January 6, 2003 |
ISSN 1550-9214 |
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| Featured Stores matching name or description of "tv" |
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SmartBargains: 26% satisfaction guaranteed, 74% avoidance of the word warranty |
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Crutchfield: they use the power of the Web to say "mail us a letter" |
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Kmart: lead with the extended warranty pitch, keep 'em guessing about the manufacturer's warranty |
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AbtElectronics: stands behind its products, but not much to say about manufacturer's warranties |
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Circuit City: they hide behind a mailing address, but at least they're straightforward about it |
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SonyStyle.com: the ultimate in easy click access to warranty info |
In the
Dec. 23 issue of Warranty Week, we shopped for 13-inch televisions at 15 of the top electronic commerce sites, and
reported the results of our search for warranty information on the units we found. In fact, this reporter ended up buying an Apex 13'' TV at the Circuit City down the road from Warranty Week's Forest Hills, New York office and carrying it home on the subway. It made a little girl very happy on Dec. 25.
Holiday Cheer?
Last week, the NPD Group Inc. announced U.S. sales of big-screen TVs jumped 30 percent in 2002, to 1.6 million units. Flat-panel models soared in popularity last year, though projection TVs still dominate the big screen category. Sales in the whole video category were up 3.9 percent in dollar terms for the first 11 months of 2002, the company said. Digital TV unit sales soared 82 percent in November while analog unit sales were up a more modest 6.9 percent. Note: the link is a PDF file. Obviously, Warranty Week was shopping for the wrong merchandise in December. So while it snowed regularly through the holiday break, this reporter went shopping online for big and expensive flat screen units at 30 different online retailers, and not only reporting what we found out about their warranties, but also grading them from best to worst. We did not, however, then try to bring one home on the subway. Four online merchants received the top rating. Five received three stars. Nine received two stars. Ten received one star, and two received none.The four merchants receiving four stars earned them by providing online copies of the warranty in its entirety. Gateway, for instance, used click boxes and hotlinks to quickly guide you to their basic and extended warranty options:
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Check the box and then
click Add to Cart to add item(s) to your system.
It is perhaps significant that three of the top rated online merchants are affiliated with brand name manufacturers. These are the companies that actually make the limited warranties and put them in the box, so of course it occurs to them to put copies online. Then again, manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard scored rather low. As to why many of the lowest rated sites are gadget stores, one can only imagine. However, in general one can say that retailers whose core business is in goods normally sold with express limited warranties scored higher than those that started out selling books or CDs or clothing online.
Avoiding Warranties
The two online retailers who received no stars earned that distinction because they studiously avoided supplying any details about the warranty -- if there even was a warranty -- leaving buyers with a difficult choice to make. Should they pay thousands of dollars to a faceless Web site, on the promise of a big screen TV, built with cutting edge technology, and should they risk buying it from a retailer that won't even tell them what the warranty covers? What if it arrives cracked? What if it sizzles when the lights blink? What if you can't physically carry or mail it somewhere (a not-so-silly question with big TVs). More disturbing was a tendency Warranty Week found among some retailers to make a minimal amount of information available on the unit's basic manufacturer's warranty, and then to surround that meager disclosure with volumes of details about their extended warranty offers. One retailer bluntly stated the options: either buy the two- or four-year extended warranties, or "No thanks, I'll take my chances." Is that legal? Strictly speaking, it probably is, although the online retailer that made that comment was founded by a convicted felon who fled the country in a book-cooking story that was written when Enron and WorldCom were still juvenile delinquents. First, as is plainly stated in Federal Trade Commission rules on disclosure and availability, as well as in the text of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, warranties are not required. Second, if warranties are offered, online retailers can choose to make copies available by snail mail. Just mail them the model number and they'll mail back a copy of the manufacturer's warranty in an envelope. We'll get back to you ... eventually. In fact, with overnight shipping available for some warrantied items, the box could arrive days or weeks before the letter. That's not good enough. Warranty Week readers are invited to look for themselves at the reviews, click on the warranty links, and see for themselves why Gateway, Bose, Sears and SonyStyle.com are so good, and why Gadget Universe and Mr. Gadgets are so bad. And because these online reviews are by their nature opinion and commentary, they're subject to a whole range of defenses, from fair comment to fair use to truth. Responses are welcome and indeed will be encouraged over the course of coming months. It's the reason Warranty Week is online: your comments can join the thread and one thing links to the next.List of Retailers
