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May 23, 2006

sponsored by NEW

ISSN 1550-9214

Warranty Data:

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NEW Customer Service Companies


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

SAS Institute


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

ServiceBench for Service Administrators


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

4CS iWarranty


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

AMT Warranty Corp.


Warranty Headlines (cont’d)
	EMC lengthens the standard CLARiiON networked storage systems warranty to three years. Press Release, May 8, 2006
	Panasonic lengthens digital camera warranties from one to three years in the UAE. ITP Technology, May 8, 2006
	Better Business Bureau's Auto Line has helped resolve 1.8 auto warranty complaints in past 25 years. Fort Wayne Frost Illustrated, May 8, 2006
	American Home Shield's revenue up 5%; new sales up 1%; operating profits down 36%. Press Release, May 8, 2006
	Seagate Technologies says most disk drives returned under warranty have software problems, not hardware. Newsday, May 7, 2006
	Aquarion Safety Valve sells sewage and water pipe service plans administered by Aon Home Warranty Services. Miami Herald, May 7, 2006
	Extended warranty terms under scrutiny in Ohio after lawmaker complains of misrepresentation. Cincinnati Enquirer, May 6, 2006
	Manufacturers introduce initiatives to improve after-sales service and support. Channel Times, May 5, 2006
	Aon Corp. reports warranty, credit, and P&C revenue up 15% with pretax income up 16%. Press Release, May 4, 2006
	Centrica takes its British Gas CRM project back from Accenture after massive delays. Computing, May 4, 2006
	Microsoft can't do warranty work for XBox customers living in Puerto Rico. The Consumerist, May 3, 2006
	Hyundai Automotive Group chairman Chung Mong-koo arrested on charges of embezzlement and bribery. Korea Times, May 1, 2006
	Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America licenses 4CS iWarranty software. Press Release, May 1, 2006
	The Forestry and Industrial Equipment Division of Blount Inc. licenses 4CS iWarranty software. Press Release, May 1, 2006
	Phoenix American Insurance Group and Wynn's Extended Care join the DealerTrack Aftermarket Network. Press Release, May 1, 2006
	More Warranty Headlines

Related Articles From Warranty Week

Apple's Warranty Data: Warranty expenses began a swift climb at the end of 2009. But so did product sales, as the Mac and iPod gave way to the iPhone and iPad. And so, the share of total revenue spent on warranty didn't soar.

Warranty Benchmarks: Graphs of all manufacturers' claims and accrual rates don't follow bell curves. They're Pareto distributions, where lots of companies spend small amounts on warranty and a few heavyweights spend a lot.

Warranty Analytics: The Warranty Chain Management Conference in San Diego next week will feature both a workshop on loss cost analytics aimed at extended warranty providers and a warranty analytics software enhancement aimed at engineers and quality managers.

Five-Year Warranty Trends, Part Three: Measured in dollars, claims were up by only $400 million last year (+1.4% since 2006) while accruals rose $1.5 billion (+5.5%) since 2006. But Microsoft's Xbox 360 debacle accounted for much of those increases in a year that saw warranty expenses decrease or remain the same for manufacturers in many industries.