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FTC Gives Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo 30 Days To Get Rid of Illegal Warranty-Void-if-Removed Stickers (vice.com)
Matthew Gault, reporting for Motherboard: The Federal Trade Commission put six companies on notice in early April for illegally telling customers that getting third-party repairs voids the warranty on their electronics. You've seen the stickers before and read the messages buried in end user license agreements. Plastered on the back of my PlayStation 4 is a little sticker that says "warranty void if removed." That's illegal. Motherboard has obtained copies of the letters via a Freedom of Information Act request and has learned the names of the six companies that were warned. They are Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Hyundai, HTC, and computer hardware manufacturer ASUS. The letters were sent by Lois Greisman, the FTC's associate director of marketing practices, on April 9; the FTC has given each company 30 days to change its official warranty policies and says that it may take legal action against the companies.
What a long name! They should shorten it to something like "ASUS".
Yes!
Sounds like the opening gambit in fully establishing the "Trump Bribe" mill.
Step 1:
Make noise about punishing obviously absurd corporate practices.
Step 2:
Send out notices of those punishments to lawyers.
Step 3:
Receive large gifts at Trump properties. NEVER DISCLOSE THESE.
Step 4:
Move prosecution/enforcement staff over to "other important projects." Let all punishments lapse that have resulted in acceptable family gifts.
If I was Sony, I'd remove the sticker and the warranty along with it. If you can't guarantee the hardware hasn't been fucked with, you don't warranty it. Problem solved.
...to "ignore" all problems and illegal behaviour, as long as it's from Cuppertino...
So if someone tampers with the product in an attempt to fix it, then shoves it off to the manufacture, are they still on the hook for warranty repair? It's my understanding that these stickers are validate that the manufacture is the first to make repairs and not having to fix someone else's "fuck ups".
Life is not for the lazy.
Even if they remove the stickers, they will just point to the ToS that says if you open your device, you're SoL in terms of warranty. Like Apple does.
Louis Rossmann say that apple thinks that an 3rd party repaired apple system is now a pc and not an apple anymore.
Hyundai wants to pay $100 min for any dealer work and that's just for an estimate up front (was a few years ago may of went up)
hrmmph
I'm waiting for a judge somewhere in Hawaii to declare this "unconstitutional". Because #RESIST!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The relevant law appears to be 15 USC 2302 (c)
The FTC left out the parenthesized portion in their letter, and it seems to me it's relevant. If repair service is provided without charge under the terms of the warranty, it's exempt from this provision. But I don't know the case law on this.
Ah, the no true Apple fallacy!
Those sticker are mostly for show are they are usually easy to fake anyway. They are not *seal*. They are mostly there to lead first the people to the manufacturer, which can the far more easily then repair tell the customer "can't be repaired here is an exchange" or "it is broken buy a new one". This has the incredible advantage for manufacturer they don't need to do much in repair : just replacement - counted as a percent in addition to breakage, no need for part , no need for repair shop, no need for training and other expansive element for a repair shop. It isn't about getting more sale through replacement, it is about sparing a lot of money through not having to do repair supply.
Never thought I'd see this day
This wont be over anytime soon. These companies will file motions which will end up in lots of back n forth between lawyers and ultimately just cost us tax payers more $$$$.
But after a day and a half, the fan got really loud and stayed that way. (Not the CPU fan; it sounded like the chassis fan was rubbing on something.)
So I unplugged everything, hefted the desktop up onto the work table, and.... encountered the sticker.
Rather than opening it up, I took it back to Fry's and told them there was a problem with it. When I entered the store with it, they logged it and gave me a receipt I could use to take it back out of the store when I was finished at the service desk.
At the service desk, I explained that since the sticker disallowed me from opening the computer up, I was contemplating bring it back for a refund, but that even if I kept it, it needed to be quited down. The dude booted it up, and told me that Linux was unsupported, so of course I couldn't bring it back -- I'd already voided the warranty by scraping Windows off.
After a couple of minutes of fruitless conversation with him and his boss, I just left (having proof in my pocket that I had taken the machine in). I got Fry's registered agent's information from the secretary of state, and emailed them, explaining that, if I needed to, I would explain to the credit card company that I returned the machine at the store since it was malfunctioning, and then they could sue me in small claims court for whatever damage they claim I did to it. They caved and issued a full refund after a couple of weeks.
"I bought a computer with no tech support and i attempted to install untested software and I was unhappy with the results"
what a loser
When are they going to get around to my mattress tags? I can't stand those things!
you changed the oil not at the dealer or went 3001+ miles with out changing it.
Didn't this sticker protect both the consumer and manufacture? I mean you could prove you never tampered with the product, and the manufacture had proof you did not too. Given a easy approval of warranty claim and this appears to be going away? I guess other means can be done to detect tampering which are being used today.
90 day limited manufacturer's warranty will be provided at purchase. actual length and terms dictated by a local jurisdiction's absolute minimums required. and it will always be the barest of minimums.
a "free extended warranty" (or 'paid' one) of N days/years will be provided if a) you register your ownership of product with the manufacturer, and b) never open the product's housing or attempt any repairs not authorized by the manufacturer... and maybe even add something like c) maintain uninterrupted subscription and account in good terms to such-and-such service (e.g. xbox gold) for the duration of it.
Why doesn't my right to free speech allow me to say things that are lies or contrary to the regulatory code of the FTC?
Does the FTC think they are a higher authority than the US Constitution? Show me the case law where SCOTUS has ruled that a regulatory agency overrides a First Amendment right.
Seriously. You will quickly arrive at a range of problems that can trip the code and often get a feel for likelihood. Not to mention part numbers and comparative pricing.
you changed the oil not at the dealer...
Changing the oil not at the dealer is not enough to void a warranty*. In some other parts of the world.
*Does, however, have to be changed by a qualified mechanic.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
They're not taking my stickers!
Google Search for commercial speech returned the Wikipedia article "Commercial speech" that led me to Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission, 447 U.S. 557 (1980), which instituted a four-step test to determine whether regulation of commercial speech is constitutional. In particular, commercial speech is protected only when it is not misleading.
Because, lets face it. That is what they are going to do. No more stickers but you can no-longer open your device without destroying it.
Not so much of a win in my eyes...
About time - this is good news, any progress forward to allow me to legally fix my own device is good.