Lifetime warranties

[snopes]

Comment: I heard a rumor that "Lifetime Warranty" length is determined by
each state's atttorney general. The length varies from state to state,
but the average throughout the US is 8 years. Is this true?

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: I heard a rumor that "Lifetime Warranty" length is determined by
each state's atttorney general. The length varies from state to state,
but the average throughout the US is 8 years. Is this true?

I've seen a number of "lifetime warranties" that have language of the effect of "this product is warranted to be free of defects for the life of the product..."

Now what exactly does that mean? I can picture the service call:

Technician: Yep, sir, your washing machine motor has burnt up, and taken out the transmission with it. This is going to be a $500 repair.

Me: But it's covered under the "lifetime warranty", right?

Technician: Yeah right. Looks like the "life of the product" just ended!

Me: There's no way I'm spending $500 to fix a washer when I can get a new one for that

Technician: Well you still owe me for a $150 service/diagnostic call...



-Tim

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: I heard a rumor that "Lifetime Warranty" length is determined by each state's atttorney general. The length varies from state to state, but the average throughout the US is 8 years. Is this true?

I suspect the "useful life" is more often determined by the tax laws than the attorney general. Read the fine print.

Seaboe

[Griffin2020]

I have always felt that "Lifetime Warrantees" were simply a mrketing scam. If you consider that once something is broken or fails, it is no longer useable, and is therefore at its "end of life".

Basically, they will warantee it until it breaks. So, as long as it works, they will fix or replace it, but as soon as it no longer works you are SOL.

[kanazawa]

Originally Posted by Griffin2020

I have always felt that "Lifetime Warrantees" were simply a mrketing scam. If you consider that once something is broken or fails, it is no longer useable, and is therefore at its "end of life".

Basically, they will warantee it until it breaks. So, as long as it works, they will fix or replace it, but as soon as it no longer works you are SOL.

I think most say "...for as long as you own the product". It's sort of a scam in that they usually require you show them the original reciept, and they are banking on the fact that after say 10-20 years, you've thrown it away, can't find it, the ink has totally faded, or just don't want to go to the trouble of digging it out of the shoebox.

I've had good luck with car parts on this. Recently brought a leaking water pump 500 miles south with me to San Diego (not a national chain) that had a lifetime warranty. Had to be 5-10 years old. Showed the guy the reciept and the warranty, and now I've got a new one sitting in a box in the garage. Just in case...

The car will probably be traded before it needs a new one (my car is 18 this month...geeze...they just grow up so fast...).

Originally Posted by kanazawa

I think most say "...for as long as you own the product".

Some do, some don't. The new Chrysler Lifetime Powertrain Warranty is a good example of one that does. But I know I"ve bought more 'disposable' items, such as a book bag, which had a lifetime warranty. One of the exclusions was "normal wear and tear", and it went on to list things like zippers wearing out, cloth wearing through, etc. It's things like this that make it really hard to know what's a defect and what isn't. So my zipper dies after 3 years: If I open and close it 8 times a day, every day, that might be the usable life. But if I've only used it 8 times since I bought it...

-Tim

[damian]

"Lifetime" warranties generally will not cover "fair wear and tear". A lifetime warranty on a set of tyres will cover things like sidewall construction and tread seperation, but not tread wear.

It is important to read the fine print, as there is usually a fairness clause included.

[robbiev]

Originally Posted by kanazawa

I've had good luck with car parts on this. Recently brought a leaking water pump 500 miles south with me to San Diego (not a national chain) that had a lifetime warranty. Had to be 5-10 years old. Showed the guy the reciept and the warranty, and now I've got a new one sitting in a box in the garage. Just in case...

The local chain auto parts stores are pretty good about this, although one particular company uses receipts that tend to fade quickly. If you buy a product with a lifetime warranty, they keep the information in the computer, but I don't know for how long.

[ganzfeld]

This article gives some information on the topic. I guess the bottom line is that "lifetime" means whatever the manufacturer says it means.

The Federal Trade Commission offers this suggestion to businesses advertising warranties and guarantees: "If an advertisement uses 'lifetime,' 'life' or similar representations to describe the duration of a warranty or guarantee, then the advertisement should disclose, with such clarity and prominence as will be noticed and understood by prospective purchasers, the life to which the representation refers."

[Flagg]

Wow. I am 30 years old and am just now being disabused of the notion that Lifetime Warranties refer to the lifetime of the person purchasing the item. I really always thought that when you bought something with a Lifetime Warranty, that thing was covered until the day you died. Son-of-a-bitch.

[Singing in the Drizzle]

I just love the wording of some of those so called Lifetime Warranties. The one that require you to pay shipping and handling fees that some how seam to be about manufacting cost of item plus shipping cost.

A example of this was a $25 pair of head phones I purched with the so called Lifetime Warranty. To get them to replace the broken product you had to send the headphones to the adress on the back with recipt and a check for $15.

[We'veBeenHad]

I grew up in the GINSU era, and so far as I knew, "lifetime warrantee" meant so long as the company existed. Naturally, for many of those POPEET products, the company did not exist for long. Point being, you would not complain before the company distributing the product existed.

If I'm wrong, then I have a can opener I'd like to cash in with a "lifetime warrantee" and I've cashed in SEVERAL pepper grinders with the same thing.

If anyone can recommend me a pepper grinder that actually lasts (and please, let it be one that has a handle) please let me know. I've turned in like five pepper pushers or whatever now.

[Hero_Mike]

Some tools have "lifetime" warranties which actually cover full, no-cost replacement of the product for as long as the manufacturer is around. "Craftsman" tools sold at Sears, "Mastercraft" tools sold at Canadian Tire (in Canada, of course), and "Snap On" tools - which are professional grade - all have lifetime warranties. Of course, in some of these stores, only a fraction of the tools available for purchase are under this "brand" - there are cheaper brand names with no warranty, and this is the majority of what they now sell.

My father has picked up broken or worn-out Snap-On tools at flea markets and garage sales, only to exchange them for brand new, fully functional tools. They don't like doing that, but their reputation is based on that warranty.

[CSGirl]

Originally Posted by We'veBeenHad

I grew up in the GINSU era, and so far as I knew, "lifetime warrantee" meant so long as the company existed. Naturally, for many of those POPEET products, the company did not exist for long. Point being, you would not complain before the company distributing the product existed.

I worked for Cutco, and that's how our warranty worked. Except if it item was obviously damaged by being used for something other than it was intended, it would be replaced for free. I met a woman who inherited her mom's 50 year old knives, and sent them back and got her all brand new ones. (Note that this woman wasn't even the original owner). Free, even, since the sales rep picks them up/sends them in, so there's no shipping. *However* we don't call it a Lifetime Warranty- it's called a "Forever" Guarantee, and the documentation says it's called them specifically because it is different from a Lifetime one.