Panamoz and UK 3 year warranty?

c22w1

c22w1

Messages
940
Name
Chris
Edit My Images
Yes
I know Panamoz is rated as a decent supplier but I have been informed by them that a Sigma lens I am thinking of buying will come from their Hong Kong warehouse and all taxes will be paid by them. They also state that Should the lens develop a fault within 3 years it will be repaired by Sigma UK and the bill picked up Panamoz.
Does anyone have any experience of this?
It sounds, on the face of it, an amazing deal considering the lens is so much cheaper in the first place?
 
not sure how you would check this, Sigma will fix anything if its being paid for and panamoz are saying they will foot the bill, so......
 
Not sure if it's still the case, but up to recently Sigma said they wouldn't touch grey imports.
 
OldCarlos said:
Not sure if it's still the case, but up to recently Sigma said they wouldn't touch grey imports.
Click to expand...

oh sorry, my mistake, wasn't aware of that
 
I was talking to a Sigma and Nikon representatives at Park Cameras few months ago and they said that their companies will not touch grey imports whether they are 1 year old or 10 years old, under warranty or not.
 
In truth, any of the third-party repairers will effect a repair for grey or out of warranty equipment, it is therefore just a question of whether or not you trust Panamoz' claim that they will pay for the repair.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ST4
From Sigma UK website FAQ

Q: Does your Sigma lens have an International warranty? I am looking to buy one of your lenses and I’m working overseas for a couple of months. I wanted to check whether Sigma UK will still cover lenses brought from outside the UK?

A: Sigma lenses do come with a 1 year international warranty, however, the warranty is only honoured if VAT and duty have been paid on importation into the UK, otherwise it is an illegal import. Once these taxes have been taken into account, our customers usually find it better value to buy an official UK imported lens. Sigma UK also offer an extended 2 year warranty on all EX lenses which have been imported through us. For further details click here.

So I read that as you'll get the international 1 yr warranty, but only if you can prove that the correct amount of duty / vat has been paid (and not declared as a £ 36 toy), but you won't get the extended 3 yr warranty that you'd get from genuine UK stock.
 
architectfadi said:
I was talking to a Sigma and Nikon representatives at Park Cameras few months ago and they said that their companies will not touch grey imports whether they are 1 year old or 10 years old, under warranty or not.
Click to expand...
Thats absolute garbage though, i had D700 repaired by Panamoz and it was repaired by AJ Johnstones in Scotland and they are official Nikon repairers, also had a faulty D800 replaced no hassle, sent it to Brighton and they just sent me a brand new one. Panamoz are first class.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Thats absolute garbage though, i had D700 repaired by Panamoz and it was repaired by AJ Johnstones in Scotland and they are official Nikon repairers, also had a faulty D800 replaced no hassle, sent it to Brighton and they just sent me a brand new one. Panamoz are first class.
Click to expand...

So did you send it to Nikon themselves? No. I didn't talk to third party repair centres, I was only quoting a discussion with Nikon/Sigma representatives.
 
architectfadi said:
So did you send it to Nikon themselves? No. I didn't talk to third party repair centres, I was only quoting a discussion with Nikon/Sigma representatives.
Click to expand...
No i didn't personally but it was eventually sent to Nikon via AJ Johnstones because it needed a repair and some sort of calibration on equipment only Nikon themselves have, and then sent directly back to me from Nikon, the repair receipt was under Johnstones name who carried out the initial fault assesment, this seems to be Panamoz's way around Nikon saying they wont touch "grey market" cameras

However way you look at it, Panamoz can and do get repairs done by Nikon albeit through one of their authorised repair centres.
 
andrewc said:
From Sigma UK website FAQ

Q: Does your Sigma lens have an International warranty? I am looking to buy one of your lenses and I’m working overseas for a couple of months. I wanted to check whether Sigma UK will still cover lenses brought from outside the UK?

