Are Warranty Stickers Legal
Kyle Wiens, chief executive of iFixit, said the FTC`s announcement confirms consumer rights. “Of course, if you repair the products correctly yourself, the warranty does not expire. If you break your phone`s screen, you should have options outside of Apple to fix it,” he said. I am pleased that the FTC is taking action against these abusive practices. We should be able to maintain our own equipment without fear of retaliation. We`re helping the FTC scare these manufacturers by reopening our #VoidIfRemoved competition. When the FTC sent out its first set of letters in April, I stoked its fire by calling for a good old-fashioned witch hunt and asking netizens to post photos of illegal warranty stickers on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #VoidIfRemoved. We collected those bids and handed them over to the FTC – but apparently the fight has only just begun. Oh, you`ve seen them before: those little stickers or labels that make it clear that if you want your warranty on a product to remain valid, you`d better leave one or more of its parts intact. The idea, of course, is that consumers are prevented from using third-party parts and repair services for the product if they want to stick to that warranty.
Remember the scene in The Big Bang Theory where the gang wants to upgrade the hard drive of their DVR but Sheldon hesitates because the warranty expires? I hate to say it (actually, I`d like to say it), but it`s completely malarkey. Correction: This article originally stated that the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 states that no manufacturer who charges more than $15 for a product can set repair restrictions on a device on which it offers a warranty. The price in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is $5. The motherboard regrets the error. The FTC has urged the six companies to review their warranty notices and ensure that they do not indicate or imply that warranty coverage depends on the use of certain parts of the services. It will then check the companies` websites after 30 days and warn the recipients of the letters that “failure to correct any violations may result in prosecution.” The “Warranty void in case of deletion” sticker on Xbox One. Most consumers don`t know that these stickers are actually illegal – and that`s because manufacturers don`t want them. Under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975, the federal government ordered that you can open your electronic devices without the warranty expiring, regardless of the language of your warranty. This makes illegal all this inconsistent (albeit clever) language used by the 50 manufacturers surveyed by the US PIRG.
As a handyman/electrical engineer, I often read these labels as “invalid warranty if not removed” 😉 The Commission has now asked the six companies to take a closer look at their advertising and guarantee material and to ensure that they do not indicate or imply that a guarantee is only granted when certain parts of the services are used. In addition, the Watchdog Group has encouraged companies to review their practices to comply with the law. If no changes are made within 30 days, legal action may be taken. An example is 1999/44/EC, which means that in some EU states, even if the manufacturer only gives a 12-month warranty, it is covered for two years, it depends on how your country has implemented this directive. From now until the eve of All Saints` Day, I`m asking everyone (again) to post “no guarantee if stickers are removed” photos with the hashtag #VoidIfRemoved – so we can easily find them and send them to the FTC. In addition to your photo, please let us know in which device you found the sticker so that we can categorize our entries by manufacturer. In exchange for your photos, I will distribute some treats – in the form of iFixit toolkits – to the best-dressed appetizers. Enter as many times as you want. The more entries, the better.
I`m not sure what it is in the US, in the UK, they should show some sort of proof/reasoning that everything you did could have caused the problem for which you are claiming the guarantee. As we`ve already reported, it`s illegal under federal law for electronics manufacturers to put “Zero Warranty If Removed” stickers on their gadgets, and it`s also illegal for companies to void your warranty if you repair your device yourself or through a third party. And in the meantime, don`t be afraid the next time you see one of these stickers: Know that if you take off, the law will strengthen your back. I have now seen several threads where people have commented that they want to make changes to their components but are afraid to open them for fear of voiding their warranty. If I had a nickel for every time I came across a “Warranty will expire if it`s removed” sticker, I could easily buy the latest iPhone. Manufacturers have been cumbersome with warranty stickers on all of our products including: Xbox, PSP Go, Asus laptops, and even NVidia graphics cards. And I would bet my nickels that at some point you also came across a few warranty stickers. To put it simply, the manufacturer should put stickers in a certain place in the device, but I believe that with some things, like laptops, you should be able to open them to update memory or RAM without voiding warranties. However, if you open your phone and break that waterproof gasket, you`re on your own. Take advantage of the guarantees when you can, then take matters into your own hands. I was sad to see that my EK 280mm AIO had one of these stickers. I sent and contacted an email related to this article.
#voidifremoved As you can see, Acer Aspire V3 It was not bought by us, but I wanted to shame them for sticking stickers on their products in other countries. pic.twitter.com/NXNAAnI41f We are sure that there are more companies sticking these stickers on their products. So if you have a device in your home — or if you see one in the wild — that uses a sticker that voids the warranty, let us know by tagging us (@iFixit) on Twitter or Instagram and using the hashtag #voidifremoved. In addition, hearings are scheduled for the coming weeks in California and Oregon, and we expect a vote on the Minnesota bill. Call your legislator and tell him that you support the right to reparation! “The wording on the site was part of a consumer awareness campaign to inform Hyundai vehicle owners of their rights after a collision to ensure their vehicle is returned to its pre-collision condition,” the spokesman said in a statement sent to NPR via email Thursday. “This language does not appear in Hyundai`s written warranty terms or elsewhere on hyundaiusa.com.” Businesses have 30 days to update their websites and comply with U.S. federal law before the FTC takes further action. The Commission has not yet applied the warranty right to an electronics manufacturer, but it has already used MMWA as a hammer in court. In 2015, it reached an out-of-court settlement with BMW when the automaker forced consumers to hire authorized dealers to make repairs to its MINI auto lineup.
“Americans produce about 3.4 million tons of e-waste a year” – @ifixit And warranty #voidifremoved stickers don`t help. People are too scared or don`t bother to fix their electronics, which can have a longer lifespan if they`ve simply been cared for and encouraged to open their devices. I just want to be able to clean my keyboard thoroughly without losing my warranty. You no longer have to endure a lifetime of refraining from removing stickers that say “Warranty void when removed.” It turns out that these stickers are not only ugly, but actually misleading and potentially illegal in the United States, according to a series of warning letters sent by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to six companies. These companies operate in a variety of industries, the Commission noted, from selling cars to mobile phones to video game systems – but all say that “consumers have to use certain parts or service providers to keep their warranties intact”. And that, the FTC says, is a no-no. Well, as you`ve probably long suspected — or at least desperately wanted to — these warnings are absurd.