Alpine 630. Found out the Crutchfield is only authorized e-tailer.

[RL in Florida]

Hi again.
Forgot to mention something in my prior post.
I just ordered my Alpine 630 CD changer from Crutchfield for $238.
I was not terrible pleased when I found that I could get it from E-tronics for $187. I called Crutchfield and asked them to cancel the order. The rep claimed that the E-tronics changer was grey market and that Alpine will not honor the warranty, nor provide any support. Of course, as far as I was concerned, this was total B.S.
So...I called Alpine Customer Service and they confirmed it. They actually said "we have no idea where Etronics obtains our product. We are in litigation with them right now."
The Alpine rep than confirmed that Crutchfield was the ONLY authorized internet retailer for their product. Strange, huh?
So... I guess I could have saved a few bucks with Etronics at the expense of one year of warranty (although I am sure that Etronics would have replaced the product if anything went wrong; I have had good experiences ordering from them before). In the end, I decided to go with Crutchfield, since I had to get the PIE interface from them anyways, and already had to pay for shipping. Incidentally, I picked up the PIE interface for 19.99 at Crutchfield. I found it for 14.99 at audio-warehouse.com, but shipping was extra.
Just thought I would let everyone know about the warranty thing, though.
Regards,
Rick
Florida.

 

[nsxxtreme]

It would be interesting to hear from some attorneys. I don't think Alpine can dishonor a warranty based on where it was bought.

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by nsxxtreme:
It would be interesting to hear from some attorneys. I don't think Alpine can dishonor a warranty based on where it was bought.

Sure they can. In fact, the car manufacturers are starting to do the same thing, refusing to have their U.S.-based dealers honor the warranty for cars originally sold in the Canadian market. Chrysler recently announced this change to their policy.

 

[MAKO]

Interestingly, Ferrari of North America has been fighting with a few of their customers over the same issue and just LOST a case over the warranty/service rights of imported grey-market Euro Ferraris in the US.

In regards to the Alpine changer, this is nothing new in the area of audio electronics. Last year I bought a Denon 3802 reciever for the house and the same rule applied: Unless you purchase the unit from an authorized Denon-approved internet retailer, Denon won't honor the product's warranty. Same situation for the Toshiba HDTV we purchased at that time as well.

 

[nsxxtreme]

It would still be interesting to hear from an attorney. How does where it was bought have anything to do with how the product performs. I can see the car issue. They were designed for a different market, they were never intended to come into the US. I don't know anything about this, I as well have heard the same thing.

 

[Lud]

It is perfectly legal for them to do it that way. Many other businesses operate the same way and will only support their product if it is purchased from an authorized reseller. For example if you buy a Rolex on the cheap from a non-authorized dealer, you are on your own.

 

[Michigan NSX]

That same holds true for a LOT of Audio/Video Equipment (just try getting warranty repair work done on a $15,000 video projector you bought from an un-authorized reseller). Some companies even register the serial number of a product sold by an authorized dealer so the service center knows which individual products are "legal" (ie. covered under warranty) and which ones are not.

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'91 Black/Black