Quote:
Originally Posted by Noble
Just to add to the posts re Shopping Online using Italian websites. We have purchased specialist Italian maps online but these are not available any other way. As for anything else, I found the experience disappointing. For articles that we would buy from UK online cos. or from Amazon, I could find no Italian sites selling similar up to date models. Last week I was on the web searching for about 16 hours in all!!!
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A little unfair there, I would venture to suggest, Noble. I have used many on-line shopping websites here in Italy over the past few years and have never had any problem finding what I am looking for. There are, indeed, a few consumer products that are sold here which are not available in the UK - and vice versa. However, the same situation would apply in any other country, such as the US vs UK for similar product categories.
Amazon are very useful for English language books, DVDs, etc. Otherwise, there is Mediaworld, ePrice, Mr Price, Euronics, ePlaza, etc - all of whom I have used without any problem. In fact, if it comes to being "ahead of the pack", the Apple iPhone has been available fairly freely here for 3 or 4 months - unlocked! It will be official after TIM launch it - similarly unlocked (the first country in the world where it is possible to, legally, buy one).
Otherwise, white goods, as well as black, are always different in different countries - most often without any actual product difference other than slight cosmetic changes. Global marketing and all that!
My advice is to buy here. At least if - or when - the item breaks, crashes, stops working, you can get it fixed without a drama or an additional flight "back home". Live with it, really. Italy is very well up there when it comes to fashionable electronics - often ahead of the UK, in fact.
Of course, if your problem is language, that is another issue altogether and one that isn't the fault of any Italian supplier.
The only hint worth giving you is to use the Italian Google (or whatever) for your searching and use the Italian names/descriptions of the product. That will help enormously in your quest. Otherwise the cost of living here will rapidly become silly, as will the aggravation factor when things start breaking down. Good luck though.