Summary:
- The FTC is investigating PC manufacturers for using “warranty void if removed” labels to discourage consumers from exercising their right to repair.
- ASRock, Gigabyte, and Zotac received letters from the FTC regarding these practices.
- The FTC is concerned about manufacturers denying warranty coverage based on these provisions.
- The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is being invoked to prevent companies from making misleading warranties.
- The Act prohibits conditioning warranties on the use of specific repair services unless provided for free or with a waiver from the FTC.
- The FTC plans to review the written warranties and promotional materials of the companies after 30 days.
- In the past, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Asus, HTC, and Hyundai were also warned by the FTC for similar practices.
Business misconduct is far reaching in every sector within the economy.
Fed and state regulators are unwilling to enforce the rules we have on the books as is.
We get these notices and headlines but has anything gotten better actually?
How is that no surprise medical billing thing going anyway?
- The Act prohibits conditioning warranties on the use of specific repair services unless provided for free or with a waiver from the FTC.
So Apple and Samsung can’t void my phone warranty if I choose to swap my battery or screen or whatever in a third party repair shop?
Not for the battery itself.
They are allowed to void your warranty, if, for example, they can show it’s delivering out of spec voltage and that damaged the SoC.
Correct. They have to prove that it caused damage.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ever seen one of those “warranty void if removed” stickers covering the screw holes on a gadget?
Gigabyte includes: “If the manufacturing sticker inside the product was removed or damaged, it would no longer be covered by the warranty.”
“The Warranty Act prohibits warrantors of consumer products costing more than five dollars from conditioning their written warranties on a consumer’s use of any article or service, such as repair service, which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name, unless (1) the warranty states the article or service will be provided to the consumer for free, or (2) the warrantor has been granted a waiver by the Commission,” the FTC writes.
“FTC investigators have copied and preserved the online pages in question, and we plan to review your company’s written warranty and promotional materials after 30 days,” the agency is telling each firm.
In 2018, the FTC put Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft on notice for doing the same thing with their game consoles, as well as Asus, HTC, and Hyundai.
iFixit has a blog on how “warranty void if removed” stickers may be legal in other parts of the world.
The original article contains 406 words, the summary contains 190 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Jokes on them as I don’t care about my warranties, never did. Call me a dumb consumer, but atleast I wrecked the big evil corporation.
edit: I didn’t know about Nintnedo doing this, I just knew about the cheaply made joycons that would drift by deSign after a certain point. The sollution to this was so simple but Nintendo chose not to fix it for the entire Switch’s life spawn.
Leaving it up to 3rd party switch controller manufacturers. Which who knows how long untill they try to ban 3rd party controllers on Nintendo consoles.