Refurbished items do not carry manufacturer's warranties. They may carry a warranty from the company that sells them to you which is only worth as much as the reputation of that particular company.ghostjmf wrote:The DVD definitely was from a 3rd-party vendor. Selling slightly defective but watchable DVDs, & not advertising them as slightly defective.
Most of my purchases in life are not upwards of hundreds of dollars. So the sales tax is no big deal. Less than UPS or FedEx charges would be, generally. Those DVDs shipped USPS, & there was no other option. Cheap, but not the shipping service I would have chosen.
Not nearly as cheap as the charges to get it to me, as the company (Amazon in your case) ships in bulk & gets special rates, a little of which saving they may actually pass on to the customer.
When its my credit card being reimbursed, & not RichU's expense accounts, I am, would you believe, so much more anxious to get that money back even faster.
Older models which have never been out of the box do carry maufacturer's warranties as long as you purchased them from an authorized retailer. I worked for an appliance store that sold scratch and dent merchandise and warehouse closeouts and we frequently sold 2-3 year old models and even older. Because we worked directly with the manufacturers, our customers never had a problem submitting a warranty claim, no matter how old the item was. However, a lot of what is sold out there at flea markets, on ebay, at thrift shops, etc., is grey market merchandise which means that the person who sold it to you can't document that he obtained it through authorized channels. At worst, it's stolen or refurbished. At best, it's just fallen through the normal retail channels and the manufacturer is no longer obliged to honor the warranties.
The companies that I have seen that sell electronics on Amazon are reputable e-retailers, and, further, Amazon guarantees against missing parts or used (unless advertised as such), damaged, or defective items if payment is made through Amazon. So even if an Amazon merchant pulls a "fast one" on you, Amazon will stand behind it.
I wouldn't have a problem buying a small electronic item through Amazon, such as a digital camera, camcorder, or DVD player. There's no guarantee against a defective item (or one damaged in shipping), but you have the same problem if you but it from Best Buy. I would have a problem buying a large bulky item like a refrigerator or big screen TV because it would be a real hassle for me to get it packaged and back to them if there was a problem with it. But I don't think that such an item is inherently more likely to be defective or damaged then one bought from a local retailer.
If you are not reasonably knowledgeable about the item you are purchasing, know how it's supposed to work, and how it's supposed to be hooked up with whatever other equipment you have, then you may have a problem in getting the right technical support from an online etailer hundreds of miles away. In that case, you also might be better off if you buy it locally so you can take it in and have them demonstrate to you just what's supposed to be hooked up and how (or pay them to come out and put it in initially).
I have bought two electronic items from Amazon, a Pioneer DVD player and an Onkyo receiver and never had a problem. In addition, we received a Nikon digital camera as a gift from Crutchfield and never had a problem with it either.
