[MTCB Android Head Units Q&A] duiveldoder:
Be nice to support and realistic to yourself.

Many companies that sell global have different warranty and support/service. I.e. when you buy in Europe the same unit costs additional % to pay for repairs/warranty/replacement.

The same goes for every company I know. I can buy from Hong Kong, Russia, etc. and don't have to pay for those extra % on warranty, but of course that also means that I get no warranty if I don't pay for it.

When you buy from the Pumpkin website, you pay the price for the local market wherever they are. If that's in China and warranty there doesn't cover replacement or global replacement but only repair in the country you bought it, than you as international customer have no warrenty.

I.e. when you buy a device with warranty in Europe, you have bad luck trying to claim that warranty later in the USA or Japan or Russia. It all depends on where you buy it, local warranty, extended global or not, etc? The moment you buy from a store in your own country it's clear, you know what you pay for, or not. But whenever you go online and shop global, either you learn about the over 1.000.000 global regulations and laws or you simply live with a yes/no and don't know on forehand what you get for an answer.

Some larger companies have better support, i.e. Dell. I had a broken Screen bought in Europe that broke down when I was a few years in Russia. Dell send me the newest version cost-free across the globe to replace my broken screen. But that might not be covered by standard warranty, just a nice guy at the helpdesk. I've had with Canon the same once. But first support I got told me I was in bad luck. I called again, and than again, and third time I got a lady at the phone that was very helpful and said of course she'll prepare everything and I got a replacement within 1 week.

Same happened to me to German Telekom once when I had a broken phone. I called, called again, every time nothing. At one point, I got a Manager on the phone, a real manager from the top! Later I read in the newspaper they do that sometimes, the managers at the top working half a day the job of those below them to know about their work they are doing. And this manager said immediately of course we replace the device, next day I got a new iPhone upgraded version in my hands.

So it really matters which country, which law, which support representative, how nice do you ask, etc..

generally it's good to make the support representative feel like you are a poor person, in need of help and only him/her personally can save you. Some people I noticed called with a tone/way of speaking like:" I'm a customer, I'm the king, you are my slave, you must replace, you must for me, I paid and so you must crawl through the mud for me" of course people who talk like that get NOTHING!

So it's also how you represent yourself. Be nice, be gentle, let them know you are in need, they CAN but not MUST help you, start your conversation with:"i've had such great experience in the past..."

And if you don't have luck with 1 support representative, try again! :) That's no guarantee of course. Sometimes you are simply out of luck. I mean, when your printer dies after 12 years of loyal service, or your carkit dies after 6 years of service, you really think the product you bought isn't already written off economically? Of course it is. So be realistic with your claims.