Buying from onestopdigital

[bulb763]

Following on from this thread, I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with using onestopdigital's warranty system. I'd be spending a lot of money (for me) with them if I went for the Sigma 70-200 and 1.4TC, and I wouldnt want to have to send a faulty lens back only to be witout it for weeks.

So has anyone ever had cause to send anything back? What was the service like? Quick? Did they try to argue the toss? Any good experiences?

Thanks all

 

[PaulBoy]

Following on from this thread, I would like to know if anyone has had any experience with using onestopdigital's warranty system. I'd be spending a lot of money (for me) with them if I went for the Sigma 70-200 and 1.4TC, and I wouldnt want to have to send a faulty lens back only to be witout it for weeks.

So has anyone ever had cause to send anything back? What was the service like? Quick? Did they try to argue the toss? Any good experiences?

Thanks all

I can't answer the question about Warranties etc as none of the items I have bought from OneStop have had any issues (yet?) - I would say though that I have shyed away from buying the more expensive stuff from HK for this very reason - the Sigma you are after is £499 at OneStop & the cheapest UK price appears to be £619 from Microglobe - You have to make the call whether the extra £120 is money well spent if things go "Pete Tong" ...
My own spin on this would be to get a price off Kerso (via PM here) and you should get a great price and a Warranty that will be valid in the UK ...
HTH - Paul

 

[pswillies]

Something to be slightly wary of... not all of their warranties are quite as long as you'd expect. My 17-40 only had a 6 month warranty included.

Saying that though, they did replace my CompactDrive without question when I dropped it, so I'm happy with their level of service.

 

[pxl8]

AFAIK Sigma gear from One Stop includes an international warranty so you can deal direct with Sigma UK if there's a problem.

 

[bulb763]

Something to be slightly wary of... not all of their warranties are quite as long as you'd expect. My 17-40 only had a 6 month warranty included.

Saying that though, they did replace my CompactDrive without question when I dropped it, so I'm happy with their level of service.

Thats good to hear. IIRC correctly, the site states that the lens comes with a 1 year Sigma international warranty, so that's ok.

I can't answer the question about Warranties etc as none of the items I have bought from OneStop have had any issues (yet?) - I would say though that I have shyed away from buying the more expensive stuff from HK for this very reason - the Sigma you are after is £499 at OneStop & the cheapest UK price appears to be £619 from Microglobe - You have to make the call whether the extra £120 is money well spent if things go "Pete Tong" ...
My own spin on this would be to get a price off Kerso (via PM here) and you should get a great price and a Warranty that will be valid in the UK ...

Already PM-ed him. Just waiting for a reply now

I too am wary of spending so much money on something from so far away, for fear of potential problems. It is exactly this reason why I am trying to find out what their service is like. I got a 50mm 1.8 from them at Christmas, and have had no problems at all with that. But the Sigma is an altogether different proposition...

 

[goatee]

AFAIK Sigma gear from One Stop includes an international warranty so you can deal direct with Sigma UK if there's a problem.

Sigma UK won't do warranty repairs on imported lenses. Check, but last time I spoke to them (to check this very issue) they said they'll only do a warranty repair on international lenses, if VAT has been paid on them.

 

[bulb763]

Sigma UK won't do warranty repairs on imported lenses. Check, but last time I spoke to them (to check this very issue) they said they'll only do a warranty repair on international lenses, if VAT has been paid on them.

Thanks. I fired off an email to them and got this response:

Dear Jonathan,

Our warranty will be honoured in the first year in any of our international repairers providing you can produce a copy of proof of purchase and a stamped warranty card from your retailer.
Regards

Lee McDonald

Photographic Specialist

Sigma Imaging UK Ltd

So it seems that as long as I get a stamped warranty card and receipt, I will have a warranty. I can't recall if any of my other lens' warranty cards have been stamped though...

 

[goatee]

Fair enough - maybe the chappy I spoke to thought I was talking about the extended 3 year EX warranty they used to do.

 

[bulb763]

The plot thickens... I asked specifically about not paying import charges, and they sent me a pdf which contains this in the small-print:

Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd does not condone the
avoidance of the payment of VAT and import
duty.Any claims on our 12 month International
Warranty from the owners of products not
imported into the UK by Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd
must therefore be accompanied by proof of
payment of import duty & VAT.

So I guess if I still want to go down the onestopdigital route, I am left with two options. a/ hope it gets picked up by customs and then claim the VAT back using OSDs VAT promise, or if they don't pick it up, b/ tell customs about it, pay the VAT and then claim it back. Not sure if this is in the spirit of OSDs promise though. Going to have to check that one out...

Anybody else with any experiences?

 

[goatee]

Ah, yes, so I was right. . . It's a toughie - Canon aren't like that about imported lenses, which is ironic, because you save a lot more generally, importing Canon lenses, as compared to Sigma lenses.

 

[Steep]

If I recall correctly OneStop will undervalue it for tax purposes anyway so even if you pay up Sigma may not accept it. If as I read above you are saving £120 plus you can afford to send it back to HK for repair via RMSD twice over and still be in credit.

I once had to send a lens to Sigma UK for repair (about 2 1/2yrs ago) it took about 2 weeks to get it back.