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4 stars | Detailed warranty info is available online or by email; no postal delay involved; basic manufacturer's warranty and extended warranty offers given equal billing. |
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3 stars | Easy navigation to a page offering to mail or fax copies of the manufacturer's warranty to the shopper. The effort seems genuine and more than the minimal allowed by law, which would be a rating of |
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2 stars | Little online detail beyond warranty's duration in years/months; difficult, hard-to-find navigation to a page offering to merely mail copies of the manufacturer's warranty to the shopper; frequently alongside easy navigation options for pages offering extended warranties by third parties. |
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1 star | Little or no info on a manufacturer's warranty for a given product, but somewhere in the fine print is an address you can write to if you really, really want to bother them. |
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0 stars | Few or no mentions of the word warranty on the Web site; possibly selling gray market goods; possibly not offering warranties. |
Bose Corp., Framingham MA
www.bose.com/online_shopping/
Rating: 4 stars
Bose is an audio components manufacturer that also now sells direct to consumers through the
online shopping section of its Web site. Everything about the Web site is welcoming and helpful to shoppers. At the top of the page is a link for
customer care, which includes an option for
"Your Bose Product," which leads to a menu that includes links to complete warranty information. The
limited warranty is posted online in detail, explaining what the company will do, what it will not do, and what the customer must do. There's also a link at the bottom of that page which allows a buyer to register their purchase online. A separate section of the Web site contains an authorized service center locator service.
Gateway Inc., San Diego CA
gateway.com
Rating: 4 stars
The company, best known for its computer systems, also sells digital TVs, such as the mouthwatering Gateway 42" Plasma TV. This puts the company at the fringe of the consumer electronics industry, and qualifies the manufacturer as a direct-to-consumer online retailer. The
accessories page
for the flat panel TV, priced at $2999, also includes click box options towards the bottom for a three-year extended warranty plan, priced at $399, and an initial setup option priced at $150. In addition to a button that launches a live two-way online chat with customer service, Gateway.com includes an 800 number in all its press releases, plus in the pages of its Web site, where consumers can request a mailing of limited warranty details. But it's hardly necessary. At Gateway's
Warranty Service
page, complete details on all its product warranties are available in a series of easy-to-navigate links to
PDF files. Those who pursue the links will find that the basic warranty for the Plasma TV lasts one year, and that the extended plan is self-insured by Gateway Country Stores LLC.
Sears Roebuck and Co., Chicago
Sears.com
Rating: 4 stars
Sears.com, the new online arm of the Midwestern company that began selling mail-order watches more than a century ago, uses the word warranty hundreds of times on its Web site. The main electronics page carries a banner, "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back." Others detail the service plans, repair options, and other related information.
The site also included "Advisor Guide" pages that answered questions specifically about warranties, such as "Q. When shopping for a new refrigerator, what kind of warranty should I look for?" or "Q. When shopping for a new freezer, what kind of warranty should I look for?"
The company listed 66 televisions for sale, including a Panasonic 20-inch model. Halfway down the page for that model, under the "Learn More" heading, was a hotlinked sentence, "Warranty: 2 years picture tube/1 year parts/90 days labor." Clicking on the link brings up a form that asks the question, "Would you like more warranty information?" Filling out the form sends email to the Sears Warranty center, asking the retailer to email a copy of the warranty to you. The form asks for your name and email, plus the make and model number of the unit for which you want warranty information. This is as easy as it gets. The warranty arrived as a plain text email a few hours later, and what it lacked in formatting it made up for with its detail.
Sony Electronics e-Solutions Company LLC, Woodcliff Lake NJ
sonystyle.com
Rating: 4 stars
SonyStyle.com is the online direct sales outlet run by Sony Electronics e-Solutions Company LLC, a unit of Sony Corp. So it's no surprise that the retail arm of one of the premier manufacturers of consumer electronics gear would have one of the slickest warranty operations. Built by
Intershop Communications AG, the Web site puts complete warranty information just a few clicks away from the shopper. To avoid the site's tracking system, however, we reproduced on our site the page a shopper would see if looking on their site at the 34-inch Sony Trinitron
television. In the upper right corner of that page is a link for "Product Warranty,"
which brings up a page containing the full text of the manufacturer's warranty. That's it. That's how easy it can be.
