May 23, 2006 |
ISSN 1550-9214 |
Warranty Compliance:The list of companies reporting upon their warranty accounts is constantly changing as new companies begin complying with the new rules while old companies close down or get acquired. A handful of companies sometimes forget to include details about their warranty spending, while others simply disregard the rules.The past five newsletters have presented warranty data for U.S.-based manufacturers in several different ways over several different years. This is the sixth and concluding piece of that report. Although it borders on overkill, the truth is that until 2003 there was absolutely no data like this available anywhere at any price. And now, here it is, all in one place: total warranty spending figures for both individual companies and entire industries. First we want to wrap up this cycle of warranty reports with a quick look back at the past three years. A reader asked if we were going to provide totals for all manufacturers and/or all industries. In that vein, we've included pie charts on occasion for individual quarters and for entire years. But we've never run a chart for warranty claims by industry during all three years in which manufacturers were required to reveal what used to be closely-held secrets about their warranty spending. This time out, there are 14 categories in the pie, though it's not a round pie. Instead, it's a rectangular pie, in which each industry is assigned a different color. So that similar industries are grouped together, we've assigned all the transportation categories shades of blue, while high-tech gets shades of red, and the building trades get shades of green. No Double CountingAll companies reporting warranty expenses during 2003, 2004 or 2005 have been assigned to one and only one of the 14 categories, based upon the nature of their leading warranted product line. For instance, United Technologies and Honeywell International are counted as aerospace vendors (navy blue) rather than as either appliance makers (bright green) or semiconductor manufacturers (yellow). Eastman Kodak is in the medical equipment category (pink). General Electric is in the "other" category (gray), along with several other makers of turbines and power generating equipment. And American Standard is in the appliance category (because of Trane), while Masco and Fortune Brands are in the building materials and fixtures category (olive). Figure 1 presents this data as percentages of 100%. Figure 2 presents it in dollar terms. It's the same data presented in different ways. Readers of the HTML Edition of Warranty Week are receiving the data in graphical form. Readers of the Plain Text Edition are receiving the actual numbers in table form. Those with access to the Web can click on the graphics below to see the actual numbers behind them. Those who are reading the text version can click on the links below the charts for Web access to the graphics. Figure 1 |
Back to Part Five |
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This Week’s Warranty Week Headlines | ||
Pennsylvania county sues UniLect Co. for breaching its warranty agreement when its Patriot voting machines were decertified. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 23, 2006 | ||
Reseller recommends Acer and HP laptops, but says HP has better service and fewer warranty claims. Business Owner, May 23, 2006 | ||
LG wants to gain washing machine market share with new features, longer warranties. Sify Business, May 23, 2006 | ||
Philips Business Solutions plans to introduce usage-based warranties this fall for its new LCD monitors. eChannel Line, May 22, 2006 | ||
Asurion Corp. buys Warranty Corp. of America; company to become its subsidiary. Press Release, May 19, 2006 | ||
More Warranty Headlines below |
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
Pruitt vs. KB Home class action settlement approved by Texas court; prohibits mandatory binding arbitration for warranty claims. Press Release, May 19, 2006 | ||
Dell plans to cut $3 billion in costs this year, largely on parts and warranty cost reductions. Austin American-Statesman, May 19, 2006 | ||
Microsoft warns Xbox 360 owners that modifying the console to play pirated games will void the warranty. Eurogamer, May 18, 2006 | ||
Warranty Direct Ltd. calculates the ten most reliable used cars of the past decade -- all are Japanese. Press Release, May 17, 2006 (Word file) | ||
Disabling the region code reader on a DVD player can be done, but it voids the warranty. Dallas Morning News, May 18, 2006 | ||
More Warranty Headlines below |
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
General Motors Acceptance Corp. to open office in Shanghai, will research auto insurance market. Shanghai Daily, May 18, 2006 | ||
IBM WebSphere Content Discovery for Business Intelligence can extract data from call center and warranty claims. Press Release, May 17, 2006 | ||
National Association of Home Builders publishes book, Warranties for Builders and Remodelers (ISBN 0-86718-612-7). Press Release, May 17, 2006 | ||
MSX International's first quarter net sales falls but warranty service revenue are up. Press Release, May 16, 2006 | ||
Man spends $12,000 converting his Toyota Prius to plug in, gets 100 miles per gallon, but voids his warranty. San Jose Mercury News, May 16, 2006 | ||
More Warranty Headlines below |
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
ServiceMaster CEO Jonathan P. Ward resigns and is replaced by board member J. Patrick Spainhour. Press Release, May 16, 2006 | ||
Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-koo still in jail; Korean auto suppliers say they're in crisis. Korea Herald, May 16, 2006 | ||
CSI Wireless Inc. cuts product warranties to 1 yr., reports big gain in sales of 3-yr. extended warranties. Press Release, May 15, 2006 | ||
Pro-Dex Inc. reschedules earnings conference call to revise its warranty accrual provision after getting faulty parts from a supplier. Press Release, May 15, 2006 | ||
New Zealand government investigates mandatory home warranties as a solution to leaky home problem. New Zealand Herald, May 12, 2006 | ||
More Warranty Headlines below |
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Warranty Headlines (cont’d) | ||
Exide Technologies covers new Marathon and NASCAR Extreme batteries with 9-year warranties. Press Release, May 11, 2006 | ||
Lexus to begin offering service agreements to owners of its certified used vehicles in October. Automotive News, May 11, 2006 | ||
Solar panel warranties cover performance but not weather damage, and periodic cleaning is required. CNN Money, May 11, 2006 | ||
Computer makers tout semi-rugged laptops that survive drops and spills. Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2006 | ||
Housing Ministry in Malaysia plans to make three-year warranties standard practice for the homebuilding industry. Malaysia Sun, May 9, 2006 | ||
More Warranty Headlines below |
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