I mentioned earlier, I think the term \"Lifetime Warranty\" is deceptive in the

Question

I mentioned earlier, I think the term "Lifetime Warranty" is deceptive in the sense that it represents to the consumer that the warranty is "for the life of the product." Do you think this would be a good argument to make to the court against a company that sold you a "lifetime warranty" for a product? Why or why not? Class, if you were taking such a case to court, what would be your arguments for each side? You can elaborate on the details of the case, but just be sure to present your strongest argument both in favor of the manufacturer who presented that the product was warrantied for a "lifetime", as well as the consumer, who purchased the product under the assumption that the warranty would last for the life of the product? You could even argue that the consumer "assumed" from the term "lifetime" that the warranty applied to the buyer's lifetime? I look forward to hearing your "case" :)

Explanation / Answer

An "express" warranty is the seller's written guarantee that a product will perform properly for a specified period of time, and a statement of what the seller will do to fix the problem if the product fails during that time period. When we talk of something having a warranty, this is the type of warranty we are talking about. It is considered to be a part of the contract you entered into with the manufacturer when you bought the product. You paid money and in exchange the company sold you the product and gave you a written promise to take care of some or all of the defects in the product for a certain length of time This warranty promise is completely voluntary. No law or rule requires a manufacturer to guarantee its product. It can just take your money and deliver the product without making any promise to take care of defects. But, if a manufacturer does not make some sort of guarantee, would you buy the product?

A warranty is necessary to compete in the marketplace. In fact, increasingly warranties are marketing and sales tools. Manufacturer's of products with generous, or at least what appear to be generous, warranties, advertise the fact. Milgard, the replacement window company, has created quite a stir in the window world by offering what I think is probably the very first unlimited Full Lifetime Warranty on its replacement windows. Unless this turns into a financial disaster, this warranty is probably going to force other window companies to follow suit.

Ford offers a 36,000 mile, 3 year power train warranty on its small trucks, Dodge offers 100,000 miles or 5 years. For the first time in our company's history, we did not buy Ford trucks. If Ford thinks its power trains will last just 36,000 miles, we'll take Ford's word for it and look elsewhere. Marketing through warranty competition works, and encouraging this competition was one of the major goals of the federal Magneson-Moss Act

Warranty Games & Barnum Promises
Not that games aren't played with warranties. They are. Many product warranties are written to look like the company is promising a lot, while actually very little is promised. Alside windows, for example, trumpets its lifetime "peace of mind" window warranty, but on careful examination the company promises only what the majority of window manufacturers promise — if your window is defective, it will send you some replacement parts. Its up to you to pay to get them installed. This is hardly what we could reasonably call a "peace of mind" warranty.

Most "lifetime" warranties are not really for your lifetime. If you sell the house in which a faucet is installed, most "lifetime" faucet warranties end, despite the fact that you may live on a few more years — albeit warranty-less.

Many warranty promises are completely empty. For example, nearly every vinyl window manufacturer warrants its product against peeling or delaminating — something vinyl cannot possibly do, but only a very few warrant their windows against warping or twisting, which vinyl windows do all the time.

I call these "Barnum promises", in honor of the famous showman, huckster and phi­lan­thro­pist,Phineas Taylor (P. T.) Barnum, who reputedly sold a whole rail car-load of white salmon by promising that it absolutely "would not turn pink in the can", something white salmon cannot possibly do. A warranty against a defect that can't possibly happen looks good, but is really just puff and fluff — a totally hollow guarantee, a Barnum promise.

Warranties can be slippery things and understanding a warranty can be a challenge. Generous promises given in bold print at the top of the page are often taken away in the fine print at the bottom. Clauses in a warranty are often deliberately jumbled so it is hard to ferret out exactly what is being promised. Usually after carefully parsing a warranty for substantial content rather than marketing puff, I find that the a product warranty actually promises very little. Most warranties promise you parts, but you have to pay to have them installed, and sometime to have them delivered. If labor is covered, most warranties require you to send the product to an "authorized service center" for evaluation at your expense before it will be repaired.

There are, however, real warranties available that offer real relief if a product or service fails. Take a look at Milgard Window's warranty which is the only full warranty I know of for a building product. (Download and read this warranty here.) The differences between this warranty and the Moen limited warranty above should be readily apparent. Milgard promises that if its window is defective, it will fix it or buy you a new windowand install it in your house free of charge. It will pay for all transportation and delivery and it will even remove your old window to the landfill. If it gets any better than this, I have not seen it, so Milgard is our preferred vinyl window. If the company is this confident in its windows, then so are we, and more than happy to offer such a well-supported window to our customers.

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