FTC Gives 30 Days to Get Rid Of Illegal Warranty Void Stickers

I'd be hard pressed to name a dozen things that I HAVEN'T at least opened up to look in - I've been like that since I was a little kid. I don;t pull parts or anything like that, at least if the device is working. But I'm always curious about what's inside. About the only things I can name I HAVEN'T opened are my iPhone and iPad. But I did test that my screwdriver bit set had the right ones for the phone and unscrewed the two screws.
As Dave Jones says, "Don't turn it on, take it apaaaaaaart!"
 
vegeta535 said:
Why are people even opening shit that is still under warranty? Hell even to me taking off a heatsink from a video card and slapping a water block on it should void it since you modified the card. Shit how many people broke their GPUs just taking it apart for cleaning.
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Physical damage has never been covered so yeah if you're breaking it then it's on you. Other than that there are many reasons to which I'm shocked by your comment coming from a [H] member!
 
But but but...those policies can't be illegal, because big corporations would never do anything illegal, right?
 
Rahh said:
Physical damage has never been covered so yeah if you're breaking it then it's on you. Other than that there are many reasons to which I'm shocked by your comment coming from a [H] member!
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O know what I am getting into when I fix stuff or modify something. I fully accept that the warranty is out the window at that point.
 
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bugleyman said:
But but but...those policies can't be illegal, because big corporations would never do anything illegal, right?
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Correct, big corporations exist for the good of the customers, employees, shareholders, and society in general. :rolleyes:
 
I wonder how long those stickers have been in use? I swear I've seen them for decades. I think I can remember beige box computers, possibly from Sun, which had them. I wonder why the FTC is only now getting around to this.
 
horskh said:
I wonder how long those stickers have been in use? I swear I've seen them for decades. I think I can remember beige box computers, possibly from Sun, which had them. I wonder why the FTC is only now getting around to this.
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FTC employee #34287 was assigned the Sun sticker case when he started with the agency. He's retiring next month and wanted to leave with a sense of accomplishment.
 
vegeta535 said:
I fully accept that the warranty is out the window at that point.
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That's the big issue in my opinion -- people who think exactly the opposite. Lots of people [*cough entitled cough*] think/expect a company to warranty a product for *anything*. I still get customers who try to play that card when they pooch their OS and expect me to reload it for free.
 
On the other side, there are quite a number of customers that seem to have no problem removing the do not remove sticker from a complicated product, opening it up, ripping components off the boards while trying to haphazardly "inspect" the product & then call you up and complain that you sent them defective items & claim it was shipped all ripped apart.

Apparently there are even some companies that some idiots pay to "verify" the components in their systems & they are even more shameless about doing it.

It seems even when you send them photos of before & after they still claim it is your fault.

They also don't seem to like being called lying frauds to their faces & expect that you will just accept their lies & pay to repair what they broke while opening things up.

I've seen this happen way too many times.
 
At least with the products I analyze for returns, in most cases you can always tell if what someone did to it was the cause of the problem or not. If it was directly causing it, then no service, but if unrelated and was actually a defect of course it is covered.

Covered warranties is what really holds companies to a quality level, if those were to go away and only become pay-for-repair then they would eventually move to the business model of making money on repairs instead of initial sales.
 
Well somewhere a sticker warehouse guy is having a bad day... What if they pre-printed a 20 year supply? :p
 
risc said:
They wanted a simple and efficient way to assure the items they received from warranty weren't tampered with and are genuine spec products. No one should be obligated to repair bubba'd equipment.

I'm almost positive, the sticker will be replaced with another method making it more expensive and difficult. If I was a manufacturer, I would. Countersink screws + epoxy, or just epoxy the housing.
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But then they would just end up having to break the casing to open it up for repair when they do get warranty repairs to work on.