Circuit City Stores Inc., Richmond VA
circuitcity.com
Rating: 3 stars
Circuit City is a consumer electronics chain, with 600 storefronts and an online retail Web site. The company's Web server issues tokens to shoppers which time out, so we've reproduced the following pages locally, with their links removed. We shopped for a
Sharp flat panel TV. In the middle of the page is a button to
"Request Copy of Manufacturer's Warranty," which directs the shopper to write a letter to headquarters in Richmond. On the right side is an
option
to purchase an extended warranty for the television.
Crutchfield Corp., Charlottesville VA
Crutchfield.com
Rating: 3 stars
Crutchfield is a catalog sales operation with a subsidiary (Crutchfield New Media LLC) that operates an online retail site. A big-screen Sony TV's
product page
(the "essential info" page) included the bullet point "warranty: 1 year parts and labor, 2 years parts on the picture tubes." Below that was a link to "Request a copy of the Manufacturer's Warranty." But that link merely brings you to a
dead end page
that contains a postal address to which warranty requests can be mailed.
QVC Inc., West Chester PA
qvc.com
Rating: 3 stars
QVC.com is the online arm of the retail operation that was a pioneer in the rise of home shopping on a cable television channel. So we looked at a nice big cable-ready TV, a $2500 Panasonic flat screen. There was no warranty information on that page (unless the code "1-year LMW" refers to something), but at the bottom was a link to "Manufacturer's Product Warranty Information."
That page provided your choice of a toll-free number to call, an email form to fill in, or a live chat button to press. The "QVC LiveHELP" real-time online chat service, powered by software from
LivePerson Inc., works 24 hours a day. Within minutes, a customer service rep named Michael L. was asking for our postal address, promising to mail out a copy of the TV's warranty.
RadioShack Corp., Fort Worth TX
RadioShack.com
Rating: 3 stars
On the product page for an RCA television, only the duration of the warranty was mentioned, with no further options for details. However, elsewhere on the site RadioShack offers to mail or fax all the details to interested customers. There's a link under "Company Info" for "Warranties." At the bottom of
that page
the company provides a phone number and mailing address for requesting details of manufacturer's warranties. Also, RadioShack.com was the only retailer found with online PDF files of the manufacturer's product manuals, which typically include warranty details.
Ritz Interactive Inc., Irvine CA
RitzElectronics.com
Rating: 3 stars
A link on the home page for "US Warranty" begins with a denial that Ritz sells gray market goods, "purchased overseas by some retailers for unauthorized and unsupported resale in the United States." And it ends with an address for postal requests of manufacturer's warranty information. The same link is posted prominently on each of the product pages. Refreshingly, the company does not push its own extended warranty options.
Abt Electronics, Glenview IL
AbtElectronics.com
Rating: 2 stars
Abt Electronics has a 45-day refund and/or exchange policy (with certain
exceptions). It also operates its own onsite authorized service center for all the brands it carries. The company also sells extended warranties for its products. A link for "Manufacturer's Warranties," however, turns out to be simply a list of tips for finding a reputable online retailer who isn't selling gray market goods.
BestBuy.com Inc., Minneapolis
BestBuy.com
Rating: 2 stars
BestBuy.com is the online retail Web site of the Best Buy discount department store chain. A search of its site using the word warranty produces 17 matches. None were for televisions. Using the left menu, we navigated to the TV page where links to 29 flat panel TVs scrolled down a long page.
The Panasonic 42-inch model's product detail page was bracketed by warranty links. BestBuy.com places hotlinks to warranty information at the top and again at the bottom. In between, however, it doesn't mention the warranty's duration. Furthermore, the top and bottom hotlinks for "warranty" and "warranty information," respectively, despite their prominent placements, don't actually bring you to any information about the Panasonic TV. Instead, the links take you to a page where the company explains that more detailed warranty information can be received by sending a letter to headquarters:
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Manufacturers' Warranties You can purchase with confidence because any limited warranty on a manufacturer's product will apply when purchased through BestBuy.com. To receive a copy of the manufacturer's limited warranty details, free of charge, write to: Attn: Warranty Request, Customer Care, BestBuy.com, P.O. Box 949, Minneapolis, MN 55440. Please specify the product's brand name and model information. |
Other links carry the surfer to information on financing, shipping, returns, and optional extended service plans. The manufacturers' contact list has nothing but a toll-free (800) number for Panasonic. Therefore, the only recourse for additional details on the basic warranty would be to write a letter and wait for a response. A link for the optional Performance Service Plan, however, discloses all the details one could possibly want to see before making a purchase. Rating **
Crazy Eddie Inc., Rahway NJ
http://store.yahoo.com/crazyeddieonline/
Rating: 2 stars
Yes, this is the same Crazy Eddie from the 1980s that was notoriously "insaaane," but it's a different corporation from the one
pillaged
by founder and
Eddie Antar before he fled the country. This is an online-only operation, and
ex-convict
Antar is now just a consultant, not an officer of the company (legendary pitchman Jerry Carroll also is back making more "insaaane" commercials). Crazy Eddie also is not an authorized dealer, and so it's questionable whether manufacturer's warranties will be honored. But don't worry, says an online
information page, because "Crazy Eddie super-imposes and adds its own 14-day US Warranty on ALL new products." It also subtly stresses the need for extended warranties. For instance, the product page for a
plasma screen TV
featured three extended warranty options:
Perhaps it should include a fourth choice: Oops, it fell off the back of the truck.
