Sears and Snap-On are two fine examples of warranties, but that's about it.
Also, the consumer pays, in one way or another, for these warranties.
Long-term automobile warranties are full of holes that let the dealer (and
manufacturer) off the hook easily. (I don't mean the initial 3-yr
bumper-to-bumper ones, but the longer ones) Just read that 7 or 10 year
Chrysler warranty. It has more holes than I don't know what. This happened to
me with a Volvo some years ago. My air conditioner failed. The warranty
stated the A/C was a covered part under the warranty. Brought it to the
dealer, but after examination, they said this other engine part failed first,
causing the A/C to break, and guess what? Since the other part was NOT
covered under warranty, I had to pay the whole bill! How handy that they
could figure out what failed first- they must really be great mechanics!
Other experiences I had with "lifetime warranties"- Farberware (pots and
pans, cookware) for many many years used to advertise a lifetime warranty,
and for many years they honored it. Then I'd say 7 or 10 years ago they just
stopped honoring it.
Same with Streamlight, a flashlight company that makes metal flashlights for
rugged use. (Police officers). They had a lifetime warranty. They were a new
company and offered a lifetime warranty to grab some market share. Their
first switch design was somewhat bad- I had about 5 swithches replaced by
them under warranty in about the first 10 years, all no charge. Then one day
they said they'd stop honoring their 'lifetime' warranty. So now I have a
$100+ metal tube, not a flashlight.
"On oral agreement ain't worth the paper it's written on." - Archie Bunker,
circa 1975
George S.
Halpert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Sears Craftsman handtools do the same unconditional guarantee. The
> salespeople don't even inspect the tool - they just give you a new one.
> Lower cost than Snap-On, mostly better designs, and you don't have to
> find that stupid truck.
>
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