Warranty Week Industry Headlines

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranty Report: Though the companies producing systems that use lasers or X-rays continue to report elevated warranty expense rates, their costs have declined significantly and steadily since 2003. But in 2017, their warranty costs started climbing again, and in several respects have hit new heights. With other types of equipment, the outlook for warranty expenses remains mixed.
May 31, 2018

Extended Warranty Software: Unlike most other solutions, which are designed to integrate with passenger car dealer management systems or retail point of sale software, the new Mize offering is aimed at manufacturers engaged in the business-to-business sale of commercial service contracts.
September 14, 2017

Building Trades Warranty Report: Unlike most other industries, in the new home construction business, the builders have lower warranty expense rates than many of their suppliers. But the makers of appliances and heating/cooling systems are now cutting their costs and narrowing the gap between their expense rates and those of the makers of fixtures, furniture, and building materials.
April 27, 2017

Service Contract Pricing: Game Consoles: Though not all electronics retailers sell them, video game consoles are a major part of the service contract industry. And because the top three systems now on the market are similarly priced, the differences in the pricing of the service contracts offered alongside them become all the more obvious.
November 10, 2016

Data Storage Warranty Expenses: While the traditional hard drive makers have more predictable and stable warranty costs, the newer solid state and flash memory systems seem to have lower costs. However, their price per gigabyte of capacity is much higher.
December 11, 2014

New Approaches to Warranty Management: For many years it was all about cost reduction. Now, there's little left to cut. And both manufacturers and retailers are looking for ways to improve the customer experience by launching new types of protection services and new generations of warranty automation systems.
March 6, 2014

PCMI's Extended Warranty Management System: Service contract administrators and underwriters need software that helps them manage both claims and revenue. And increasingly, they need multilingual and multiple-currency systems that can travel with them as they expand internationally.
September 5, 2013

Medical & Scientific Equipment Warranties: While it's true that systems using lasers or X-rays generate more than their fair share of warranty expense, it's also true that their manufacturers have been among the most successful warranty cost-cutters in recent years.
April 26, 2012

Solar Warranties, Part 2: How the manufacturers of photovoltaic systems themselves explain the risks and metrics behind their product warranties, and how a few are securing warranty insurance to help reduce those risks.
December 8, 2011

Home Warranties for Appliances? Though home warranties are mainly for heating and cooling systems, and are closely tied to resales of existing homes, their ability to cover major appliances overlaps somewhat with store-bought extended warranties. Or does it?
January 27, 2011

Security Equipment Warranties: The systems that scan baggage, cargo and passengers have to detect every single threat, every single time. And while these systems may require a lot of routine maintenance and warranty work to keep up with the heavy usage, they should never fail to do that job flawlessly. Lives literally hang in the balance.
November 11, 2010

Medical Equipment Warranties: Doctors, hospitals, and laboratory technicians want sturdy and reliable medical systems, and for the most part the manufacturers that supply them have been steady and predictable. But every once in a while, a massive recall or a production glitch causes warranty costs to spike. And it's when the trend line leaves its historical range that we know there's something wrong.
October 8, 2009

Extended Warranty Solution: ServiceBench aims new service contract solution at manufacturers, retailers, dealers and distributors of appliances, HVAC, fitness equipment, and other underserved markets. Goodman Manufacturing and Icon Health & Fitness are the first to sign up. Rainmaker Systems to help with telemarketing.
July 25, 2007

Warranty Claims Automation: For a motorcycle manufacturer and a home appliance manufacturer, it wasn't so much that their warranty systems were broke or that their costs were rising. It was just that their old warranty processes were inefficient and couldn't keep up with company growth.
April 4, 2006

Warranty Webinar: Early warning systems allow manufacturers to detect emerging issues before they become major liabilities. In a roundtable discussion, experts suggest the best strategies for implementing these systems, and how to use them to reduce warranty cost, boost product quality, and increase customer satisfaction.
October 4, 2005

Early Warning Systems: The benefits, we suspect, are huge. But so are the costs. In an era when investments in new computer software must show a return or else, what will be the ROI for warranty analytics?
June 7, 2005

Home Warranties: Three decades ago, American Home Shield, now part of ServiceMaster, invented a new category of extended warranties, covering the major systems and appliances in a home but not the home itself.
October 13, 2004

Controlling Warranty Costs and Exposure: Using Early Warning Systems,
Warranty Becomes a Board-level Issue
January 5, 2004

Warranty Registrations: Given that nine out of ten consumers don't bother filling out the postcards, what can be done to boost response rates? Two new warranty registration systems from veterans of the messaging industry are spotlighted.
July 14, 2003