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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 28, 2007 20:51:47 GMT -6
The Warranty Scam on electronics and computer-related products has hit epidemic levels. This post is the 1st of several posts on this subject. I encourage everyone to add their own experiences to this thread.
The purchase of most electronic products from major companies, such as Brother and Hewlett-Packard, comes with a phony manufacturers' warranty. The manufacturer's warranty requires that the buyer contact the manufacturer if the product malfunctions, and ATTEMPT to get a replacement. (Stores will not take the product back. It must be sent to the manufacturer.)
When the buyer attempts to get a replacement or refund from the manufacturer, they must call the manufacturer. When a customer calls to redeem the warranty, they are connected to a low-paid service rep in India (or Bangladesh or China) At this point, the never-ending barrage of trouble-shooting suggestions begins. But number of suggested fixes has no limit. Such warranty calls end only when the customer hangs up--or when the customer or service rep dies. Subsequent warranty calls have the same results--futile and endless trouble-shooting suggestions--and another futile attempt to redeem the warranty.
This policy is not an attempt to "fix" a problem. Nor is at an attempt to honor the manufacturer's warranty. It's a deliberate, well-designed plan to renege on the warranty. It's purpose is to wear a customer down--postpone replacement--in the hope that the customer will give up on receiving a replacement.
My own experience with manufacturers' warranties on printers, fax machines, and related items, is that they are almost 100% FRAUDULENT.
I had Hewlett-Packard printer malfunction while under warranty. Hewlett-Packard's "warranty" consisted of having me talk for many hours with service representatives in India, in a deliberate attempt to avoid honoring the warranty. Hewlett-Packard's "warranty-renege" policy cost me 8 hours of time on the phone. Needless to say, they never honored the warranty. Clearly they never planned on doing so.
My experience with Brother International is even more devious and disingenuous. But that's a topic for later, either as an addition to this post, or in a subsequent post.
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Post by blueneck on Nov 28, 2007 21:11:50 GMT -6
Sounds almost exactly like what we went thru trying to get our crappy Gateway fixed several years ago
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Post by graybeard on Nov 28, 2007 21:23:27 GMT -6
I bought a $200 Communist Chinese made GPS from Staples last summer, and took it back after two weeks, as it would often lock up if I didn't follow its route directions. Staples takes stuff back; no questions asked. I ended up buying 3 monitors and a camera from them in a period of two weeks.
I ended up buying a $600 Garmin from Best Buy, and got suckered into their extended warranty for way too much money. It has been great. Garmins are made in Taiwan, btw, not Communist China. Mr. Garmin is Taiwan Chinese, who was one of the pioneers of GPS at Rockwell Collins. Collins did not want to bother with consumer applications, so Garmin left.
The Magellan GPS is now owned by EADS, the French conglomerate, which means customer service with a snarl.
GB
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Post by Ryan on Nov 28, 2007 22:16:12 GMT -6
I work at Office Max and we are forced to "push" these extended warrenties down customer's throats by stating that the manufacturers warranty is a joke. The way I see it, why can't all the retailers or manufacturerer just raise the prices on these items to cover the potential defects that are bound to happen once in awhile? Instead, HP and others give customers these BS warranty listings on products and don't honer them or a customer has to purchase an extended warranty just to get some protection. Talk about a rip off!!
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 29, 2007 3:07:49 GMT -6
I bought a $200 Communist Chinese made GPS from Staples last summer, and took it back after two weeks, as it would often lock up if I didn't follow its route directions. Did you take it back before 2 weeks were up? Most places will take something back within 2 weeks. But after that time, you have to deal with a manufacturer warranty in most cases (at best). Will Staples take something back after 2 weeks? If they will, that's where I'll buy any future electronic equipment or computer accessory equipment. On a different note, however, I just discovered just how big a scam the store warranties are, and the deception involved. Upon buying a new fax machine, I was asked if I wanted the Office Max warranty. I asked some questions about it, including whether it allowed me to return it to the store, and whether any other action was necessary to put the warranty into effect (like register online, call someone, or anything else.) The answer was "no, nothing else is required." The 1-yr warranty supposedly would allow me to return the fax machine to the store, and they would replace it or give me a store credit if they didn't have it in stock. I verified the price of the fax machine and the price of the warranty ($6.95) And then, once again, I verified all of this a 2nd time: Yes, I can bring it back to the store directly; No, I don't have to call or register online. So I bought the fax machine, and took the written warranty home. Once I got home, I read the written warranty. The written warranty was altogether different than what I'd been told in the store. It said I needed to call the warranty issuer prior to returning anything. Which means I cannot simply return the fax to the store where I purchased it. So I called the number on the warranty paperwork, for further clarification. Sure enough, I had interpreted the written warranty correctly. The person I called was amazingly honest about what the warranty stipulated. She said I'd need to call them first (the warranty issuers), and that I certainly could NOT return the fax to the store. And she said this was a common practice by a lot of stores--to misinform customers that they could return the product to the store itself for a replacement or refund. Once again, she re-stated how the warranty works. The customer needs to call the warranty issuer if there is a problem or malfunction. And if there is a return or refund, the product needs to be returned to the warranty-issuing company, not the store. Not ever. And then she told me that the warranty I bought goes into effect only AFTER the 1-year manufacturer's warranty expires. In other words, the $5.99 warranty I purchased is worthless for the 1st year. (And probably worthless after that as well.) You can't purchase any type of warranty allowing you to return the product to the store directly--despite what the sales people in the store tell you--despite what the store's management deceives you into thinking. The crappy Chinese made products from Brother and Hewlett Packard cannot be returned after 14 days if they malfunction, and the manufacturer's warranty is completely fraudulent, designed not to ever be honored. The warranty is an egregious, deceptive ploy to give customers a false sense of security when buying a brand name, garbage-quality product made in China.
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Nov 29, 2007 3:26:55 GMT -6
I work at Office Max and we are forced to "push" these extended warrenties down customer's throats by stating that the manufacturers warranty is a joke. The way I see it, why can't all the retailers or manufacturerer just raise the prices on these items to cover the potential defects that are bound to happen once in awhile? Instead, HP and others give customers these BS warranty listings on products and don't honer them or a customer has to purchase an extended warranty just to get some protection. Talk about a rip off!! Ryan, Thanks for your input. That's exactly what I expected. Do the employees pushing the warranties actually know the truth about the in-store warranties--that they do not allow customers to bring the product back to the store, and that they don't even go into effect until after the manufacturer's warranty has expired? Or are the employees themselves deliberately lied to by management?
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Post by Ryan on Nov 29, 2007 23:46:02 GMT -6
I believe with Office Max, they are affiliated with the insurance company NEW which deals with product issues pertaining to these extended warranties. To my knowledge, I believe you have to register it online at the Officemax's website. If the product fails, it states in the brochure "simply return the failed product to our replacement depot using the prepaid shipping label we provide." They then send you a gift card for the total purchase price of the item in question. I got this information in the one brochure that is probably one of the most common extended protection plans ( the electronics under 400 dollars).
Any customer, in my opinion should read the fine print over first before purchasing an extended warranty. That can save a lot of trouble. Some extended warranty's cover accidental damage whereas others do not.
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Post by Ryan on Nov 29, 2007 23:48:36 GMT -6
Also the electronics under 400 dollar warranty one goes into effect at the expiration of the manufacturer's labor warranty. Power surges are covered from day one.y
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