Dell Computer Corp., Austin TX
Dell.com
Rating: 2 stars
Dell Computer sells big screen televisions only if one considers large computer monitors to be TVs. We do not, since they lack basic functionality such as channel tuners. Then again, so do many HDTV monitors. However, we still pursued the search further to see what the Dell.com Web site contains in the way of warranty information. Dell.com is a manufacturer's site selling computer products directly to consumers, so it's both a manufacturer and a retailer.
There was nothing on the home page suggesting links to warranty information, so we entered the word warranty into the site's search engine. The search returned almost 3,000 matches, spread among categories for home, business, technical support, and elsewhere. Warranty highlights are everywhere. For instance, we found a Sceptre Technologies X5S Komodo 15-inch LCD Display (Dell Part# 06-20314), with a one-year limited warranty on parts and labor. But that's all we could find out about the monitor's warranty. The documentation section of the Web site contained 83 matches for the words warranty and monitor, but none seemed to be specifically for the X5S. The User's Guide appears to be online, but we could not enter the Dell Support site to view it and verify that it contains a copy of the warranty, resulting in the loss of a star from the company's rating.
J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Plano TX
jcpenney.com
Rating: 2 stars
J.C. Penney is best known as a mainstream department store chain, but it also has an online retail site operated through a subsidiary called JCP Media L.P. The individual product pages for consumer electronics items direct the shopper to see
customer service
for information about warranties. In the middle of that page is a link promising information on
"Warranties/Replacement Parts." However, the only information there is the news bulletin that warranties are normally shipped with the item purchased. Those who want to see a warranty before making a purchase can call an (800) number to ask for a free copy.
Kmart Corp., Troy MI
kmart.com
Rating: 2 stars
Kmart sells seven flat screen TVs online, including three Philips Magnavox 27-inch models. The
product page
for one model prominently displayed the following box:
| Optional Warranty Extended warranties not available for products shipped to the following states: AK,FL,HI,KS,ME,MT,NV,ND,SD |
The only menu option is for a $39.99 extended warranty, which turns out to be the standard plan available for purchases priced above $500. The blue page icon to the right of the menu brings the shopper to a pop-up window full of details about the extended warranty, administered by National Electronics Warranty Corp. The same information is reachable through the Kmart Helpdesk, under the heading "Product Warranties." There does not seem to be a link for basic manufacturer's warranty details or an address for postal requests. There are, however, toll-free phone numbers and email addresses sprinkled throughout the site, and those who check kmartcorp.com can find a postal address for headquarters.
Spiegel Inc., Downers Grove IL
spiegel.com
Rating: 2 stars
The long-established catalog merchant operates an online retail sales site. The site sells a 42-inch Panasonic flat-screen TV for $4999, but doesn't make any mention of a manufacturer's warranty on its
product details page. On a separate "descriptions" page was a long paragraph that included the sentence, "Warranted; see Customer Service." On the left side menu is a link for
Customer Service, which in turn includes a link to
"Spiegel warranties and energy guides." That page, however, includes just a phone number and address from which shoppers can request a mailing of warranty details. Spiegel also offers a
"3-year extended service plan" for an additional $70, but upon closer inspection it seems to cover just the speakers -- not the screen. Another page back in the customer service department for
extended warranties
carries considerably more details. However, that page also says the extended warranty will be mailed separately to the buyer "in about 3 weeks." In other words, they expect that you won't see it until long after the sale is made.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, AR
WalMart.com
Rating: 2 stars
Wal-Mart runs an online retail Web site at www.walmart.com and a corporate Web site at www.walmartstores.com. A search of the former for uses of the word "warranty" found a link to TDK CD-R discs that carried a lifetime warranty. It also found three books about warranties. But it guided us to no information about any warranties in the TV department. On the corporate Web site, a search on the word "warranty" produced 0 matches.