Seems like that would hurt the mfgs more than it would help.
 
nutzo said:
No, any repair attempt that caused damage (bad solder job, broken cable, etc.) would still void the warranty.
They would just have to say something like "Warranty void due to solder damage on board." instead of just saying sticker damaged.
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And the reality is that would end up costing money to diagnose a problem in a world where many things arent fixed so much as replaced.

As someone said earlier cover it all in thermal epoxy, yes that costs more but how much compared to a guy who looks a boards to see how much they have been tampered with? And there is more than one way to destroy electronics, some without any solder globs involved, just make sure to clean up your botched repair job before sending the item in for warranty.
 
Most people are afraid to look inside anything. This isn't going to make a huge difference for your "average" consumer. They'll simply call, or get warranty service, or buy a new one.

Then you've got people who actually are qualified to at least open it up and do a cursory examination. Probably no harm there either, and might even save the company from having to service the device.

The only thing the sticker could have been effective against would be the curious fool, who has zero qualification to open it up, prods around in it, doesn't know what anything is, etc. etc. I know there are plenty of these out there, but I still think they're in the minority.

I don't think removing the stickers is really going to impact any company all that much.
 
sfsuphysics said:
And the reality is that would end up costing money to diagnose a problem in a world where many things arent fixed so much as replaced.

As someone said earlier cover it all in thermal epoxy, yes that costs more but how much compared to a guy who looks a boards to see how much they have been tampered with? And there is more than one way to destroy electronics, some without any solder globs involved, just make sure to clean up your botched repair job before sending the item in for warranty.
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Quiet you!! Look up how that went for Roland with their IR3109. :p In their case they used a resin that after about 20 year became conductive, and started frying voice chips in otherwise still functional synthesizers.

Ok, so that's not likely to happen again. Still though. Don't epoxy anything! Some of us CAN actually repair things...
 
alxlwson said:
This is poor poor information. You've obviously never worked in the auto industry.
Dealerships have nothing to do with honoring the warranty other than being the intermediary between you and the manufacturer.
Here's how it worked when I was still wrenching, and it hasn't changed since: Customer brings vehicle in. States hard cold starts and CEL is lit. Vehicle is inside warranty miles/time limits. Do a quick scan with the IDS and pull/clear DTCs. Service writers toss them in a rental so we can do a cold soak start the next morning. DTC pointed to #6 glow plug. Verify harness wiring, good. Pull GP, yep, it's fucked. Replace GP, verify, send truck out the door. Dealership submits my book time and my findings notes to manf, and parts hangs on to the damaged GP in case the manf wants it. Dealership knew the moment they entered the mileage and last 6 if the vehicle if it was under warranty or not. They mark it warranty in the system, and submit. Goes straight to the many warranty department.
You shouldn't talk about shit you know nothing about.
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Guess I rubbed ^this wrench monkey the wrong way.

You did a great job of listing how the process works, when it works. I've been on the receiving end when the process doesn't work, twice. Both times it was a legal battle. "Maybe you should talk about shit you know nothing about."

Wrench monkeys don't get involved in the legal stuff. It is above the wrench monkey pay grade.
 
Donald Bell said:
Guess I rubbed ^this wrench monkey the wrong way.
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Lol. Hard to rub those of us in skilled trades the wrong way. We just don't like people passing out bad information, especially when it paints the "mechanic" in a bad light. We have enough trouble shaking that old term that has become an insult. Mechanics are a dead breed.
 
alxlwson said:
Lol. Hard to rub those of us in skilled trades the wrong way. We just don't like people passing out bad information, especially when it paints the "mechanic" in a bad light. We have enough trouble shaking that old term that has become an insult. Mechanics are a dead breed.
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As you probably know, honoring a warranty has almost nothing to do with the individual performing the actual work. With autos, it is everything to do with the # of hours the job is worth vs the amount of hours it actually takes, how many hours you are allowed to get reimbursed in diagnosis, whether the manufacturer approves based on the diagnosis, and whether or not a repeatable problem has a fix.
 
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