Sony UK rip off?

mark2929 wrote on 11/14/2007, 1:49 PM
http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/show_category.php?categoryID=1&subcategoryID=200

Have the EX-1 But the version that seemingly has arrived is the one with a single card????? And although its a price drop 4,429.75 inc VAT Its only £20 cheaper than proactive pro offering the two cards All these prices are way more expensive than America even when you factor in VAT.

(Proactive Pro is a UK company)
http://www.proav.co.uk/

They dont have it and Sony can't tell them when it will arrive? Preferential treatment? and slick marketing? Pocketing the extra card? At this rate I may call of my deal.. Rip off UK once more?

Comments

deusx wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:09 PM
Compare that price of 4,429.75 against your income. What percentage of your income is that camera. Then compare $6700 it costs in the US to a US resident's income ( some guy, as close as you can get to what you do ).

Then see if it's a rip off. It's not US guys' or Sony's fault that british pound is ridiculously overvalued, so when converting currency it looks like you are paying a lot more.. I think you are actually paying less whan all is taken into account.

For example, a cameraman can cost you around $500 a day in Manhattan. I bet you could get 500 pounds in London for the same job, so you are making twice as much as the NY guy. ( if you apply same conversions you do whan calculating camera prices )

farss wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:11 PM
I believe you do not get the extra card with the camera. You have to mail in a form and Sony will send it to you.
For this reason you have to be the registered purchaser of the camera and it's likely that if you do a grey import you'll miss out on the extra card.
This could vary from continent to continent. There is no one "Sony". Sony Australia for example is not "Sony". So when Sony USA offer interest free loans we don't get the same deal. When Sony Au include promotional material for Vegas with their VCRs you might not see that in the USA.

Bob.
mark2929 wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:19 PM
Compare that price of 4,429.75 against your income. What percentage of your income is that camera.

Then compare $6700 it costs in the US to a US resident's income ( some guy, as close as you can get to what you do ).

Then see if it's a rip off. It's not US guys' or Sony's fault that british pound is ridiculously overvalued, so when converting currency it looks like you are paying a lot more.. I think you are actually paying less whan all is taken into account.

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So your saying Sony should make more money from UK customers to compensate what you percieve my wages might be? Apart from missing the point here which is mainly about WHY creative video have in stock the camera which has only one card and not the version with two cards you are neatly passing the blame to me while missing the issue?
mark2929 wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:21 PM
Its not advertised that way though Bob?
farss wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:33 PM
I know and I'm not 100% certain about this either. I'd be asking some difficult questions before committing to anything. How the deal is being handled could well be different depending on which "Sony" you end up dealing with.
How many times do you see a price advertised and then in tiny print you read "After mail in factory rebate" etc.

Bob.
mark2929 wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:48 PM
Its just that I really want this camera and I have waited a long time. As for my work I was recently made unemployed and have a few part time jobs that amount to in american terms about $300 a week I have sold stuff on ebay and have taken a loan. Enough so that after Xmas I can get my arri camera modified to Super 16. Im not rich and never have been just like probably most of us surviving with only the thought and hope for a better future.
Kennymusicman wrote on 11/14/2007, 2:54 PM
Adobe are just as bad.

Even accounting exchange rate a bit

Master Bundle about $2700, or about £2500. Given the trends of the exchange rate over some time, I expect a little differentation, but certainly not as much as we see. So yes, I definitely think in the UK we get ripped off.
MUTTLEY wrote on 11/14/2007, 4:04 PM


"One 8GB SxS ExpressCard media is included in the PMW-EX1 carton box at no additional charge from Sony. A second 8GB SxS ExpressCard media will be sent, at no additional charge, to end users who purchase PMW-EX1 from an authorized XL Reseller, complete an online survey, opt in and submit other requested information at www.sony.com/xdcamex/customer. Offer good until March 26, 2008. "

Not my words but about the same as I've seen on everything I've read about the camera.

- Ray

www.undergroundplanet.com
deusx wrote on 11/14/2007, 4:11 PM
>>>So your saying Sony should make more money from UK customers to compensate what you percieve my wages might be?<<<

I'm not blaming you, or saying they should compensate for anything, but when your currency is double the $$$ while salaries numbers can be almost the same ( $500 per day in NY, 500pounds per day in London for the same thing ) it doesn't look like a ripoff.

It costs me $40 to get to the airport in NY, cab fare in London cost me 50 pounds to get to Heathrow ( about the same distance too ).
Now, that's being ripped off, because I make $$$ not pounds.
That trip ( taxi fare, not airfare ) + an overnight stay cost me $600 for what should have been about $300.

So, it's not Sony. You live in an expensive country with overvalued currency. Blame the Queen. Maybe if she stopped taking all that money from UK citizens and Sony, because they do pay taxes to the queen too ( for doing nothing ) things would settle down to more reasonable levels.
mark2929 wrote on 11/14/2007, 4:28 PM
Well although this is way OT to what I meant its a redundant point because Sony are not exporting the camera from America to here. Perhaps we could start another thread about how The dollars exchange rate is going down against others currency. Why is That? The housing problems with lenders giving money to those who never had a hope of paying it back but they still made their commission? The knock on effect in the UK where one of our banks crashed because of it and our PM used the bank of England bailed them out with tax payers money to the tune of about £25Billion?

So your saying I should pay half as much as an american Cam to level the field? What you mean I should pay £3400?

ALL I want is the camera I have ordered from Proactive based in the UK only they cant get the cams even though their a Sony dealer .However Creative video not only get them but they have the version with only one card in stock and waiting for the two card version to arrive??? still dearer than the Proactive version with two cards who cant get hold of them? Does bulk buying meaning some distributers get theirs first and others have to wait? Is that fair on customers especially when the ones getting it can also rearrange it to remove a card? Or did I get it wrong about the first cams having two cards?
Grazie wrote on 11/14/2007, 8:53 PM
Mark!!! You've orderd one?? Can I come and play? Pretty please? - I'll buy the sandwiches and coffee.

You is one helluva chap - old bean! - I'm real impressed with your filmic dedication. People who don't know this are missing out.

Best regards

Grazie
busterkeaton wrote on 11/14/2007, 11:07 PM
just because the dollar is weak? The US dollar has been losing value for about 5 years now.
The Canadian dollar is now equal to the American dollar. Which is shocking to me.
Tim Stannard wrote on 11/15/2007, 1:40 AM
Blame the Queen. Maybe if she stopped taking all that money from UK citizens and Sony, because they do pay taxes to the queen too ( for doing nothing ) things would settle down to more reasonable levels.
Maybe, but if we got rid of her we'd lose half of our tourists from the US and our economy would go to pot :)
mark2929 wrote on 11/15/2007, 2:35 AM
The people to blame are Gordon Brown. Blair and Mandelson. For the UKs woes. However thats another forum.

Grazie your very welcome to come and look at my Camera! If only I had one. My trusty XM2 Is on another journey now. Im afraid my filmmaking days are at a full stop.
mark2929 wrote on 11/15/2007, 10:29 AM
Spoken to the guys at Proactive who told me there is a shortage and UK dealers are being rationed by a percentage of the amount they ordered. Probably the same everywhere.