Official Statement from InMotion regarding Grey Imports
Speedy Feet's thoughts
The thorn in the side of most reputable distributors or official resellers are grey imports, people trying to save a few quid by importing direct from China or outside of their region.
We never recommend buying outside of the EU (any brand). Some customers do not realise there are usually EU compliant product for distribution in the EU and a separate product for the Asian market (usually cheaper) which does not meet EU compliance.
Grey importing should not be possible if customs were able to manage the sheer import amounts each day. Grey imports units should be stopped, inspected and relevant documentation requested - it would not be able to be produced and it would be seized and destroyed and the importer would be fined for manufacturing non EU compliant electronics.
InMotion stopping support AND access to the APP is great news. Curbing lack of after-sales service and dodgy imports will only benefit the EUC community.
For example a recent case of a fire on an InMotion V10F highlights this significantly - the unit caught fire and almost burnt down a block of flats here in the UK. This WAS NOT a legitimate EU unit import, the units serial number points back to Russia as point of origin according to our InMotion sources. There are NO V10F's legitimately in the UK currently (at time of this publication). This is just an example of how these things can get out of hand when its outside of a brands control, and it only comes to harm the brand itself, despite it not being something they can't control. Dropping support for the InMotion APP and stopping any after sales care for grey imports is good news and should help to stop the practice.
Does it stop issues happening with machines? No, but what it does do is make sure the unit is 100% genuine and secondly there is a business 'local' on hand to ensure it does get sorted one way or another - without any complications of trying to trace its origin or validity to be sold in that specific market; at the same time protecting the brand from significant damage through no fault of their own.
