I'm typing this out at 3 AM, just after landing from Bangkok and coming home & starting up the TV because it's all fresh in my mind
Model: Sony 42 Inch W Series KDL-42W674A. I originally wanted the W800, but they didn't have it in stock. Figured I wouldn't get another shot at getting the TV so cheap, so settled for the non-3D W670 series.
Shop of choice: Indra Sound, Indra Square Mall, Pratunam, Bangkok. Contrary to what was being said about this shop, this shop seemed quite legit to me. First of all this is not some sleazy dealer in a back-alley. This is a huge 'Vijay Sales/ Sony Mony' type dealer out there. He has two properties - one showcasing multi-vendor TVs on the ground floor and another exclusive Sony showroom inside on the first floor. As many people have mentioned, he does speak fluent Hindi! And he really sells TVs by the dozen! In the 35-40 minutes we were there in his shop, he must have sold around a dozen! BTW he does not issue a 'Kaccha' bill. It's a genuine receipt.
Cost: THB 19500 + THB 390 because I paid by credit card = Total THB: 19890
The shopkeeper issues a proper invoice along-with a smart-card which has your passport details loaded into it. The smart-card is for VAT refund. The invoice clearly mentions the VAT amount.
BTW there are other non-electronic (non smart-card) vat-refund forms as well. Some vendors use those.
The VAT refund amount was THB 1275 as per his bill.
At the Bangkok airport:
Enter the Suvarnabhoomi airport through gate no. 4. Just inside there's a VAT refund for tourists material inspection counter. You need to go into that office and show the smart-card and your passport. They will check out the material and make an electronic entry against the smart-card that the material is duly inspected. If you are using the non-smart card VAT refund form, then instead of electronically tagging it, they will stamp it.
Proceed for check-in as usual.
Now Jet Airways charges for overweight (if you exceed) + the 1000 THB TV handling charges. They DO NOT check for over-sized baggage - simply because the folks at the check-in counter don't have a way to measure the dimensions of the TV (they can measure only the weight). In my case I was not exceeding the permissible weight, so they didn't charge me anything above the 1000 THB. The counter folks will put the baggage and fragile tags on the TV and tell you to take it to another 'over-sized baggage screening' counter. There they will scan the TV and take it in for loading to the aircraft. Then you pay the 1000 THB at another dedicated Jet Airways check-in counter, show the receipt at your original Jet Airways check-in counter, and they will issue the boarding pass.
After passing through passport control, look for the VAT refund for tourists office. Go there and show them the smart-card. They will check the system, and refund the amount (deducting 100 THB as their service charges) in cash on the spot. I got 1175 THB as VAT refund.
At the Mumbai airport:
This is where I found the most ambiguity. The customs folks' singular focus seems to be to extract as much money as they can. Rules are bent/ twisted to their liking.
Here's what happened:
1) Seeing a 42 inch TV, I was instructed to go to the red-channel counter.
2) An official there checked my passport.
3) They have a TV price list. They disregard the BKK prices completely. They go by the price-list, deduct 30% and consider 70% as the price of the TV. Out of that they will then deduct the 35000 Duty-Free allowance and charge duty accordingly.
4) They had the 2012 Sony price list with all the HX models. They didnt have the pricing for the W series models yet. So they arbitrarily took the price my TV as 56000 INR ( :clapping: ) (The actual Indian MRP I think is 67000 INR). 70% of that comes to 39200 INR. Deducting 35000 from that, the taxable cost of the TV came out to be just 4.2K INR. The duty amount was Rs. 1779, all white and with bill.
5) They scanned the baggage and found a couple of cameras. I'd have had to haggle on about these as well, but I had anticipated that. So I had declared all those (including my laptop and cellphone with serial numbers) on my way out. I showed them that form, so that chapter was not opened.
6) I paid the duty and was out.
Considering everything, I paid INR 41200 for a KDL-42W674A!
Now here's the caveats. The rule says that you should be out of the country for more than 4 days. In my case, that was technically true if you consider the Indian customs inward and outward stamps, but if you'd check the flight timings I was actually in Bangkok for less than 72 hours. It appeared as 4 days due to time-zone differences and flight timings etc. Now the customs official I dealt with didn't get into flight timings etc. and I went through. But another customs official flatly refused to give any duty free allowance to a friend of mine with me (also with another identical TV). They told him, they'd consider the flight departure times and those should be 4 days apart. They also told him that the liquor he'd got counts against the 35000 limit, which I'm pretty sure is wrong. I carried in liquor with the TV without hitting that particular rule. This is what I mean when I say they twist facts around to their advantage. So my two cents while dealing with customs: Bring Electronics if you're indisputably out of the country for more than 3 days. And, don't carry in any other dutiable stuff - don't give them room to twist rules around.
Cheers!
I got the same model (sony KDL-42W674A ) yesterday, without warranty, after proper checkup from a shop in delhi for 44k.
It is not gaffar market, its a wholesale shop near sarai rohilla called rimpy-electronics, kind of rude guy but rates seem to be good.
It works like a charm. Connected it to internet & updated its software too today.
Thanks!
