Does anyone know a decent, trustworthy phone shop in Bangkok? Besides the chains? I'm talking about the little kiosk type shops at MBK, Fortune, and Pantip...

Also, what's the deal w/ the phones that don't come w/ a warranty? I understand these phones were purchased (or "purchased") in another country, and sent here. But why does that effect the warranty w/ the manufacturer? I could see if they were stolen, but they can't all be stolen. Not that many... Everyone has phones like this.

I guess it would help if you could identify the types/brands of phones you are looking to buy.

In MBK, on the 4th floor (where a lot of the mobile shops are) straight back from Tokyu is a shop called NASA. Based on the massive crowds of Thais arrayed around this typical "box shop" I'd venture to say that it is both reputable and offers the best prices. YMMV.

Local subsidiaries are typically not required to offer warranty repair/replacement on devices purchased in other countries, but this can vary by manufacturer/sub. The reason for this is that it can be expensive to offer these services and since the local subsidiary did not derive any revenue from the initial sale of the device they are incurring pure costs, which obviously eat into their profit. Some manufacturers/subs do offer corporate bill-back for local warranty repair/replacement but this is atypical.

Just about every phone comes with a warranty card which describes the warranty terms and conditions, including the warranty repair agent. Typically that agent is resident in the country where the phone was purchased.