Something
Emporium

I wanna be the guy from the Energizer ads

So, my ASUS motherboard crapped out last night, eight months after I bought it. It did a hard shutdown, accompanied by a bang (because it was plugged into my stereo) and now it refuses to start up. It even refuses to turn the power LED on!

I went and got my original invoice - remembering that there's a one year warranty on all the parts I bought. I was intrigued to find the following at the bottom of the invoice:

  1. Computer Company Ltd's computer systems, computer parts, upgrade kits, and peripherals come with ONE year RETURN-TO-BASE warranty from the date of purchase, unless otherwise specified.
  2. Laptops and Name Branded Computers are covered by their original manufacturers' warranties.
  3. Some manufactures provide their own warranties direct to the customer. This means that you simply phone the manufacture directly, and they will arrange for your product to be returned to them for warranty service or replacement rather than Computer Company Ltd This provides you faster, cheaper service than if you were to return it to us, as we would simply have to return it to the manufacture by the same means.
  4. Computer Company Ltd is not responsible for any delay for the repair or replacement. However, should there be a significant delay for any reason, Computer Company Ltd will endevour to assist customer in having your system up and running again as soon as possible. This may be done by loaning you a part, or offering you an upgrade; this will be done at our discretion only.
  5. In some cases freight charges may be passed onto the customer. For example, when a product is returned for a warranty repair that you wish us to deliver back to you, or if you return a product to us that should have been returned to the manufacturer.
  6. Warranties do not cover incorrect configuration of the computer by the purchaser, erasure of any software, or physical damage to the computer or components.
  7. Computer Company Ltd reserves the right to reject warranty for any goods returned in unacceptable condition, such as, the identification tag or serial no. tag of the good has been damaged or removed.
  8. Due to Copyright issues we are unable to accept returns of any SOFTWAREs.

Now, I'm pretty interested by many of these clauses because of a little piece of law called the Consumer Guarantees Act, 1993. Basically, that's the Act which sets out 'the guarantees given ... to consumers upon the supply of goods or services; and the rights of redress against suppliers and manufacturers in respect of any failure of goods or services to comply with any such guarantees'. The really great thing about this Act is that if you're not buying for a business 'the provisions of [it] shall have effect notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any agreement.'

It doesn't really matter what terms a retailer sets out in their warranty terms - you still have the rights of the Act behind you; the only thing a warranty can do is increase those rights.

So, my specific concerns with the warranty terms? First up, a retailer is not allowed to get you to take up concerns with a manufacturer. It's almost always up to your own discretion whether you wish to take up a claim with the retailer or directly with the manufacturer. The only time when this isn't the case is when the manufacturer has made claims that were false, and those claims didn't appear on the packaging (where the retailer would be aware of them).

Next, a retailer is responsible for a delay in providing a remedy. If your problem is serious (as mine is), or if there's an unreasonable delay you can ask for your money back directly (which the warranty terms don't mention), insist on a replacement not a repair, or even take your goods somewhere else to be repaired and charge the retailer.

Under no circumstances can the retailer charge you for freight if you've returned it to them instead of the manufacturer. As soon as you've got it to the retailer it's up to them to deal with the problem. If you pay them freight to get the good to the manufacturer you're actually getting them to provide a service!

The company above may be able to get out of their warranty if your part has lost its serial number or identification tag, but they can't get out of their obligations to the Act. The Act makes it clear that if you haven't used the goods incorrectly and they've proven themselves to be of unacceptable quality, you have the right to a remedy. It doesn't matter that you can't read the serial number any more.

From the 8th April 2003, the Act also covers the sale of software. The unspecified 'copyright issues' specified in the warranty have absolutely no bearing on your right to a remedy if your software is not of acceptable quality. This is something Dick Smith Electronics are also guilty of - while it's not something their legal team would endorse, I'm sure, you often see signs proclaiming software cannot be returned. Even if the Act didn't exist, there would be something really, really, really stupid behind this: it's not detrimental to the stores interest if someone might have done something illegal with (copied) some software and then returned it to the store. What they're really doing is using the spectre of copyright infringement to try to prevent fraud. And all this while there's other people using the spectre of terrorism to try to prevent copyright infringement. The world really sucks sometimes.

So, to wrap up, don't look at your warranty statement - look at the Consumer Guarantees Act. Finally, in some cases traders may actually be much more liable if they write stupid warranty statements like this; the Ministry of Consumer Affairs says they may be breaching the Fair Trading Act by misleading you about your legal rights. Shop smart y'all.

Dominic

Comments

Something else of interest, on a related note.

Fixed term warranties, for example 1 year, are meaningless under the CGA. A warranty lasts from the date of purchase for a length of time deemed a reasonable lifetime for the product purchased, and at least the length specified.

For example, you buy a washing machine, it happens from time to time. The machine has a 1 year warranty, and you decide not to buy the extended 3 year warranty option (because it's bulls--t and not worth the paper it's printed on, but we'll get to that). The machine breaks down after 2 years. 2 years is not a reasonable lifetime for a washing machine - infact you'd expect a washing machine to last 5 years or more under normal conditions, so you go back to the retailer and under the CGA they have to fix it.

And yeah, as far as extended warranty options, well they generally only extend to a time limit still within a "reasonable lifespan" for the product so they actually don't give any more redress than the CGA, except perhaps less of an argument if something did go wrong.
funkymunky
That's true - extended warranties are useless if you're prepared to kick up a stink. Just a little correction: a warranty *doesn't* last from the date of purchase for a length of time deemed reasonable for the product purchased, but your protection under the CGA does. In effect, the only thing a warranty can do is extend your rights for the period it says.
Dominic
Perhaps the single most useful warranty period I've ever seen is the whopping *five year* warranty on Seagate hard drives; the other cool thing was that when I bought my hard drives it was only a three year warranty, but they retroactively made it into a five year one later on.

And of course, the fact that they offer a five year warranty means that they expect their drives to last that long, meaning those that don't aren't of acceptable quality, so you can stick it to your local computer part retailer under the CGA - and make them pay for shipping to Seagate. Fun!