Perhaps some of the individual TV pages would contain some warranty information? The online store sold 21 flat screen TVs. So we shopped for an RCA 40-inch wide screen HDTV monitor. Alas, there was no warranty information on that page, but there was a link at the bottom to "Product Warranty." There on the page was the phrase
There were no links advising shoppers how to request a full pre-sale disclosure of the warranty's terms, though the retailer's address and store locations could be found easily. A Returns Policy" page was equally mum about warranties. That's no surprise given that the word warranty is used only eight times on the entire Web site, according to Wal-Mart's own search engine.
Wild West Electronics Inc., Youngtown AZ
wildwestelectronics.net
Rating: 2 stars
The product detail page for a
Zenith HDTV unit
stated at the bottom that the warranty covered parts (1 yr.), picture tube (2 yrs.) and labor (90 days). Those seeking details on the basic warranty are asked to contact the company. No offer was made on that page to extend the warranty. A general
warranty notice
on the Web site states: "All products carry the standard manufacturer's warranty and are factory sealed and non-refurbished unless otherwise noted. All warranties are backed by the manufacturer or Wild West Electronics Inc. For warranty service please contact us so we may help you obtain service.
"As an option, we offer additional warranty coverage that is backed by General Electric Warranty Management so we may offer our customers optional peace of mind. Please see our
"Service Backed by GE" section for complete details."
Amazon.com Inc., Seattle
amazon.com
Rating: 1 star
There is no handy page for warranty information on the whole of the Amazon.com Web site. That would be fine if Amazon.com was merely a bookseller, as it was when it started out in 1995. But while books may not have express warranties and may not cost more than $15, the televisions sold in Amazon's electronics department most certainly do. Therefore, Amazon.com most definitely is an online retailer of goods normally covered by express warranties. Therefore, according to the FTC's rules, there should be instructions somewhere on the site for obtaining warranty information on TVs before potential customers make a purchase, so they can compare warranty coverage.
On a page about returning big-screen televisions, the company states that "If you are unable to locate warranty information for a particular model, contact the manufacturer. (Information to help you do that is below.)" The page also said to "...see if the problem is covered by a manufacturer's in-home service warranty. All televisions 27 inches or larger come with one." That gave us no clue about our choices for 13-inch TV warranties. We searched the electronics department for the word warranty and returned 149 results, mostly of products whose descriptions included the word warranty. None among the first 50 listings had to do with TVs. We changed course.
We shopped online for a big screen TV. On
a page for a specific television, in this case the Panasonic PT-53WX42 53", there were no links to any warranty information at all. Therefore, our only recourse for warranty information would be to contact the manufacturer, as Amazon advised. On the
Panasonic page listed by Amazon.com, there was no warranty information on what turned out to be the Web site for a customer support center. The customer support center's search engine found six links on the Panasonic site that contained both the word warranty and the TV's model number. We chose the first item, "Learn about the features of Panasonic's PT-53WX42 - 53'' Diagonal 16:9 HDTV Projection Monitor," but there was no warranty information. Dead end.
Buy.com Inc., Aliso Viejo CA
buy.com
Rating: 1 star
Buy.com sells computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, videos, DVDs and CDs. Both the home page of the electronics department and the individual product pages for several television and video items failed to use the word warranty anywhere. From a page promising information on the retailer's returns policy, we found a "Warranty FAQs" link on the left-side menu. It turns out, however, to link to an extended warranty FAQ page that answers 18 basic questions about the extended warranties and service plans that the retailer also sells. A page on a
separate Web site
details the terms and conditions of what are sold as Buy.com service plans, which are actually provided by AIG Warranty Services and Insurance Agency Inc., administered by Warranty Corporation of America, and insured by New Hampshire Insurance Company.
eBay Inc., San Jose CA
ebay.com
Rating: 1 star
eBay, "the world's online marketplace," is an auction site, where sellers pay a fee to list their items for sale. As such it is not a dealer or retailer covered by the Warranty Act, although some of its hosted sellers may be. Still, it's not up to eBay to offer warranties or not on specific products, or to list the terms of those warranties.
