Amazon Voice Products - Available in Canada

[Teken]

As many of you know the Amazon Echo and its sister products have long been restricted to the USA. A few months ago the product was expanded to the U.K.

 

Today I was surfing around and found Best Buy Canada notes the entire product line is available for preorder for release on December 05, 2017!!!

 

This will mean some of the software and location hacks are no longer required.

 

Sadly, given the exchange rate the products are easily 20~35% more expensive than the USD MSRP!!

 

Regardless, I will assume at some point the smart application will be changed to support Canadian local enrollment without having to use the American version of the smart application. Also the product will have official in country warranty and technical support should it be required.

 

I don't pretend to know what the past hold up is / was. Some noted this had to do with being bi-lingual which doesn't pass the smell test.

 

As Google home which came years later have long been selling here in Canada since product launch!!

 

Good times for all the black sheep of the family.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Teken]

The news just keeps on getting better as I decided to check out the Amazon.ca site. For a limited time they offer the Echo Dots for the same price as the American site which retails for $49.99. 

 

The big difference is you don't pay exchange and this is all in Canadian dollars with GST & PST. The Best Buy Advert had them going for $69.99 a $20.00 difference.

 

I just snagged up two Generation 2 Echo Dot's for $49.99 and will have them delivered on or about December 05, 2017. 

 

 

[stusviews]

That's good news. Considering the exchanges rate, that makes the Canadian cost about 10% greater than the USD. But, don't those prices include all taxes?

[Teken]

That's good news. Considering the exchanges rate, that makes the Canadian cost about 10% greater than the USD. But, don't those prices include all taxes?

 

LOL ~ Sadly, no Federal & Provincial tax's are on top of the sale price. I was a little surprised the PST was applied because normally you have to have a presence in those places. But, I gather since this is a national roll out they have some kind of presence via a distributor / vendor etc. Depending upon where you live the PST, HST can tip the balance of something being value priced versus just a OK buy.

 

I took advantage of the 30 day Prime Subscription so that offered free two way shipping.

 

Which even if I had past over that offer the system indicated shipping was only a meager $4.XX?!?! This comes back to vendor who receive massive discounts from the major couriers because they do lots of business. But it in no way explains why they need to stick it to the consumer who wants to ship a small parcel!    I don't appreciate being gauged and nickel and dimed when its proven it can be offered for less.

 

Anyways, I'm just happy to see a good value offered to those north of the border . . .    

[Teken]

I guess we can officially discount the rumor the hold up had to do with the French! 

[Teken]

So I decided to do a quick comparisons and found out these devices have only a 90 day warranty?!? You got to be kidding me this is 2017 and isn't from the Dollar Store! I think purchasing that extended warranty they offer via Square Trade makes sense moving forward. The one year warranty starts at $9.99, two years $12.99, and three years is $19.99.

 

Does anyone believe there's value in the extended warranty given I haven't read of any failures of the hardware? Since this is the Generation 2 of the Echo Dot I would assume its a solid product and any past issues have since been fixed?

 

Any?

 

I'll spend the meager $19.99 if people say the hardware has issues or its just a nice fuzzy insurance. If its rock solid I could put that $19.99 toward almost half the price of another Echo Dot! 

[stusviews]

I was hesitant about becoming a Prime member for years. I usually added items to my cart over time until I got enough for free shipping. I believe that was $35. I bit the bullet when that was offered for $66 for the first year, $99 after that because there was another benefit, prime TV (not for me, I rarely if ever watch TV, too much more fun to do). That enabled me to "cut the cord."

 

With two Fire TVs and subscriptions to SHO, HBO, Starz and Netflix plus a bunch of free movies and TV shows including news, it's about one-third of what we paid for satellite. And free shipping on even a 99¢ item. I don't know if this is at all available in Canada.

[Teken]

I was hesitant about becoming a Prime member for years. I usually added items to my cart over time until I got enough for free shipping. I believe that was $35. I bit the bullet when that was offered for $66 for the first year, $99 after that because there was another benefit, prime TV (not for me, I rarely if ever watch TV, too much more fun to do). That enabled me to "cut the cord."

 

With two Fire TVs and subscriptions to SHO, HBO, Starz and Netflix plus a bunch of free movies and TV shows including news, it's about one-third of what we paid for satellite. And free shipping on even a 99¢ item. I don't know if this is at all available in Canada.

 

Yes, the Prime subscription offers similar extras like music, online video, etc. They offer 2 way free shipping but the reality is the Amazon website is like 99.99999% of all so called e-tailers. It carries 1/thousandths of the products and services offered on the American site. Makes no sense at all to me given the exact same products are available in Canada locally.

