BTW, the service guy said STAY away from buying the Calcutta Concords. As nice a reel as they are they can't service them in Canada because they don't have the parts since they are only supposed to be sold in Japan.... which is the only place they can be serviced. Good to know because I almost bought one once.
Here is the whole scoop on getting Japanese Shimano reels serviced. (Direct quote from Jeremy Sweet, product manager - reels, Shimano America Corporation)(except for a couple inconsequential changes to help it flow better and stay on topic)
we will clean and service any Shimano branded product.
The only differences are:
-We cannot warranty non Shimano American products
-Turn Around time will be significantly longer in most cases
-The familiar "no charge" for certain parts (on US models) does not exist for JDM products
We do not warranty JDM products as they are "grey market" items and not built into our cost structure and would basically be costing us money.
The reason for #2 is that we do not stock parts for the JDM products. So, we have to order them and it does take some time for shipping.
However, our technicians are quite capable of making repairs to these reels, and once the parts are here they can take care of it.
In some cases, the parts are identical, and we can use US parts. But if there is any difference (material, color, weight, etc.), don't worry, we will wait for the JDM part.
You are correct in that Shimano Canada does fall under the US.
I just ran over and spoke with Brian Nolte, our Customer Service Manager, and he said the following:
You are best off to send the reel to us at Shimano American.
This is because we order the parts directly from Japan and they come over to us in our normal parts shipments. This would eliminate some shipping charges you would incur.
Plus, because the volume is low, we have not set up any distributors to handle these requests, even in the USA. So US anglers need to go directly through Shimano American as well, as our Warranty Centers cannot handle these requests.
Anyway, here is a run down of what we can do for anglers in the US and Canada with JDM products:
-Take parts orders by phone for JDM parts. Shimano American is billed at JDM MSRP prices due to import laws, so expect them to be expensive. Turnaround time can be between 2-6 months (4 month average)
-Clean, service, repair JDM product (pricing and shipping times same as above)
-For quicker turn around on repair, we can ship your reel to Shimano Inc. in Japan for you for repair, it will be quicker, but even more expensive as we would have to charge you for the DHL International shipping fees.
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Topic: Shimano Calais DC Baitcaster....if you've won a lottery recently! (Read 7786 times)