... coming soon
Essentially, no product is perfect and warranties give producers a competitive advantage over the companies that don't warrant their products.
If a product breaks or isn't working there are several steps that a consumer can take:
There are several reasons to why people usually don't take full advantage of their warranties:
As a group we have decided that in order for consumers to take advantage of the warranties, the producers should make those short and easy to read.
The presenting group also talked about the Warranty Act of 1975.
Several Types of warranties were also discussed: Full, Limited, Lifetime AND Written, Spoken and Implied.
In order to make sure that a product you just purchased is covered by a warranty we were advised to:
If there is a problem with a product:
hen, if they don't help you:
You shouldn't be charged for having your good fixed.
In my small group we said the consumer should know about warranties on their products so they will know what exactly is covered under the warranty and for how long. We thought warranties are important therefore we should have them to protect the consumer from defective products. Warranties also benefit the designers and producers of a product because it creates a good relationship between the seller and the customers and it provides information to the designers about how they can better improve the product. Warranties are offered on many products, for small items you would just need to write the company and call the number to notify them of the problem. If its something like a car you would take it back to the dealer. For more expensive products if you came up against resistance from the company you might take legal action. People often do not take advantage of warranties either because they do not read the warranty full so they do not know what is covered or they do not want to go through the hassle because perhaps they feel it was their fault.
In the larger group ways in which companies could get consumers to read the warranties more often would be to shorten the content to 1 or 2 pages hitting the main point and to enlarge the print this would make it easier for people to read. An alternative to going through the warranty process with the company would be to just take the product back to the store where you got it for a refund or exchange. Another point that was brought up was that less expensive and lower quality items often have shorter warranties.
Presentation: The Warranty Act was established in 1975 it protects both the seller and the customer, under this act defects covered under the warranty should be fixed for free. There are three types of warranties they are written, spoken and implied. Written deals with promises made in the sale of the item such as the advertised level of performance and durability along with other things. Spoken covers promises made by the sales person at the point of sale these are suppose to be covered however it is advised to get them written down in case a problem does arise. Lastly there is implied this time is typically dealt with under state laws there are 2 forms of this they are merchantability and fitness. Merchantability is to ensure that the product will do what it is suppose to do and fitness is that it will perform to the level which it is advertised to do. For example a zero degree sleeping bag should keep the user warm at that level.
Things we should keep in mind is to consider the reputation of the producer, make sure you use the product as it is meant to be used and you know how to use it and lastly that you keep the receipt just in case something does go wrong. If problems do arise with the product you can go back to the retailer, contact the state consumer protection office or take legal action.