Import a Meopta to make a decent saving?

Effnjeff

Well-Known Member
As the Euro is doing badly against the Pound I was considering importing a Meopta scope.
Has anyone done this successfully? After a quick bit of Googling I can find the ZD 6-24x56 in the Czech Republic for merely £940, which costs about £1300 here.
Are there any pitfalls I should be thinking about?
 
As the Euro is doing badly against the Pound I was considering importing a Meopta scope.
Has anyone done this successfully? After a quick bit of Googling I can find the ZD 6-24x56 in the Czech Republic for merely £940, which costs about £1300 here.
Are there any pitfalls I should be thinking about?

Yup... warranty... I fell foul of this with leica... you may find yourself swimming against the tide if things go wrong!!!
 
Good scopes Roe Buck and a dog fox fell to mine tonight. Worth every penny and on a par with the overpriced supposed high enders.
 
I have just checked online and the warranty looks solid, and claims can be made directly with the factory.
Looks promising.
 
A product sold in the EU by an EU based company to a resident of another EU country - AFAIK the warranty is valid throughout the EU.

Cheers

Bruce

That's what you'd think but not so.. for instance leica products bought elsewhere won't be dealt with by Leica UK nor will they benefit from things like the leica 12 month passport. My Bins were from optics trade EU in Slovenia and when a problem occurred they had to go back to Slovenia to then go back to the factory in Germany and had tom return via that route too..

Just letting you know... I'm sure Leica aren't the only European country who operate this way... yes you still have your warranty but using it is an expensive PITA!
 
VIPA did you ask Leica UK for there explanation in writing why they would not honor the warranty.
Only I purchased a product ( not Leica) while in the USA and was told the same by a well known dealer in the UK, that it had no warranty, a quick call to the U.S. manufacturers confirmed a worldwide warranty, which is obvious as what would happen if you moved country to live elsewhere.
 
Yup... warranty... I fell foul of this with leica... you may find yourself swimming against the tide if things go wrong!!!

As said before .. all products sold new throughout the eu hold manufacturers warranty and must be covered. It's an EU legal requirement.
Car manufacturers & dealers tried to have this 'gray import' thing impede off shore buying & got penalised for it.
It's complete 'bull' trying to say you didn't buy it in this country so no warranty.

Of course warranties do not cover wear and tear or damage, only production/component failure.
ATB
 
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So I bought a Leica camera in Poland and ended up with a problem so I contacted leica uk and was informed that there was no warranty.
I contacted Leica in Poland and they said this was wrong and that all products were covered wold wide and they would inform Leica.
I got a phone call from them within two hours and was asked to download a form, fill it out and email it back to them, which I did.
Two days later a courier turned up and collected the Camera and it was all sorted, sent back to me and a nice letter of apolology and they again said that the waranty is worldwide and to get the dealers name if they said otherwise.
So I will not hesitate to buy from mainland europe.
 
VIPA did you ask Leica UK for there explanation in writing why they would not honor the warranty.
Only I purchased a product ( not Leica) while in the USA and was told the same by a well known dealer in the UK, that it had no warranty, a quick call to the U.S. manufacturers confirmed a worldwide warranty, which is obvious as what would happen if you moved country to live elsewhere.

See above... the warranty stands but they may insist, as Leica do, that the item goes back via the retailer it was purchased from.
 
As the Euro is doing badly against the Pound I was considering importing a Meopta scope.
Has anyone done this successfully? After a quick bit of Googling I can find the ZD 6-24x56 in the Czech Republic for merely £940, which costs about £1300 here.
Are there any pitfalls I should be thinking about?


If you can buy it online in the Eurozone through a secure site (https) using a Credit Card you will be Ok in the unlikely case things go wrong.
However a warranty claim will be slow and cumbersome.

Same with rifles, you can actually buy a rifle in the Eurozone and import it yourself with an import license from BIs and have it delivered to your front door without using a UK RFD - and save a lot (and I mean a lot) of money.
 
if you did it legally from here and paid VAT and all the other robbing charges will it still work out cheaper?
 
My Iten did not go back to where it was purchased from, it was picked up from my house by courier who past it onto Lieca UK

So did mine until Leica UK got hold of it and realised it had been purchased outside the UK (even though I'd told them that in the first place) then it went from being a 'no problem we'll just replace them' to a right faff on that ended up with substandard repairs being done in Germany (twice) including damage to an inner glass element which, whilst obvious, was allowed to leave the factory and me being without my bins for over 2 months...

If I had bought them in the UK they would have just been replaced, no questions asked as they were less than 12 month old.. As it happens, the people at Leica UK sorted it but even they were fighting with Head Office, Germany who were disinterested as they had come back via the 'wrong route!'

Just relaying my experience... I bought from Europe as it saved me £600 over UK prices but when a problem presented itself, what should have been a very fast and simple issue for the manufacturer to deal with became a bit of a nightmare! then Leica come up with the trade in deal which reduced the price from the original RRP by almost a grand... so.. after everything, I should have waited and just bought UK ones!!!! I do love my bins but when firms can afford to do that with prices and still give the retailers more than a few hundred quid in profit too... the words 'ripoff Britain' do start to sneak into my conscious thought processes!!!!
 
Ive bought a few pairs of Binoculars from the Meopta factory in Prerov - my wife is a Gregory and we have a house nearby. I have been assured that their 30 year warranty (Binoculars) is worldwide and it doesn't matter where (if) they go wrong they will be covered.

Nick
 
Ive bought a few pairs of Binoculars from the Meopta factory in Prerov - my wife is a Gregory and we have a house nearby. I have been assured that their 30 year warranty (Binoculars) is worldwide and it doesn't matter where (if) they go wrong they will be covered.

Nick
Quite correct, but as has already been pointed out, the uk importers of all sorts of things TRY to tell you that you are not covered.
Why they do this I am unsure of, maybe because the want you to purchace in the UK at grossly exagerated prices or so the can charge a fortune for repairs.
One phone call to head office normaly puts them straight!.
Its exactly the same with a lot of electronic goods in the uk, sold with 1 year garauntee, this is ilegal as in the eu everything electric has to have full 24 months, but unless you insist, they get away with it.
I asked about my meopta 6x42 scope on here a few days ago, it seamed to look foggy inside, although it worked fine[shows the quality of glass]
The scope was purchased 10 years ago in Prague and I phoned meopta a couple of days ago, they have requested I send it back to them, in yorkshire!
I will let you know how I get on.
 
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