A: Sigma lenses do come with a 1 year international warranty, however, the warranty is only honoured if VAT and duty have been paid on importation into the UK, otherwise it is an illegal import. Once these taxes have been taken into account, our customers usually find it better value to buy an official UK imported lens. Sigma UK also offer an extended 2 year warranty on all EX lenses which have been imported through us. For further details click here.

So I read that as you'll get the international 1 yr warranty, but only if you can prove that the correct amount of duty / vat has been paid (and not declared as a £ 36 toy), but you won't get the extended 3 yr warranty that you'd get from genuine UK stock.
Click to expand...

They've said this for a long time, but they wouldn't honour it a few years ago.:( I bought a lens from Hong Kong, on which I paid full duty and VAT. Sigma refused to repair it under warranty even when I offered to show them the evidence of taxes paid, and I had to pay a substantial sum for the repair. Maybe they've improved since, but that (and another disagreement I had with them) meant that I stopped trusting them.
 
Gary Coyle said:
No i didn't personally but it was eventually sent to Nikon via AJ Johnstones because it needed a repair and some sort of calibration on equipment only Nikon themselves have, and then sent directly back to me from Nikon, the repair receipt was under Johnstones name who carried out the initial fault assesment, this seems to be Panamoz's way around Nikon saying they wont touch "grey market" cameras

However way you look at it, Panamoz can and do get repairs done by Nikon albeit through one of their authorised repair centres.
Click to expand...

So hopefully that should answer the OP's query?
 
Last edited:
gcogger said:
They've said this for a long time, but they wouldn't honour it a few years ago.:( I bought a lens from Hong Kong, on which I paid full duty and VAT. Sigma refused to repair it under warranty even when I offered to show them the evidence of taxes paid, and I had to pay a substantial sum for the repair. Maybe they've improved since, but that (and another disagreement I had with them) meant that I stopped trusting them.
Click to expand...

That's not good...

I'm often tempted by the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, but when my older Sigma 100-300 f/4 went in for repairs for service I would be without it for weeks, almost months whereas Canon repairs were under two weeks even during the Olympics.
 
Thanks for all the replies. The water seems to have got a bit muddy though.
I wasn't asking if Sigma would honour the warranty in the UK, I know what the answer to that is. I was more interested to see if anyone had experience of Panamoz footing the bill for a Sigma repair?
 
c22w1 said:
Thanks for all the replies. The water seems to have got a bit muddy though.
I wasn't asking if Sigma would honour the warranty in the UK, I know what the answer to that is. I was more interested to see if anyone had experience of Panamoz footing the bill for a Sigma repair?
Click to expand...

Look at it this way,people on here who have used Panamoz have said any problems they have had has been fixed,to me who does the fixing does not bother me as long as it is fixed,now if you want 100% g/tee that Sigma UK are going to do any repair buy from an Sigma UK dealer.

:)
 
andrewc said:
I'm often tempted by the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, but when my older Sigma 100-300 f/4 went in for repairs for service I would be without it for weeks, almost months whereas Canon repairs were under two weeks even during the Olympics.
Click to expand...
We're getting a bit off topic here, but it's a good point you make about repair turnaround times. My general rule of thumb is Canon 3 days, Nikon 3 weeks, Sigma 3 months.
 
Who said anything about free work? Some people are mentioning they won't do paid work even.....and anyway......all taxes may have been paid. What do you mean haven't sold? They would have sold to a retailer to sell on, so would have got SOME profit ( I was talking about Sigma as per the initial post btw).
JohnyT
 
Last edited:
you mentioned grey imports which have come into this country out of the official channels. What benefit does Canon UK, Sigma UK etc get from a grey import item - nothing - its a figure on Canon Hong Kong, USA's balance sheet? I fear this an argument for a different thread though.
 
andrewc said:
you mentioned grey imports which have come into this country out of the official channels. What benefit does Canon UK, Sigma UK etc get from a grey import item - nothing - its a figure on Canon Hong Kong, USA's balance sheet? I fear this an argument for a different thread though.
Click to expand...

And balance sheet count at the end of the day :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top