Buying DENON products from "unauthorized" delears..

[warhummer]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience/advice for buying a DENON product from a company not listed as an authorized dealer. I was looking at the DVD-2910 and it seems that the "authorized dealer" moniker is an excuse to charge MSRP. I know the DVD players only come with a year warranty but is it worth the gamble?

 

[tbewick]

In the UK, where I'm from, in law your contract is with the dealer. You're not buying it directly from Denon, so it doesn't matter if they say 'only buy it from our approved dealers'. As long as you get in writing how long the warranty is, and how much cover is provided with the warranty - from the dealer you're buying it from - they are legally obliged fulfill that warranty, regardless of what Denon says. Buying the product with a credit card offers you more protection.

As I said earlier, this is how it is in the UK, and it might be different in the US.

 

[sjdgpt]

it seems that the "authorized dealer" moniker is an excuse to charge MSRP.

Actually NO.

Many dealers will offer deals on equipment. 10% discounts are very common. 20% discounts can be readily had, and 25-30% discounts are even possible. Typically the bigger discounts are reserved for high value repeat customers, and those that buy several items at one time.


In my opinion, the prices offerred unauthorized dealers are actually higher than what the business model dictates. If the unauthorized dealer is not offerring at least a 40% discount from the retail price, walk away from the deal, as it really is not much of a deal.


By the way, many of those so-called unauthorized dealers are actually a "strawman" of the authorized dealer. A strawman is a hollow shell of a company to protect the identity of the real company. In this day of the internet, many "online companies" are just a shell of a company that serve to dump excess and undesired inventory for the B&M business. The authorized dealer is actually wants the price sold by the unauthorized dealer to be as high as possible to reduce the price stress on his own products.

Just hold the unauthorized dealers to a higher standard and watch the price drop appropriately.

 

[tbewick]

I have heard about fake electronics equipment being sold. Maybe this is why Denon/Krell etc. are concerned with who distributes their products. On their website, there are stories of how some products have their serial numbers removed, and I'd be weary of buying from a reseller who did that.