Sean is still reading my mind, just a little more bluntly. While I appreciate Sos' efforts to come into the discussion with a different perspective, I continue to find their focus on the issue of warranties to be somewhat off-topic. Obviously, almost everyone reading on this forum will be copacetic with the idea of buying used, and that usually means no warranty. In Ernie's case, the supposed fact that his unit may have originally been gray-market shouldn't have had any impact on the situation, since as a second-hand owner he wasn't seeking warranty service anyway.
I don't think anybody could really argue with a manufacturer who stated a policy saying that products not purchased through their domestic authorized dealer network would be ineligible for normal warranty service by that market's distributor. There should certainly be a provision for offering paid non-warranty service however, and maybe even a discounted rate for paid in-warranty service offered to original owners of merchandise bought from non-domestic authorized dealers (gray-market). Whether or not to offer transferrable warranties to second-hand owners is a separate question, but again I don't think anyone would balk if a company stated that such a policy could not be extended to second-hand purchasers of gray-market units, or at least not without some sort of discounted rate or reinstatement fee being charged. But again, that's not the issue here.
I think that pretty much this whole participating forum has agreed that:
A) In this case the distributor did not do right by the customer in Mr. Warshaw's handling of Ernie's situation.
B) Ernie ought to be able to purchase this upgrade, at the very least, for the regular full-boat price and no more. He quite possibly should even get it at the discounted price he originally arranged to have it done for, since no one (that is, neither the dealer nor the distributor) thought to check for the gray-market eventuality prior to agreeing on Ernie's price and course of action. But even if Ernie doesn't ulimately get the discounted rate, he certainly shouldn't have to pay to ship his player anywhere, simply by virture of the distributor's mishandling of the process so far.
To sum up, what Ernie and we (and F&S) are going to find out, is whether EC and their US representative place the customer's interests first, or not. So far, their policies seem to indicate that they even put their unscrupulous Danish dealer's interests ahead of those of the customer, but we shall see. Regardless, Mr. Warshaw's actions heretofore clearly indicate that he puts his own interests ahead of the customer's. As for the issue of whether Ernie ought to defer to F&S, as the dealer involved, in interceding on his behalf with the distributor and manufacturer, I respectfully submit that the situation has already gone too far for them to be his best advocate. Ernie's dealing has really been more with the distributor than with the dealer; Mr. Warshaw has already superceded F&S's wishes and authority in this matter, and only EC themselves can effect a remedy, barring a change of heart on Mr. Warshaw's part. While F&S's efforts are both necessary and reassuring - and should be continued - regardless of whether or not they are successful in persuading Mr. Warshaw to reverse course, I think Ernie should let them know that he will be contacting EC personally about what has transpired up 'til now, as is his perfect right (and duty, IMO). As has been stated, and is evident to anyone reading, this question as it regards EC in America is now (and in truth must have been before) an issue bigger than one second-hand customer's upgrade trials and tribulations.
