Warranty Void if Seal Damaged

Chlorine gas and retaliatory missiles in Syria. Trump trying to figure out how to shut down Mueller’s investigation. Mark Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill making the realization that federal regulation is about to change the face of social media. Paul Ryan’s stepping out of the House race in 2018. National Guard troops heading to the border. Lots of stuff to blog about, but my guess that you would like to change the subject for a moment. So consumers, this one’s for you.

Big U.S. companies that manufacture high tech electronic products really want consumers to repair their purchases at authorized dealers (often selling original replacement parts at exorbitant prices), and do not want consumers to  embellish or add after-market features to their wares. So they often blast their user manuals and place stickers into their innards telling consumers that if they mess with the product other than through an authorized dealer, they can kiss their warranty goodbye. Indeed, authorized dealers and repair shops often refuse to honor warranties if the consumer has done any such work to a product covered by such a warranty restriction. It happens all the time.

There’s just one catch. “The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that the warning stickers that say people will void their warranties are not only meaningless but also illegal. These types of stickers are common on many electronics — for example, if you try to open an Xbox One X, you’ll find a black sticker over one of the screws; Microsoft has cited the sticker’s absence as a reason to reject people’s warranty claims in the past. Sony’s PlayStation has a sticker that says, ‘Warranty void if seal damaged.’

“The agency said it sent letters about the labels to six ‘major’ companies that make game consoles, automobiles and cellular devices. The FTC did not name the companies that received the letters. It said that these types of messages are in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which prohibits companies from putting repair limits on warranties. The messages also may violate rules against false representation, the agency said.

“Consumer groups have criticized companies, including Apple, Sony and Microsoft, for using these types of warnings or for saying third-party repairs will violate a warranty. Sony and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Many states have considered ‘right to repair’ bills that, among other measures, would make it clear that companies can’t punish people for making their own repairs.

“Kyle Wiens, chief executive of IFixit, said the FTC’s announcement reaffirms consumer rights. ‘Of course correctly repairing products yourself doesn’t void the warranty. If you break your phone’s screen, you should have options outside of Apple for repairing it,’ he said.  I’m glad that the FTC is cracking down on these abusive practices. We should be able to maintain our own hardware without fear of retaliation.’

“The FTC offered a few examples of terms of service claims that violate the law, including:

The use of [company name] parts is required to keep your ... manufacturer’s warranties and any extended warranties intact.

This warranty shall not apply if this product ... is used with products not sold or licensed by [company name].

This warranty does not apply if this product ... has had the warranty seal on the [product] altered, defaced, or removed. [Emphasis Added]

“The FTC declined to say what could happen to companies that continue to use these warnings.” Los Angeles Times, April 12^th. Of course, if your repair is a botch-job or your add-on changes the electronic dynamics to impair the functionality of the device, such changes could in fact let the manufacturer off the hook. A little common sense. But if a dealer refuses to honor a warranty when a repair or add-on had no impact, repeat after me: “the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act!”

I’m Peter Dekom, and I thought that you might like to know this.