 

Albeit at 10 ~ 500% of the difference which highly depends upon the product group.    

 

This whole NAFTA and e-commerce was supposed to make things easier to buy, sell, and at a reasonable price point. I haven't seen any of this materialize at all since the whole inception of this so called *Free Trade*. Since the bulk of difference appears to be on some items at least is due to the fact the greedy Government simply has to get their pound of flesh.

 

This directly impacts the initial cost(s) of some items . . .

 

What I take issue is places like Amazon simply offering 10 items which are just pure sh^t and could be bought at the Dollar Store. If they so happen to offer that exact same product its easily 2~5 times more expensive! That doesn't even come close to addressing the fact the other millions of items are not present or available to purchase on their e-store!! 

 

Every e-tailer I've seen in America does this and you can name anyone from HD, Walmart, doesn't matter who. Don't even get me started about those who simply won't ship to Canada because they are simply too stupid to fill out one extra form . . .    Canada is ONLY THE LARGEST TRADING PARTNER AMERICA HAS and has been so for more than 100 freaking years! 

[larryllix]

A few comments.

 

Prime

Amazon Prime in Canada isn't worth much. After competitive testing between my wife and I we ordered the same items a few times and we both had to drive into town to pick them up the same day Prime membership or not. Any Free 2 Day shipping advertised always turns into 1 week shipping once I change my shipping option to my Canadian address from Amazon.ca (Canadian website). Wife has now cancelled her subscription to Prime. Waste of money. My last order took almost two months to arrive and I always have to drive 12 km x 2 to pick it up myself a day later than usual anyway. When shipped across the border by the usual couriers it costs much more and delays even longer while the couriers drag their feet handing it off to their Canadian counterparts using the same names. Amazon.ca was only a book store (similar to Columbia records marketting)  in Canada 5-8 years ago.

 

Ecobee4

Comes with Alexa built into it. Great but...... 

- Doesn't arbitrate between the ecobee4 stat and other Echo/Dots. It always answers simultaneously along with at least one other Dot. Name change is working..PITA

- Doesn't support 5GHz WiFi as they used the existing 2.4GHz WiFi hardware already in the ecobee4 stat.

- Positive! Sound not nearly as deaf when it hears my bassy TV sound system. Across the room it answers and understands better than the Dot sitting directly in front of my face about 4 feet away. The ecobee4 is on mounted on the wall about 23-25 feet behind me, about 5 o'clock angle.

- When I contacted ecobee about support they wanted to know who was selling this stat to me in Canada. They wanted a list and reported they were never released in Canada and should not be sold here. I immediately ran to Home Depot and bought one of the last two units before they were jerked from the shelves. Awesome thermostat and runs circles around the Venstar, Honeywell, and $1300 Tekmar commercial networking stat I was using. I didn't even consider a Nest after seeing three units operate.

 

Canadian Support

I received an email from ecobee telling me they now support Canadian addresses. I just finished entering my real address into five amazon products using their webpage app. It pays no attention to my Canadian address but instead  uses my postal code instead...so far. I am subject to a micro climate here that is very different than my postal code in town with a lake effect that varies the temperature over 10C (18F) in the spring when wind blows onto the shore. Other weather services seem to be connected into a weather station mounted at the bottom of the hill and reflects a better weather report.

 

Very nice weather is available for this small town though. Previously Alexa only knew of large communities in Canada.

 

I have to thank Google Home for pushing Amazon's buttons on this. I was contemplating switching.

[Teken]

A few comments.

 

Prime

Amazon Prime in Canada isn't worth much. After competitive testing between my wife and I we ordered the same items a few times and we both had to drive into town to pick them up the same day Prime membership or not. Any Free 2 Day shipping advertised always turns into 1 week shipping once I change my shipping option to my Canadian address from Amazon.ca (Canadian website). Wife has now cancelled her subscription to Prime. Waste of money. My last order took almost two months to arrive and I always have to drive 12 km x 2 to pick it up myself a day later than usual anyway. When shipped across the border by the usual couriers it costs much more and delays even longer while the couriers drag their feet handing it off to their Canadian counterparts using the same names. Amazon.ca was only a book store (similar to Columbia records marketting)  in Canada 5-8 years ago.

 

Ecobee4

Comes with Alexa built into it. Great but...... 

- Doesn't arbitrate between the ecobee4 stat and other Echo/Dots. It always answers simultaneously along with at least one other Dot. Name change is working..PITA

- Doesn't support 5GHz WiFi as they used the existing 2.4GHz WiFi hardware already in the ecobee4 stat.

