warranty only being valid for the original purchaser. So if you are buying from a dealer online who is selling B Stock or Refurbished units as brand new, you will not know until you go to get it serviced only to find out that you have a costly bill to pay. If you like taking chances by all means buy online.
If you think that the manufacturer will not know where (which country) a unit was purchased, you are sadly mistaken as all units have serial numbers and they all differ slightly from country to country and can be traced. Of course with out the serial number there is no warranty, so there is no way around that.

Now I have a question for you... would you rather feed your local economy and keep a neighbour in business by spending your money in your local area in a place where you can get service (both customer service and warranty service), advice (is that REALLY the right product for your application??) and meet the sales people and installers from local shops (whom most of the people on this board are from) or send your money away to the USA and have them just take your money and send you a box from their warehouse?

In the end, the choice is yours. [img]graemlins/cf2.gif[/img]

Your warranty is only valid in the country you purchased the unit in and only if that dealer is authorized to sell that product.

MR2NR and Dukk said it best -- if you don't believe us, shop online -- but don't whine when you get screwed.

Condomboy is also right... what country do you live in (believe it or not the internet is not a country)? -- I don't know where you work, but I bet Canadians buy the product or service you produce -- so why not support other Canadians?

[img]graemlins/cf2.gif[/img] :confused:

yeah i was on vacation in california, and saved money to buy my amps there and pick em up. saved at least 900 bucks cdn. brought em home, finally hooked up my mrv-f540 up, and its dead. so now i gotta pay probably 150 bucks shipping there and back to service it because alpine tracks serial numbers coming in for warranty work, and its a US s/n. all in all i'll still have saved lots of money. lots.

however, i was there for vacation. this reduces shipping costs, customs (i barely made it under max claim amount) and most tax. so it wouldnt be the same if you have it shipped up here. customs would murder ya i think.

Yes there is cusoms charges when you first prchase the amp but if you fill out the proper shipping forms you will not pay customs on sending sonthing for repair.

Yes there is cusoms charges when you first prchase the amp but if you fill out the proper shipping forms you will not pay customs on sending sonthing for repair.