A Los Angeles-area chain of retail stores is accused by the state of repeatedly misleading customers into thinking they were going to get a good price on merchandise only to be told after they get into the store that the only way to get that advertised price is if they spend more money. [More]
warranties
Company Sells $25K Worth Of Windows With Lifetime Warranty, Disappears
By 4.1.16
The trouble with “lifetime” warranties is that they often leave out an important detail: whose lifetime? That’s what a homeowner in California wonders now that her windows are bending away from them frame and generally failing at being windows. Now she can’t find the company that installed $25,000 worth of windows in her home only 9 years ago, or the company that actually manufactured the windows. [More]
How My Credit Card Company Helped Save My Broken PS4 When Sony Wouldn’t
By 10.6.15
It’s been 11 months since Michael’s brother PS4 failed, months he’s spent trying to get Sony to fix what should have been covered by the gaming console’s one-year warranty. But because there was no proof of his efforts to have the PlayStation 4 repaired under warranty, prompting Sony to basically shrug and wipe its hands of the situation, Michael had to take another route to victory. [More]
FTC Affirms Consumers’ Right To Go To Court Over Warranty Disputes
By 5.26.15
In just the last four years, the U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled against consumers’ rights and in favor of companies that use fine print in their contracts to block wronged customers from suing in court and from joining together as a class action. In spite of these rulings, the Federal Trade Commission recently upheld rules that give warranty buyers the right to a day in court, even if they have to go through arbitration first. [More]
BMW Settles FTC Charges That It Required Consumers To Use Specific Parts, Service Centers Or Lose Warranties
By 3.20.15
Under federal law, car manufactures are prohibited from threatening to revoke vehicle warranties based on where a consumer chooses to have their vehicle fixed. Apparently, a division of BMW didn’t follow that rule and now must change its practices to resolve charges from federal regulators. [More]
Some Furniture Warranties May Expire Before Items Are Even Sold
By 10.23.14
In most cases, when a manufacturer advertises a 3-year warranty, it means three years from the time of purchase. But some consumers are finding out that the warranty clock may have started much earlier, and in some cases could have already expired by the time you purchase a piece of furniture. [More]
HTC To Now Replace Some Shattered Phone Screens For Free
By 2.18.14
Some of us are klutzy. No matter how hard we try, we break things. And the more expensive they are, the more likely we are to drop them on, say, the cold concrete floor of Citizens Bank Park. In an effort to lure in butterfingered smartphone owners like yours truly, HTC is now offering one-time free screen replacement on some new devices if the damage is done in the first six months of ownership. [More]
Should You Really Fill Out That Warranty Registration Card?
By 12.26.13
Many Americans woke up to find new small appliances or electronics under the Christmas tree yesterday…or they picked one out for themselves in the before- or after-holiday sales. Gadgets, appliances, and toys come with warranty registration cards. You might think that filling these out and sending them back is necessary in order to use your warranty if needed…but that’s not necessarily the case. [More]
Shouldn’t Hip & Knee Replacements Come With Warranties?
By 9.12.13
Most new products, from cheapo wristwatches to new cars, often come with manufacturers’ warranties. But that isn’t the case for most hip and knee implants, meaning that a growing number of Americans are having expensive devices put in their bodies without any written assurance from the manufacturers. [More]
Samsung, AT&T To Replace Water-Damaged Waterproof Phones
By 8.6.13
The whole point of the recently released Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is that it is supposed to be waterproof. Yet some users have been complaining that the device doesn’t live up to its hype or its supposed water-resistance rating, and a new report claims that AT&T and Samsung will be giving people who purchased the S4 Active the opportunity for a one-time-only exchange. [More]
What Is The Gray Market, And Why Should I Care?
By 5.9.13 — Updated: 5.10.17
Back in February, we posted the story of a reader who got a great deal from an online discount vendor on a Samsung MP3 player, but learned that there was a reason why the deal was so fab. It had been manufactured for the Chinese market, not the United States market, and made its way to her pocket through gray market channels. That meant that it didn’t have a warranty through Samsung USA: if she wanted to fix it, she had to send it for repair in Hong Kong. Okay, but what’s the “gray market?” [More]
Presenting Best Buy And The Case Of The Phone That Vanished For 3 Months
By 3.29.13
November, 2012. Seems like it was only last year. So much has happened since then that it’s hard to remember exactly how this whole mess got started. And like a lot of cases involving a runaway cellphone, it didn’t strike anyone as such a big deal back then. Boy were they mistaken. [More]
Why Rechargeable Batteries And Durable Water Piks Don’t Mix
By 3.28.13
The Waterpik Cordless Plus Water Flosser is a great product, which lists for $50 and usually costs about $40. For that price, though, you aren’t buying it: you’re renting it. That’s what Jeff found out when he bought one. The rechargeable battery stopped working just past the warranty expiration date. He bought another: maybe that was a fluke. The new toothbrush lasted a whole 13 months. [More]
Samsung: If You Want Us To Fix Your MP3 Player, You Have To Fly To Hong Kong
By 3.25.13 — Updated: 5.8.13
The beauty of shopping online is that it’s easy to bring products from all over the world into our homes with a little bit of typing and a major credit card. The problem with buying from abroad, though, is that products for different markets don’t come with the same consumer protections. And sometimes you don’t know that you’re buying a product destined for a different market at all. That’s where Cassi’s cautionary tale comes in. From a small discount site, Cassi bought a Samsung MP3 player. Samsung tells her that it was made for the Chinese market and that if she wants them to honor her warranty, she has to fly to Hong Kong. Being a sensible person, Cassi does not want to fly to Hong Kong over a $200 MP3 player. [More]
Westinghouse Digital Offers Two Little TVs Instead Of Replacing My Big One
By 2.6.13
Joe has followed our posts about Westinghouse Digital TVs with interest. When his 46″ set broke after only eight months, he used consumer ninja methods to get a refund, and went nuclear on the company. He wanted to warn other consumers not to do business with the company. [More]
How A Tip From Consumerist, A Credit Card, And Some Determination Got Me A Brand-New Nook
By 1.24.13
Kyle really liked his Nook…until it decided to freeze up and no longer work. He was unhappy: it was only two months out of warranty, and he didn’t like the only option that Barnes & Noble presented: trading the non-working device in for a relatively small discount on a brand-new replacement. He had purchased a lot of books he uses every day for work on the Nook platform, and decided to take a loss on those and get a Kindle instead. Unhappy with the whole experience, he vented to us about it. [More]
Luxottica Has Had My Broken Ray-Bans For Two Months, Won’t Answer The Phone
By 1.15.13
Luxottica may be the world’s largest eyeglass manufacturer and the owner of brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley, along with retail chains like LensCrafter, Sunglass Hut, and Pearle Vision. But you’d probably get better customer service from the guy on the corner selling knock-offs for $5. [More]
Maytag Has A Weird Concept Of ‘Soon’
By 1.10.13
How do you define “soon” in terms of a one-year warranty? Howard doesn’t have an exact timeframe in mind, but he imagines that it’s not “more than nine months from now.” Yet when Maytag sent him a letter urging him to extend his appliance warranties, that’s how much time he had left. [More]