- Positive! Sound not nearly as deaf when it hears my bassy TV sound system. Across the room it answers and understands better than the Dot sitting directly in front of my face about 4 feet away. The ecobee4 is on mounted on the wall about 23-25 feet behind me, about 5 o'clock angle.

- When I contacted ecobee about support they wanted to know who was selling this stat to me in Canada. They wanted a list and reported they were never released in Canada and should not be sold here. I immediately ran to Home Depot and bought one of the last two units before they were jerked from the shelves. Awesome thermostat and runs circles around the Venstar, Honeywell, and $1300 Tekmar commercial networking stat I was using. I didn't even consider a Nest after seeing three units operate.

 

Canadian Support

I received an email from ecobee telling me they now support Canadian addresses. I just finished entering my real address into five amazon products using their webpage app. It pays no attention to my Canadian address but instead  uses my postal code instead...so far. I am subject to a micro climate here that is very different than my postal code in town with a lake effect that varies the temperature over 10C (18F) in the spring when wind blows onto the shore. Other weather services seem to be connected into a weather station mounted at the bottom of the hill and reflects a better weather report.

 

Very nice weather is available for this small town though. Previously Alexa only knew of large communities in Canada.

 

I have to thank Google Home for pushing Amazon's buttons on this. I was contemplating switching.

 

I won't lie the enrollment to Amazon Prime was simply to get the free shipping. The current Amazon Canada website offers no real benefit to me past the 30 day free trial.

 

To be fair to Amazon Canada there have been one of two great deals in the past not seen on the American side.

 

But, that has been far and few to be seen and I know because there are alerts setup and nothing has come to match those specials going on eight years now. The only saving grace to most of this is eBay, AliExpress, and other global shipping websites. If these sites didn't exist there is no way I could have purchased so many things at such great value prices.

 

Well besides Government auctions . . . 

[stusviews]

Not my experience with Amazon at all. I've purchased 100's of items from Amazon--this year alone, and for the most part have been very satisfied. Returns are super easy for the first 30 days and, as you've noted, return shipping is included. You don't even need a serious issue for a no-cost refund--within the first 30 days.

 

Also the convenience of delivery to my home (something you don't get), usually within a few days, occasionally the same or next day. Cost is often equal to or less than locally, but sometimes the convenience is worth paying a bit more.

 

BTW, it's not all a matter of money. I was glad when Amazon started charging state tax a few years back. I'm a fair person

 

My wife is an avid TV watcher, Bill Mahar, the Outlanders, for starters and if she finds a movie she likes, it'll get watched 10 or more times. The WAF alone is worth the subscription cost.

 

One more thing, the Echo devices have a 90 day warranty here, too. I have three Echos from the onset and six Echo Dots from when they were introduced and no problems except occasionally unplugging them when the connection is lost. I doubt that would be considered a warranty issue.

[Teken]

Not my experience with Amazon at all. I've purchased 100's of items from Amazon--this year alone, and for the most part have been very satisfied. Returns are super easy for the first 30 days and, as you've noted, return shipping is included. You don't even need a serious issue for a no-cost refund--within the first 30 days.

 

Also the convenience of delivery to my home (something you don't get), usually within a few days, occasionally the same or next day. Cost is often equal to or less than locally, but sometimes the convenience is worth paying a bit more.

 

BTW, it's not all a matter of money. I was glad when Amazon started charging state tax a few years back. I'm a fair person

 

My wife is an avid TV watcher, Bill Mahar, the Outlanders, for starters and if she finds a movie she likes, it'll get watched 10 or more times. The WAF alone is worth the subscription cost.

 

One more thing, the Echo devices have a 90 day warranty here, too. I have three Echos from the onset and six Echo Dots from when they were introduced and no problems except occasionally unplugging them when the connection is lost. I doubt that would be considered a warranty issue.

 

I have no doubt your experience is completely different than most Canadians. The main point was the lack of product availability or if they did offer the same product it was very expensive for the same. So back to the whole 90 day warranty if you had to do it all over again would you purchase the extended warranty? I am on the fence and have no issues spending the money if it makes sense.

 

Given, this will be one of three voice solutions on hand its something that needs to operate for a long time. The website indicates I have 30 days to add the extended warranty once it arrives so I have lots of time to hum and haw over it. 

[stusviews]

I no longer waste money on insuring new electronics. Chances are really good that if the device lasts 90 days, it'll be there for the long run, PLM excepted. I do often warranty used electronics from eBay.