Individual sellers usually list the terms of their warranties, if warranties are on offer, or if they are transferable from the original buyer to the next owner. A search of the site using the word warranty returns 5,266 matches -- for everything from a $7500 Hyster forklift still under warranty to a 99-cent factory-sealed Compaq scanner, which had yet to attract a bid at the time we searched. However, a quick scan of the list of matches reveals that all the product descriptions used the word warranty somewhere in the text. Some of the pages contained details on those warranties. Some did not.
There is no easy way to tell on eBay the difference between an individual seller, a manufacturer, and a merchant, which makes it difficult to tell whether the seller normally offers warranties in the course of doing business. Individual sellers are not covered by provisions of the Warranty Act, nor are resales of used items. Only sales of new products by a professional merchant who usually engages in the business of selling those products are covered by the Act. eBay does not make those distinctions in its listings in any way.
There is no mention of the word warranty in eBay's "
Listing Policies" or in their User Agreement. The User Agreement states in section 11 that the company provides these Web pages "as-is" and without warranty, so if they break your browser, they're not responsible. Those same eBay corporate information pages list the company's address, but they include no persons' names or contact information, and they contain no information about warranties on products sold through eBay.
Good Guys Inc., Alameda CA
goodguys.com
Rating: 1 star
At the bottom of the product page for a $3500 widescreen TV, the company offers 33-month and 57-month extended warranties as add-on purchase options. Clicking on either of those links produces detailed descriptions of the plans offered in conjunction with GE-Zurich Warranty Management Inc. We couldn't find any information on the basic manufacturer's warranty, however. The link for customer service brings up an email form. Within the "policies" section is a heading for "U.S. Warranty," but it turns out to be just a statement that Goodguys.com is an authorized U.S. dealer for all of its products, not a discounter selling gray market goods (which are usually sold "as is" and without warranties).
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto CA
hpshopping.com
Rating: 1 star
Hewlett-Packard operates a separate Web site at HPshopping.com to sell its merchandise directly to customers. We shopped for the new
HP Media Center PC, a monster $1999 home entertainment system that includes 500-watt speakers, 100 hours of digital TV recording, a DVD/CD recorder/player, and 120 Gigabytes of hard disk space. As much as the product specs thrilled, the warranty info disappointed. All that was found on the product page was a brief note saying the basic warranty lasted one year, and that extended warranties were available as an option. Separate pages for the
two-year
and
three-year
extended warranties explained that neither option was available to residents of
New York,
Florida,
Utah, and
Oklahoma.
No reason was given but apologies were offered. Buyers in those states, therefore, are offered merely a "one-year limited hardware warranty" with no instructions from HP as to how to get details before a purchase is made.
J&R Electronics Inc., New York
JandR.com
Rating: 1 star
Their
big screen TV product pages don't list the terms of any manufacturer's warranties. The company does, however, push the desirability of extended warranty plans in three different places. Those extended warranties, from
Warrantech Corp., last either two or four years longer than the basic manufacturer's warranty. However, there's no data on the duration of the basic warranty. A search of the site using the word "warranty" turned up the same links to various Warrantech extended warranty offers, but no basic warranty information, and no directions how to get any further warranty information. And it wasn't just the TV department. The page for a $2000 Leica camera included the bulletin "3 year warranty" but no further details.
Sharper Image Corp., San Francisco
SharperImage.com
Rating: 1 star
The company sells its innovative gadgets in both chain stores and online. At SharperImage.com, a product page for a
portable DVD player
stated that the unit was covered by a one-year warranty. No details or further links were offered. A search of the site for uses of the word warranty found hundreds of matches -- for products that included equally brief warranty coverage bullet points in their descriptions. A two-year
extended service guarantee
for a product priced at $999.95 costs an additional $89.95. The product page for that offer includes considerably more details than any pages that mentioned the manufacturer's warranty.
SmartBargains Inc., Boston
SmartBargains.com
Rating: 1 star
SmartBargains.com sells both non-warranty merchandise such as clothing and items under warranty such as watches, cameras, and consumer electronics. The company says it has a 30-day money-back guarantee on every item it sells (excluding final sale products). But it judiciously avoids using the word warranty in the customer service section of the Web site. Instead, one might find a tag such as "Warranty: 1 year" at the
bottom
of a product description, near a little graphic reprising the
"100% satisfaction guarantee" promising unconditional returns for 30 days.
