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  • Contributing Editor Anne Kandra helps you avoid the gotchas and pitfalls of buying and using technology products.
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Consumer Watch: Give Without Getting Taken

Anne Kandra

On Your Side: A Camera From the Gray Market?

I ordered an Olympus Camedia C-3040 Zoom digital camera from Broadway Photo. The camera came with a video-out connector that is incompatible with electronics in the United States, meaning I couldn't view photos on my TV. I asked Broadway Photo for a replacement, but a rep refused.

Roland Houser, Redding, California

PC World responds: Houser believes he got a gray-market camera--an item manufactured abroad and imported into the United States without the trademark holder's consent. Olympus says that such products don't carry a U.S. warranty and may not meet FCC standards.

The sellers of such goods may be subject to penalties. Broadway Photo general manager Mark Sanders says his company replaced Houser's camera with the same model containing the correct connector. If you receive a product not intended for the U.S. market, you have 20 days to request a refund.

--Grace Aquino

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