 

Then there's the relative cost. A one year warranty for the Dot is nearly 10% of the cost, actually it's a nine month warranty, so it's about 50¢/mo. At 3 yrs, actually 33 months, the comes to about 41¢ a month. IMO, still too much for a < $50 new electronics device. Also realize that when electronics fails during the warranty, a refurbished device is nearly always the replacement.

[lilyoyo1]

I dont see a need to pay extra for the warranty. From my experience, they have been rock solid

[larryllix]

Talk to store sales people online. They will tell you the extended warranties are just a license to print money. They get used about 1% of the sales and 99% just pure store pocket money.

[stusviews]

Teken, there you have, not overwhelming, but definitive. Waste the money getting wasted instead

[TheFallenAngel]

I was hesitant about becoming a Prime member for years. I usually added items to my cart over time until I got enough for free shipping. I believe that was $35. I bit the bullet when that was offered for $66 for the first year, $99 after that because there was another benefit, prime TV (not for me, I rarely if ever watch TV, too much more fun to do). That enabled me to "cut the cord."

 

With two Fire TVs and subscriptions to SHO, HBO, Starz and Netflix plus a bunch of free movies and TV shows including news, it's about one-third of what we paid for satellite. And free shipping on even a 99¢ item. I don't know if this is at all available in Canada.

Yes it has been for a while.. I live DT Toronto and enjoy 1 or 2 free shipping with Prime. Also Prime membership works on any Amazon site, meaning if I shop on Amazon US or Amazon CA. I shop 70% of the time on the on Amazon US and save big time on taxes and shipping to Canada.. Other than that I've enjoyed all Prime perks like Prime Music, Prime Video, etc. Now they announced that Prime Music officially comes to Canada, hence to Canada specific Prime members. Which is strange to me since my Prime account worked for years on both US and CAN sites...

 

It Music Unlimited however I can not get get since it requires US credit card. But I use Pandora most of the time.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S7 Edge using Tapatalk

[Outlander]

A few comments.

Ecobee4

Comes with Alexa built into it. Great but...... 

- Doesn't arbitrate between the ecobee4 stat and other Echo/Dots. It always answers simultaneously along with at least one other Dot. Name change is working..PITA

 

I've had the ecobee4 now for a few months but disabled the built in Alexa because of the simultaneous answers from my Dots in other rooms.

This was an issue with multiple Echos/Dots at the beginning that was resolved quickly and I was surprised to see this problem again.

Ecobee released new firmware a couple weeks ago to add the "Echo Spatial Perception" but mine wouldn't update (maybe Canada wasn't supposed to get this feature)

I used the online support on their website and they asked for my serial number to push the update through.

ESP is working fine now but I find the microphone inferior.  I can be standing in front of the Ecobee and either the Dot in the master bedroom or kitchen will usually answer.

[larryllix]

I've had the ecobee4 now for a few months but disabled the built in Alexa because of the simultaneous answers from my Dots in other rooms.

This was an issue with multiple Echos/Dots at the beginning that was resolved quickly and I was surprised to see this problem again.

Ecobee released new firmware a couple weeks ago to add the "Echo Spatial Perception" but mine wouldn't update (maybe Canada wasn't supposed to get this feature)

I used the online support on their website and they asked for my serial number to push the update through.

ESP is working fine now but I find the microphone inferior.  I can be standing in front of the Ecobee and either the Dot in the master bedroom or kitchen will usually answer.

I put a complaint into ecobee about this, and got a response back that they are awareofthis problem, and cannot fix this at this time but are working on it.

 

I have found the ecobee has bad voice recognition if I am right in front of it.

 

"Alexa. Turn off all lights",   results in

 

... "I can't find Hall Lights",   every time.

 

However if I step back more than 10 feet it never misses.

 

For now my ecobee4 is called Alexa and the rest of  the units are called Echo. That works well for now.

 

My one Echo doesn't arbitate well with the Dots either and has the simultaneous response problem, about 50% of the time.

[Outlander]

I put a complaint into ecobee about this, and got a response back that they are awareofthis problem, and cannot fix this at this time but are working on it.

 

I have found the ecobee has bad voice recognition if I am right in front of it.

 

"Alexa. Turn off all lights",   results in

 

... "I can't find Hall Lights",   every time.

 

However if I step back more than 10 feet it never misses.

 

For now my ecobee4 is called Alexa and the rest of  the units are called Echo. That works well for now.

 

My one Echo doesn't arbitate well with the Dots either and has the simultaneous response problem, about 50% of the time.

 

Are you running the new firmware and still having simultaneous responses?

After they pushed my firmware through, it did correct mine.