Bruce, we understand how frustrating this is for you but I've had to edit this thread. The seller's nationality has nothing to do with your warranty issue. Let's try to stay on-topic.

I'd like to offer my personal experience...

I bought my FX1 off the grey market... (At the time I didnt know it was.)

I too was frustrated to learn that I had no Australian Warranty as the camera was obviously from China. (It had both Chinese and English manuals.)

After a long talk with a friend who works in Canon, I quickly understood that if you want a camera fixed in YOUR country, you pay for the camera in that country.

Globalisation makes this idea mute... because the market barriers are torn down. But currently it will be a VERY long time until that happens. Until then, economics will play out the way it does.

Immagine, you sell food all over the world. You have 2 dealers in germany. But someone (unknown) from Germany buys some food from China to sell in Germany... Then someone gets food poisoning. Its not the 2 dealers' fault THEY have to deal with that problem SOMEONE else brought into the country.

Thats why grey dealers offer thier own warranties (often shipping them back to the original country) because it was a "deffective Chinese food item."

I guess we have to live with our mistakes.

Its not so much "I hate sony." Its more like, I hate the system that allows people to work the system. ALWAYS buy from local reputable merchants. Online is always a bad idea.

The philosophic problem I have with that and Denise's points is that regardless of which division we are talking about, in the end it's all owned by the same company. The profits from all the divisions and regional sub-companies ultimately go into the same bank account in the end and the expenses all come out of the same bucket. So my argument still holds - brand X is brand X and none of the organizational structures should make any difference.