Buying a DVD recorder on line?

C

coolaboola

Guest
Didn't have much luck with this query on the IT forum... maybe I'll have better luck here. (Apologies about the double posting for those who frequent both fora!)

I am in the market for a DVD recorder (specifically a Panasonic DMRE55EBS). This gizmo is available in Ireland from between €429 to whatever you're having yourself. However a brief search on line reveals buckets of mainly UK suppliers who offer this product for less than €300 (give or take on the exchange rates). (Indeed the manufacturer's recommended retail price on panasonic.com is US$299.95 which is less again.) Great! Except can I find a supplier who will ship to Ireland? I don't think so!

Has anyone bought consumer electronics on line? If so from where and what was your experience? Are there additional duties/taxes to be paid on incoming goods such as DVD recorders? If so how much and how is it paid? Does that mean you can recoup taxes paid in the country of origin?

And finally, while I'm at it, has anyone got a Panasonic DMRE55EBS of their own? How do you find it?
 
Excellent!

Hi Alan! That's a pretty good deal! Thanks! I had actually already looked at richersounds.ie where the prices were significantly more expensive.
 
price check

That's very strange as richersounds.ie is located in Belfast and they are considerably more expensive than richersounds.com which is the website for the stores in U.K.(including Belfast).
Why?
Even if that includes delivery to ROI, it's still a rip off.
I assume if you went up to the store in Belfast you would only pay what's on the website.
 
Re: price check

I spotted that too and contacted richersounds.ie about it. The price for the machine I was shopping for was €219.95 on richersounds.co.uk but €339.95 on richersounds.ie (having only very recently come down from €379.95) €339.95 = £235 (ish!). (both prices quoted exclusive of delivery charges - €10) I queried the discrepency and was told that its because the model to be sold 'down south' is equiped with a twin tuner to pick up both VHF and UHF signals. The UK model only has a single tuner as they only use a single frequency range for broadcast over there.

Anyhoo, having shopped around a lot I decided that richersounds.ie had the best prices and delivery to Ireland so ordered my machine from them last Thursday. I had to mail them for a confirmation of receipt of my order as I received none from them unprompted (though admittely I mistyped my own email address in the order form though mailed them as soon as I discovered my error minutes after placing the order). When they replied (an email and a call from me later) they said they were still waiting for my card to clear. This is 24 hours after placing the order. (I had completed two further transactions on line on different web sites with the same card in the meantime!) In addition they explained they would only deliver to the card billing address (my home address) for security reasons - which is pretty inconvient as I'll be at work when the delivery arrives most likely (by DHL apparently). This delivery address restriction doesn't seem to be an issue for most other web sites (e.g. amazon, the New Yorker) who will allow an alternative delivery address to avoid such inconvenience. *sigh* I've heard nothing from richersounds.ie since Friday so I don't know my card has been cleared and the order dispatched yet. Not very good customer service so far but will keep you posted...

c
 
Re: price check

I assume "the delivery to home address" is to stop people
using stolen cards etc and getting them delivered to an address that's not the home address.
Surely they will leave a card so you can go to collect it in the P.O.?
 
Re: price check

Hi okidoki,

Yup, I think that is the rationale behind the policy. Fair enough. Except that the card to collect packages at the post office is only left for parcels delivered through the postal system, not by couriers AFAIK.

Anyhoo, there is a happy update to my story. The recorder was delivered yesterday (Horray!) and taken in by our kind next door neighbour who dropped it in to us last night.

I haven't had a chance to play around with the machine properly yet ... indeed a cursory amount of playing around with it singularly failed to get the recorder to talk to the TV! I will persevere though!

I did, however, notice that the recorder, which I ordered as a multiregion machine, states that it is Region 2 only. I've mailed the retailer to query this and am awaiting their response. It may be the case that the machine was 'chipped' post-manufacture to make it multiregion but this may effect the warranty. Will keep y'all posted on this saga spanning many generations...

c
 
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