Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, HTC, Asus & Hyundai were given 30 days to ditch warranty void stickers and change policies by the FTC, expires May 9th

[Master Disaster]

Some of you may remember the following article from a few weeks ago about the FTC saying Warranty Void Stickers are illegal...

 

 

In that article there was no specifics about which companies had received warning from the FTC, well today we've had an update on the situation with more information coming to light.

 

Turns out 6 companies received letters from the FTC over this issue, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Asus, HTC & Hyundai.

Quote

You don’t see a lot of places offering console repairs anymore, which isn’t surprising, as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have gone out of their way to discourage the practice. In fact, all three current consoles have “warranty void if removed” stickers or seals on or inside them to deter any sort of repairs or tinkering. Well, it turns out that’s illegal.

 

Per US law, no warranty on a product sold for over $5 dollars can put any restrictions on repairs. A lot of companies do, but it seems like the FTC has decided to actually enforce the law. In addition to Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, Hyundai, ASUS, and HTC have also received the following warning:

The warning said

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“This letter places you on notice that violations of the Warranty and FTC Acts may result in legal action.  FTC investigators have copied and preserved the online pages in question, and we plan to review your company’s written warranty and promotional materials after 30 days. You should review the Warranty and FTC Acts and if necessary, revise your practices to comply with the Acts’ requirements. By sending this letter, we do not waive the FTC’s right to take law enforcement action and seek appropriate injunctive and monetary remedies against your company based on past or future violations.”

The letters were sent out on April 9th meaning they have until May 9th to at least begin making these changes. Each company was sent a tailored letter outlining specific clauses that were Illegal (I'll add the link to the letters at the end)

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The warnings were issued on April 9, meaning the companies have until May 9 to ditch the stickers and change their warranty policies. The FTC letters sent to Sony, Microsoft, and Sony (read them here) all specifically call out the parts of their warranties that prohibit repairs or the use of third-party peripherals. So, in addition to repairing your machine, you’re free to buy all the wacky accessories you want!

 

It’s good to see the FTC putting their foot down on this issue. The big console makers would, of course, prefer you just buy a new machine if yours breaks, but that shouldn’t be your only option. I doubt this will lead to a mom ‘n’ pop repair shop renaissance, but it’s the principle that matters.

https://wccftech.com/sony-microsoft-nintendo-warranty/

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4450186-Warning-Letters-FTC-April-2018.html

 

So by May 9th all these companies need to have altered their warranties to abide by US law.

 

I wonder what the penalty will be for non compliance (Nintendo I'm looking at you).

[Arika]

Quote

Hyundai 

 

[Master Disaster]

1 minute ago, Sierra Fox said:

 

I think in the case of Hyundai it was more their warranty documentation than warranty void stickers although I'm not a mechanic so maybe they were putting stickers over their engine parts?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

About time! Maybe the other companies that were warned by the FTC will take the hint.

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

I think in the case of Hyundai it was more their warranty documentation than warranty void stickers although I'm not a mechanic so maybe they were putting stickers over their engine parts?

Someone should tell Honda to stop putting their starters beneath the motor where you can barely reach the damn thing!

[Master Disaster]

4 hours ago, Sierra Fox said:

-snip-

Yeah, in more ways than one LOL

[ARikozuM]

4 hours ago, Sierra Fox said:

-snip-

Don’t they make lawn mowers or pressure washers? Unless there’s a “warranty void” sticker over the VIN locations.

[Jurrunio]

Ah well, not in my country. I hope it makes it here, but I doubt.

[DKL]

So how much impact does this really have in the grand scheme of things? And should we be expecting more companies to be receiving similar warnings?

[Master Disaster]

12 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Don’t they make lawn mowers or pressure washers? Unless there’s a “warranty void” sticker over the VIN locations.

Yeah, that's actually a good point.

[Master Disaster]

 

4 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Don’t they make lawn mowers or pressure washers? Unless there’s a “warranty void” sticker over the VIN locations.

I checked Hyundai's letter and it seems as though their warranty policy contains the following clause

Quote

The use of genuine Hyundai parts is required to keep your manufacturers warranty and any extended warranty intact.

This seems to be the issue.

