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45 Out of 50 Electronics Companies Illegally Void Warranties After Independent Repair, Sting Reveals

posted by chromas on Saturday October 13 2018, @10:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the an-industry-group-of-notorious-for-lobbying-to-protect-is-repair-monopolies dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

When you buy a game console, smartphone, dryer, vacuum cleaner, or any number of other complicated electronics, there’s usually a sticker or a piece of paperwork telling you that trying to repair the device yourself will void your warranty. That’s illegal under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Companies offering a warranty on their goods aren’t allowed to void that warranty if the user attempts to repair it themself, but that doesn’t stop the company from scaring customers into thinking it’s true.

It’s such a huge problem that US PIRG—a non-profit that uses grassroots methods to advocate for political change—found that 90 percent of manufacturers it contacted claimed that a third party repair would void its warranty [pdf]. PIRG researched the warranty information of 50 companies in the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)—an industry group of notorious for lobbying to protect is repair monopolies [sic]—and found that 45 of them claimed independent repair would void their warranty.

Source: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/9k7mby/45-out-of-50-electronics-companies-illegally-void-warranties-after-independent-repair-sting-operation-finds

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday October 13 2018, @11:56PM (4 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Saturday October 13 2018, @11:56PM (#748440) Homepage

    Sting Reveals

    Bit of a weird gear change after being in music for so long, but good on him.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 14 2018, @12:58AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 14 2018, @12:58AM (#748460)

    Anything that keeps him out of the studio is fine by me.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday October 14 2018, @01:31AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 14 2018, @01:31AM (#748463) Journal

    Habits usually don't die so sudden.
    From the angle of his close work with the Police for almost a decade, I don't think this is such a drastic change of gears.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday October 14 2018, @08:54AM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Sunday October 14 2018, @08:54AM (#748536) Journal

      Don't forget his work promoting surveillance [google.com.au]

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday October 14 2018, @02:41AM

    by RS3 (6367) on Sunday October 14 2018, @02:41AM (#748477)

    Well Sting plays bass and he wanted to mod his bass but it had the "Void if Removed" sticker.