Apple Products

Lwowiak

My daughter wishes to buy herself an Iphone, and has been doing her due diligence in regards to pricing etc.
She has found some very competitive pricing on Kogan, and raised these questions:
Are they reputable?
What are their return/repair policies like?
If there is a problem with an Apple product, will an Apple store in Australia assist/fix it?

I understand Kogan ships these products from HK or Singapore. I have never dealt with Kogan so am not familiar with their service or return policies. I have read some reviews on Whirpool, but most of the comments are worthless. There seems to be some issues where the faults are always diagnosed as user fault or water ingress.

Apple is a global company, with global presence. Any comments of buy locally to get support is BS. A tourist, visitor, o/s student etc with an Apple product under warranty should receive service from an authorised Apple store, regardless of place of purchase. After all, that is part of the appeal of buying a "Global brand".

Any comments, including via PM are welcome.
This is a significant purchase for my daughter, who has worked hard to save the money.

Thanks to all who take the time to contribute.

Brett H

Any Apple products of late I've bought from Galumay and PM'd him through this site.  His service is second to none!! Sadly he doesn't do iPhones.  Kogan are great o buy from but I've never returned anything. 

Koffee_Kosmo

Any issues that arise you call apple for assistance We get our phones from a local business and the only issue we had is with a charger unit on the new iPhone 4 One call to Apple Australia and it was sent in the mail with paid return postage for the faulty charger unit My daughter has always used iPhones and the 5 is her latest one I normally get the older unit when that happens so now I have her old iPhone 4 None have failed us but we do have due diligence with a fragile item On my assessment as the owner of hand me down iPhones they are still working fine without issues even the old 3 series And I also love the iPad 3 as well KK

galumay

As an Apple Authorised Reseller, I can say that you will be fine buying from Kogan, warranty coverage will be limited to the Apple warranty for country of sale, probably 12 months. Apple product you buy in Australia is subject to our consumer laws which give you significantly greater protection. Morally i dislike the grey import model that Kogan use, he avoids paying GST by operating offshore and is not restricted to buying through the Apple Australia Channels like us retailers based in Australia, so its not a level playing field but thats the rules so we need to differentiate on points other than price! So in summary, you daughter will be fine buying her iPhone from Kogan, as i said the only difference will be the length of effective warranty.

Lwowiak

Galumay, Thank you for your contribution, you raised some very valid points. I have always been wary in buying technology offshore, but with global brands in the field of cameras, laptops, phones etc, it certainly looks attractive if the price is under the magic $1k. The new consumer laws certainly do provide you with added protection. My wife has an expensive HP laptop that is 2 yrs old. Bought from DSE. The hard drive is failing. I will contact HP and see what they say, as it is reasonable that it should last longer, given its RRP.

UNM

if you buy an iphone from kogan, it will have all normal warranty protection you would expect with an apple product purchased in Hong Kong. Many of their products are sold by Kogan Hong Kong and this is one of them. Australian consumer laws do not apply. My daughter bought one and is happy with it. It arrived with an Australian power adapter in a separate box as the phone itself comes with a USA model charger.

Lwowiak

Thanks for the replies everyone. If our Telco can do the right deal, my daughter will buy through them, even though they are dearer than Kogan. Reason is the support of Aust consumer laws. On another note, contacted DSE about the faulty laptop. Ignoranus tried to tell me that I should have bought an extended warranty. I gave him a lecture about consumer law, and that he should get get his act together (basically I told him he was full of bovine excretions and questioned his parentage). He said take it up with HP, which was my intention in the first place. Classic example of why DSE is struggling in sales. HP tried to pawn the out of warranty tripe, and I asked them to politely review the issue. They did straight away without hesitation. Result: laptop will be picked up by courier from our home, new hard drive installed and then returned, free of charge. Time is 5-7 business days. Pretty good service and a classic example of the benefits of the new laws. Also demonstrates my firm belief in buying technology locally, as local support is crucial. It changed my daughter's mind.