[williamcll]

Hyundai also does manufacture some electric parts like headphones, I wonder would the letter also include those as well?

[HarryNyquist]

Noticeably absent: John Deere...

[GilmourD]

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

 

I checked Hyundai's letter and it seems as though their warranty policy contains the following clause

This seems to be the issue.

As a former warranty repair tech for CompUSA (yeah, it was a long time ago) I don't get why having that clause is a bad thing. In the case of Hyundai, what if some shadetree mechanic jackass decided to pull apart the engine and replace parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff then go "ERMEHGERD!!! IT NOES WORKZ!!!". Hyundai should eat that? I feel that sort of situation is opened up by this.

[79wjd]

16 minutes ago, GilmourD said:

As a former warranty repair tech for CompUSA (yeah, it was a long time ago) I don't get why having that clause is a bad thing. In the case of Hyundai, what if some shadetree mechanic jackass decided to pull apart the engine and replace parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff then go "ERMEHGERD!!! IT NOES WORKZ!!!". Hyundai should eat that? I feel that sort of situation is opened up by this.

The same issue applies for third party repairs, and if it turns out to cost manufacturers money in having to deal with shoddy repairs then I fully expect then to increases prices across the board to eat up that loss.

[DocSwag]

I have feeling this is going to be taken to court. No way these companies are just gonna change it.

[Tribalinius]

52 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

Noticeably absent: John Deere...

Indeed

[bcredeur97]

I believe warranties should be voidable by obvious destruction of product from the consumer.

But simple attempted repairs should be waived. The part was going to be replaced /anyway/

 

Perhaps the best part about this law is it will give incentive to build quality products that are less likely to fail.

[Okjoek]

Wont people break stuff and try to claim warranty after they broke it?

[SpaceGhostC2C]

44 minutes ago, GilmourD said:

 what if some shadetree mechanic jackass decided to pull apart the engine and replace parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff then go "ERMEHGERD!!! IT NOES WORKZ!!!". Hyundai should eat that? .

No.
All this says is that Hyundai can't just assume "some shadetree mechanic jackass decided to pull apart the engine and replace parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff" just because the vehicle was serviced. They are still not liable for any damage caused by the user or third party repairs. What they can't say is that your warranty is void because someone else dared to open the hood and look at it, or that they want cover your failing transmission because a thrid party repaired your seatbelt.

[AshleyAshes]

45 minutes ago, GilmourD said:

As a former warranty repair tech for CompUSA (yeah, it was a long time ago) I don't get why having that clause is a bad thing. In the case of Hyundai, what if some shadetree mechanic jackass decided to pull apart the engine and replace parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff then go "ERMEHGERD!!! IT NOES WORKZ!!!". Hyundai should eat that? I feel that sort of situation is opened up by this.

So, as a former warranty repair tech, do you believe that if presented with the equivalent of a engine 'pulled apart...and replaced parts willy-nilly with third-party stuff' that without a seeing a sticker having been removed that you would lack the necessary competency to determine that the the device has clearly been damaged in an attempted repair by the end user or unauthorised third party?

 

I'm just saying, if I take an iPhone, pull it apart, fill it with the screen from an Android phone and some freshly cooked up oatmeal, without a sticker, you'd believe that it left the factory in that state?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

2 hours ago, HarryNyquist said:

Noticeably absent: John Deere...

Johh Deere is a similar but different kettle of fish. JD's equipment uses DRM in their equipment computers that keeps their equipment from operating after a repair unless it has been repaired by or authorized by a John Deere mechanic rather than using warning sticker seals. Farmers are currently battling that in court.

[GDRRiley]

7 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Someone should tell Honda to stop putting their starters beneath the motor where you can barely reach the damn thing!

Just get someone with smaller hands. It wasn't made for you working on it.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, VegetableStu said:

This made me laugh WAAAAAAY more than it should have done.

[ARikozuM]

7 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

Just get someone with smaller hands. It wasn't made for you working on it.

I have average hands. Honda decided to put the starter underneath the motor with a cover coming over it. I was trying to tap the thing to see if the car would start by lightly striking it. 

Spoiler

They were stuck and a jump didn't do anything. The starter was at fault in the end.