Target Corp., Minneapolis
Target.com
Rating: 1 star
The Target.com shopping site is "powered by Amazon.com." As such we had low expectations about finding any information about warranties on the site. However, we were surprised and amused by what we found.
The online retailer didn't sell any really big or really expensive televisions online (the most expensive was a $550 Philips unit), but they did sell a TV & VCR combo. Right up top with the "product description" was the announcement that the unit carried a one-year limited warranty.
While scrolling down the page looking for more details on the terms of that limited warranty, we found a series of buyer's reviews of the product (a common occurrences on Amazon.com's book pages, but unseen among the pages posted by other electronics retailers). Now we know why. The first "Spotlight Review" said their unit broke after only 2-½ months. Two of the four other reviewers also complained about breakdowns. One, using the screen name "redraven29 from San Jose" and the subject "Never Again," summed up their experience thusly:
| "Yes the TVs were still under warranty but only for the parts. Labor is where the real costs lie. I paid enough in repairs to replace both TVs again. Each time the part cost less than 10 cents." |
This is a retailer's worst online nightmare. Their site gives the bare minimum amount of warranty information permitted by federal law, and then their customers report major problems with reliability and service. Then some of those customers report their unhappiness with the (unstated) terms of the warranty. Narratives detailing their unhappiness are posted right under the product description. It's as if your disgruntled customers are loitering around the sales desk in your place of business, offering their tales of woe to your potential customers. Bottom line: 60 percent of the reviewers reported breakdowns, and one out of five noted that he found out the hard way that the warranty doesn't cover labor.
WorldWide Enterprises/WorldWide Direct, Dunnellen NJ
BuyDig.com
Rating: 1 star
The online retailer sells everything digital -- TVs, DVDs, cameras, scanners, etc. Right on the home page there's a bold orange link to "warranties," but it turns out to be a collection of links to various extended warranty offers. The
television department
lists 16 models, including a $3500 Samsung
flat panel model
that the company reports in bold red typeface "is brand new, factory fresh and includes full manufacturer warranty." What are the terms and conditions of that warranty? There's no clue online, and the customer service department phone number is reserved for existing customers. The "
contact us" link was a Web form. The "policies" page restated simply that all products include the USA manufacturer's warranties. The Web site's search engine turned up two other Samsung TVs, which also prominently featured the notice This product is brand new, factory fresh and includes full manufacturer warranty and which also led nowhere.
Gadget Universe Online Store, Chatsworth CA
GadgetUniverse.com
Rating: 0 stars
Gadget Universe sells what most people would classify as gadgets, and not strictly consumer electronics appliances. For instance, one of the few television-like items they sell is actually an $800
"Multi-Media Video Mirror," essentially an automobile rear-view mirror with a built-in TV screen and DVD player. We looked all over on multiple pages for warranty information but couldn't find any. The company's
"About GU" page details their policies regarding email privacy, server security, and data collection, but it doesn't mention warranties. Other pop-up windows address credit card security, shipping charges, gift wrapping, returns and exchanges, and other topics. In fact, the word warranty does not seem to be used a single time on the Web site. We called their (800) number and were told the unit does in fact come with a six-month manufacturer's warranty. But that's all we could find out. The sales clerk would not discuss the terms and conditions of the warranty, and in fact would not even name the manufacturer. She also said we couldn't see the warranty until we opened the box -- in other words, post-purchase.
Mr. Gadgets, Parlin NJ
mGadgets.com
Rating: 0 stars
Mr. Gadgets, or mGadgets.com as it's known online, sells only a few DVD players, no televisions, and no VCRs. Most of its offerings are things like novelty clocks and lint brushes. The site contains some bizarre HTML code: blank pages, graphics links that go nowhere, misspelled headings, etc. In fact, you might think the Web site's address is itself a typo, until you discover that the domain name mrgadgets.com is being held for ransom by a company called
Hostroute.com Ltd.
Some of Mr. Gadget's gadgets carry manufacturer's warranties, but only the duration is mentioned, with no recourse for those wishing to see the details. In a section called
"Help Desk," the company tells customers to contact the manufacturer regarding all repair and warranty matters. Don't bother them.
For more information about this topic, check out the FTC's consumer guide to warranties and the agency's online publication entitled "A Businessperson's Guide to Federal Warranty Law".
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