International Product Warranties

[dickj]

Hi

I have a 6 month old Tohatsu 6 hp 4 stroke outboard which has a fuel leak from the internal tank.

I am in Grenada so I approached Tohatsu's local distributor about a warranty claim. Once they established I did not buy it from them they declined to help.

It was originally purchased by the people that built my catamaran - probably from somewhere in Europe.

When I asked Tohatsu in Japan for help they said - and I quote -

Thank you for your email.
We regret to say that we do not provide international warranty.
Under our warranty policy, warranty claims have to be made within the country where you bought your engine.

Your kind understanding would be appreciated.


Thank you and best regards,


Tohatsu Corp.
Nemasu

********************************
Takuya Nemasu
Tohatsu Corporation
Sales Department Oversea Section
5-4,Azusawa, 3-Chome,Itabashi-Ku,
Tokyo, 174-0051 Japan
Tel : +81-3-3966-3117
Fax : +81-3-3966-2951
e-mail: nemasu@tohatsu.co.jp

I was surprised by this response - does this put other cruisers off buying a Tohatsu ?

Have you had similar responses from other manufacturers ?

Regards

Dick

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by dickj

... does this put other cruisers off buying a Tohatsu ? Have you had similar responses from other manufacturers ? ...

Yes - I think that you'll find that this warranty exception is very common; and I wouldn't exclude any particular product from consideration, until/unless I determined that competitors didn't enforce similar exclusion policies.
Specific warranty provisions often vary considerably by Country & State.

[Wotname]

I concur with Gord (post #2) and I believe this is also a way of manufacturers "protecting" their international distributors from "grey importers".

Sounds like you have been unintentionally caught in the same net.

[TOHATSU GURU]

It's normal...For instance, Yamahas purchased in Canada do not have warranty in the U.S., etc. It has more to do with labor rates and legal considerations than anything else. It does suck though

[s/v Jedi]

My Florida bought Mercury got free warranty service in Grenada so there you go, decent companies do exist.

cheers,
Nick.