Written Warranties

These warranties cannot exclude or place limits on the statutory warranties given by law. However, retail sellers can opt out of additional warranties if they notify the purchaser in writing that they do not adopt the additional warranty before the sale.

Many warranties contain words and phrases that are easily misunderstood or that do not have one clear meaning. For Example...

• Does the "lifetime" warranty mean the life of the consumer or the life of the product?
• "Parts replaced at no charge" does not state who pays for the labour to install the parts or for any shipping costs.
• "Unconditionally guaranteed" usually imposes all kinds of obligations on the buyer, including the requirement of routine maintenance by a factory-authorized agent, or a service charge to accompany all requests for repairs.
• The word "guaranteed" means very little by itself, and is only as good as the person or company that makes the promise.

You should also be aware that some manufacturers place certain conditions on these additional warranties. For example...

• Only applies to the original purchaser.
• For guarantee to be effective the purchaser must complete and return detachable portion of this card within 14 days of purchase.
• Faults resulting from misuse, neglect or accident are not covered by this guarantee.
• The customer is liable for any labour, postal or carrying charges.

Some people cross out these clauses but the manufacturer usually will not accept any alterations.

As is the case with statutory or express warranties if the manufacturer or seller does not repair the product within a reasonable amount of time you can take it elsewhere to be fixed and sue them for the cost. If the additional warranty does not cover the situation remember you can still claim against the seller or the manufacturer for breach of statutory warranties.