Warranty service in another country?

[pdimitrov]

I have a Gigabyte VGA, that was bought in the USA, but now I reside in Europe. I have problems with the card, which I got less than a year ago, so it is still covered by the warranty. My question is how likely am I to receive service at Gigabyte's local partner, because sending the card back to the USA is pretty tedious and somewhat expensive task? After all I don't see what difference does it make to them where I bought their product from. And what is the point being a global company with warranty services in a lot of countries if you make customers ship stuff overseas.

[Dark Mantis]

It shouldn't make any difference at all. Do you still have the receipt?  Even if you haven't it shouldn't matter because they can tell "date of manufacture" from the serial number. That is what the warranty goes by.

[pdimitrov]

It was bought online, so I can show the paypal payment anytime. Thanks, I hope it is the way you say. I've written to the global support and will call the local service on Monday.
I just had some doubts, because I never needed manufacturer's services directly.

[Dark Mantis]

It is a common enough occurance. All the boards are manufactured in the Far East (Taiwan and China) and so are all the same.

[pdimitrov]

Well, after an extensive email conversation with the UK RMA centre, it turns out that is not the case. They won't service the warranty since the card was not bought in the UK or Ireland.
I wonder if they have a database of the serial numbers saying to which country the card belongs or should I've lied.

[Dark Mantis]

But you are not in the UK you are in Bulgaria, yes? So it would probably be Sofia you would have to contact.

[pdimitrov]

Damn, you're fast. The listed service in Sofia is for notebooks only. I was going to use an UK address, so that is not the issue.
Global support are taking their time to respond, but I'm pretty sure they'll blow me off, too

[Dark Mantis]

Well I wouldn't have thought that there would be a problem then. I would suggest PMing runn3R the Gigabyte moderator on this forum and put your case to him. He's normally very helpfull and I am sure he will do something if he can.

GGTS are normally fairly slow to answer. If you get soemone to read your question in under a week you are doing well 

[pdimitrov]

It seems nothing can be done about this. I'd like to thank runn3r for going the extra mile for me and checking out anyway.

Whether I get service at Gigabyte's RMA center in the USA or UK the end result for Gigabyte would be the same, I don't see why they have to "region lock" their hardware.

[Dark Mantis]

I must admit to being astonished by this. I understood that it didn't matter where you were for service. Obviously I was mistaken, I'm sorry. I expect there are more than just the two of us who didn't realise this.

[pdimitrov]

Hey, guys!

I've got a replacement from Gigabyte USA, which is due to be received by a friend in the USA and then re-mailed. I'm wondering what exactly did Gigabyte sent out - just the board in custom packaging or the whole box? I sent them just the board in a lot of bubble wrap.
The idea is to re-mail the courier package as it is, but if it looks like a brand new purchase inside, the customs over here may overcharge me.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes there is always that possibility although if you have the necessary paperwork to prove that it is being returned from repair hopefullly they will waive the charges.

Oh I forgot you were in Bulgaria They will probably charge you double and expect a backhander and it's not even in Leva anymore

[pdimitrov]

 
The paperwork for releasing an parcel alone is horrible, arguing that it is a re-import after a temporary export for repair is mission impossible. f***, I'll be glad if they don't "lose" it.

[Dark Mantis]

I know exactly what you mmean. As long as they don't cellotape it shut you stand a chance otherwise it will be going to one of the Customs mens houses.

[pdimitrov]

Hey, how do you know about the houses? Did it make it into UK's news?

edit: Well, I guess you've no idea what I'm talking about. Recently there was a scandal about a whole village of customs agent's houses without any papers, built right next to the waters of a reservoir, where is building is absolutely prohibited.