Australian Customers Screwed....Again

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>I want to buy a Panasonic GH2. I have a GF1 with several lenses and want the GH2 body only. In Australia, Panasonic will only supply the GH2 with the 14-140 lens, which I don't need and don't want. I have explained this position to them but they have no interest whatever. Their attitude seems to be "pay the money sucker and that's it". <br>

Their alternative suggestion was for me to buy the body offshore. I can easily do that but I don't get a warranty and don't get the Australian charger, and the Australian dealer loses the sale. <br>

This is pathetic and just shows how Panasonic Australia treats its customers (and dealers) with contempt. Almost enough for me to go back to Nikon.</p>

 

[SCL]

<p>Why not buy the kit and sell the unwanted lens?</p>

[ingemar_lampa1]

<p>My 2 cents: Without knowing where in Oz you live, why not take a flight to Asia, Singapore or Hong Kong and buy it there? I am almost sure that the money you would save would probably pay for the flight, especially if buying "grey" market goods as we call them here in Hong Kong. Difference between grey market and "official" goods is that you can only get warranty and service by contacting the shop where you bought it - but in this day and age where you only have 1 year warranty whichever way you look, I don't consider that an issue. Savings from World Wide warranty goods can be substantial, in the order of 30-40%. Singapore has recently become more expensive than Hong Kong, according to friends reports.</p>

<p>No Australian charger? Universal travel adaptors cost about $2 Oz over here...</p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>One thing, Panasonic may have to order a minimum qty, like 100 or maybe even a 1000 units to sell you and the other possibly 50 prospective customers a body only kit. That doesn't make any business sense. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't pay 25% more for a body only kit.<br>

.</p>

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>Thanks for the responses. <br>

Why should I have to buy a lens I don't want and then sell it at a substantial loss? Does not seem reasonable to me.<br>

Taking a $1000 flight to Hong Kong is far more than any possible saving. These days, the absolute best you will do in HK is 25% saving on the local price. Because the camera is so new, you are likely to find that there is no saving at all until the market is flooded and prices come down. I lived in HK for 4 years. In HK, a new product equals a top price, sometimes even more than the suggested list price because the dealers perceive that because the supply is far less than the demand, they can extort money from those stupid enough to pay the premium.<br>

My main issue is the guarantee. Having learned the hard way with Nikon, an Australian guarantee is important, especially for new digital cameras. By the way, you will only get any service for these cameras from Panasonic itself, and if the camera is imported, they will not even touch it, even if you are prepared to pay for the repair. So you face the hassle of trying to get service from the original dealer/distributor. Postage costs, insurance costs, fighting with customs over duty, tax, etc when the camera is returned. <br>

Surely it shouldn't be like this. if they have to order 50 or 100 bodies, so what? Panasonic is not a small company operating on a shoestring. One further thing is that they have the camera on their Australian website with a suggested list price for the body without the lens. The only problem is that you can't buy it. In Australia, we call that bait and switch and it is considered to be misleading advertising.<br>

No doubt I will eventually buy one from overseas but it is Panasonic's "get stuffed" attitude that I particularly object to. </p>

[ingemar_lampa1]

<p>25-30% on official goods sounds about right. Same when comparing to my native country. A bit more when buying grey market. I never had a new camera fail on me within a year before the warranty expired anyhow, film or digital. Maybe I have been lucky. AU$1.000 sounds very expensive and you are right, not worth it then. I thought you could get el-cheapo flights for less than the $500 mark. That is certainly the case from here, but not always of course. Only when they have some promotion.</p>

[chrisnielsen]

<p>I've just had a 3 month old D90 that was used less than 5 times fail on me a few days ago, so I'm glad I bought locally and sucked up the extra cost to get a warranty</p>

[ukhov]

<p>- update in same format for newer model sound like god to rescue with high cost offer?!Get Nikon like all folks .</p>

[curt wiler]

<p>Actually in Australia you seem to have stock - in the US, the new models of both bodies (GF2 and GH2) and lenses are basically unavailable with no delivery dates predicted. I do notice that the GH2 seems to be shown only with the 14-140 lens. It appears that Panasonic is having trouble keeping the supply pipeline full - so it's a seller's market.</p>

[yoshio]

<p>Wayne</p>

<p>it might just be you could buy the body from another location such as the USA or Asia. It might also be that you can sell the 14-140 on ebay and make money.</p>

<p>If you don't like the sellers in Australia why avoid the camera you wish to get and go to another camera to "spite" them. If you like the camera then buy it on the internet, I know a number of Australians who do exactly that ... I understood there has exactly been debate in Australia about exactly that.</p>

<p>Unless you want to go into Harvey Norman ...</p>

[david_callard]

<p>I buy all my gear overseas from stores like B&H because the prices are often 30/40% cheaper than Australia and I usually find the service to be excellent. Then the Australian retailers scream in agony because we don't buy from them! Still, I guess they don't have the buying power of the big US companies so it's probably a little unfair of me to blame them for their high prices but it won't stop me getting the best deal I can.</p>

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>Thanks for the replies and advice. I have bought lots of gear from Hong Kong over the years. However, I would like the Australian guarantee for a complex digital camera with no track record. Even Nikon had huge problems with sensor banding until they were forced to admit to it and fix it. This site's Nikon forum had a lot to do with that.<br>

My complaint is not with Australian dealers, it is with Panasonic for forcing customers to buy a lens that many won't want. If they can make it available as a body only in most other countries, why not Australia? It just smacks of price gouging. The Australian dealers are none too happy about this either, now that I have told them what is happening. Thanks again.</p>

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>Well, what do you know. After I emailed all of the major photo dealers here about Panasonic's tricks, Panasonic miraculously "found" one only silver GH2 body. Perhaps I am naturally suspicious but there are some questions to answer here. Like, is this a demonstrator/sample body brought in for the rep to play with and show to dealers? My bet is yes. If not, why only one? and why silver? In fairness, the dealer who forced Panasonic's hand has done a great job. However, I am yet to get to the bottom of this sudden "miraculous" find of one body. If Panasonic can find me a black body, new, not a sample, then I will happily give them credit. </p>

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>Well, what do you know. After I emailed all of the major photo dealers here about Panasonic's tricks, Panasonic miraculously "found" one only silver GH2 body. Perhaps I am naturally suspicious but there are some questions to answer here. Like, is this a demonstrator/sample body brought in for the rep to play with and show to dealers? My bet is yes. If not, why only one? and why silver? In fairness, the dealer who forced Panasonic's hand has done a great job. However, I am yet to get to the bottom of this sudden "miraculous" find of one body. If Panasonic can find me a black body, new, not a sample, then I will happily give them credit. </p>