This whole authorized v. unauthorized dealer business is BS, IMO. The manufacturers are just as responsible for this problem as the "unauthorized" dealers. It's not hard for a vendor to find out who's selling their products and how those products got to those dealers.
The truth is that some manufacturers don't want to sacrifice sales by having a strictly policed distribution channel so they basically create two categories of distribution - authorized and unauthorized. They sell unwarrantied product at a discount to distributors who then sell them to unauthorized dealers. I can think of several top tier electronics manufacturers who participate in this sort of practice.
IMO, it's a bit myopic because you are certainly not building brand loyalty by denying a customer (who may have been lied to by the dealer) warranty service. I guess that's what it takes to compete in CE.
The truth is that some manufacturers don't want to sacrifice sales by having a strictly policed distribution channel so they basically create two categories of distribution - authorized and unauthorized. They sell unwarrantied product at a discount to distributors who then sell them to unauthorized dealers. I can think of several top tier electronics manufacturers who participate in this sort of practice.
IMO, it's a bit myopic because you are certainly not building brand loyalty by denying a customer (who may have been lied to by the dealer) warranty service. I guess that's what it takes to compete in CE.