Here is a list of the online retailers found so far. Each of the names is linked to a Web page on that company. If you can't reach the World Wide Web from your email account right now -- perhaps because you're wireless or are reading your email in disconnected mode on a laptop -- please respond by clicking here, and please remember to include the names of reports listed below that you want sent to you by return email.Four Stars
Bose Corp., Framingham MAGateway Inc., San Diego CA
Sears Roebuck and Co., Chicago
Sony Electronics e-Solutions Company LLC, Woodcliff Lake NJ
Three Stars
Circuit City Stores Inc., Richmond VACrutchfield Corp., Charlottesville VA
QVC Inc., West Chester PA
RadioShack Corp., Fort Worth TX
Ritz Interactive Inc., Irvine CA
Two Stars
Abt Electronics, Glenview ILBestBuy.com Inc., Minneapolis
Crazy Eddie Inc., Rahway NJ
Dell Computer Corp., Austin TX
J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Plano TX
Kmart Corp., Troy MI
Spiegel Inc., Downers Grove IL
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, AR
Wild West Electronics Inc., Youngtown AZ
One Star
Amazon.com Inc., SeattleBuy.com Inc., Aliso Viejo CA
eBay Inc., San Jose CA
Good Guys Inc., Alameda CA
Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto CA
J&R Electronics Inc., New York
Sharper Image Corp., San Francisco
SmartBargains Inc., Boston
Target Corp., Minneapolis
WorldWide Enterprises/WorldWide Direct, Dunnellen NJ
No Stars
Gadget Universe Online Store, Chatsworth CAMr. Gadgets, Parlin NJ
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This Week’s Warranty Week Headlines | ||
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Finbarr ONeill: Kicking Hyundai into high gear. How he transformed the Korean carmaker into a player. Newsweek, Jan. 6, 2003 | |
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Active Web Services announces TREAD Act reporting capabilities. Press Release, Jan. 2, 2003 | |
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Extended warranties to help Hyundai boost sales by 10 pct in 2003 Reuters, Jan. 2, 2003 | |
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BIGresearch says in 2003 consumer opinion is in, expert opinion is out Internet Wire, Dec. 31, 2002 | |
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FTC tells auto dealers "50/50 warranties" are fine, says in letter they're not forbidden warranty tie-ins Federal Trade Commission, Dec. 31, 2002 | |
More Warranty Headlines below | ||
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
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Kawasaki pushes e-dn.com's e-Hub purchasing system on dealers Line56.com, Dec. 31, 2002 | |
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Consumer Product Safety Commission and Brooklyn Lollipop Imports & Exports Inc. recall electric fans News Release, Dec. 26, 2002 | |
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Consumer Product Safety Commission & Madrigal Audio Laboratories Inc. recall subwoofers News Release, Dec. 26, 2002 | |
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Federal government upgrades Chevrolet Corvette investigation of complaints that steering column locks up Associated Press, Dec. 19, 2002 | |
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Consumer Product Safety Commission & Makita USA Inc. recall circular saws News Release, Dec. 19, 2002 | |
More Warranty Headlines below | ||
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
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Raytheon announces more charges from guarantees made for divested Engineers and Constructors unit News Release, Dec. 19, 2002 | |
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Raytheon completes power plant started by now-bankrupt former subsidiary News Release, Aug. 15, 2002 | |
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Kia Web site drives the most traffic to showrooms AutoRemarketing.com, Dec. 17, 2002 | |
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Callaway Golf Co. changes auditors after warranty reserve dispute; Deloitte & Touche replaces KPMG. Press Release, Dec. 16, 2002 | |
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Read that warranty's fine print before buying a used car The Guardian, Dec. 14, 2002 | |
More Warranty Headlines below | ||
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
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Release of TREAD Act auto safety data is disputed. L.A. Times, Dec. 13, 2002 | |
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Today's cars are built to last, with some models boasting 70,000- to 100,000-mile warranties Indianapolis Star, Dec. 12, 2002 | |
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Carfax publishes teen holiday car buying tips Business Wire, Dec. 10, 2002 | |
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New PeopleSoft CRM for High Technology includes online product registration module News Release, Dec. 9, 2002 | |
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No room for error: Today's supply chain software tools had better be easy to install, easy to manage, and render a quick return on investment EBN, Dec. 5, 2002 | |
More Warranty Headlines below | ||
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
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Bridgestone/Firestone comeback "well ahead of schedule" Corporate News, Dec. 4, 2002 | |
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How to bulletproof your PC's warranty PC World, Dec. 2002 | |
More Warranty Headlines | ||
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