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from the an-industry-group-of-notorious-for-lobbying-to-protect-is-repair-monopolies dept.
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.
(Score: 5, Informative) by sjames on Sunday October 14 2018, @12:06AM (1 child)
That's not what's being discussed. If the company can prove the owner damaged the product, they can legally refuse warranty repair.
What they can't do is refuse to fix a covered problem if the owner fixed (or had a 3rd party fix) something unrelated that wasn't covered by warranty.
The classic example that got the law on the books in the first place, if you choose to change your own oil rather than paying the stealership $100 to do it, the auto maker cannot void the warranty on the transmission as a result.
For a more modern example, you drop your brand new phone and crack the screen. The warranty doesn't cover damage, only defects and the manufacturer wants 90% of the cost of the phone just for the screen. So you get a 3rd party to put in a new screen for under $100. It works great.
By law, the manufacturer cannot void the warranty on the other parts of the phone unless they can clearly show that the damage was done by the person who replaced the screen.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday October 14 2018, @02:22AM
If you change your oil then your transmission fails, you should have changed your transmission fluid instead.
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