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Well I don't think they ever had the gall to do it to their pro market but they did void the warranty for some of their consumers when they installed linux. htt

Well I don't think they ever had the gall to do it to their pro market but they did void the warranty for some of their consumers when they installed linux. http://linux.slashdot.org/story/07/03/27/1753218/hp-dishonors-warranty-if-you-load-linux http://linux.slashdot.org/story/07/03/27/1753218/hp-dishonor... As did other companies : http://linux.slashdot.org/story/07/09/12/0011209/retailer-refuses-hardware-repair-due-to-linux http://linux.slashdot.org/story/07/09/12/0011209/retailer-re...

guard-of-terra 14y ago
That's not the reason. The reason is that they can bullshit you and get away with it. I sometimes wonder why isn't there a huge fine specifically for corporations trying to avoid their responsibilities by bullshiting customers. It should be in hundreds of thousands per incident. Because they do that and they feel free to do that and you can't punish them much for doing that. The worst case for them, they actually do their job.
- freehunter 14y ago
  In the US, if you know the law, there are penalties for a company disregarding consumer protection laws. I forget the name of the law, but I actually ended up filing a suit against Alltel before us Alltel customers were moved to AT&T following the buyout. Alltel settled as soon as my lawyer sent the papers. It's colloquially known as the "lemon law" (though that's a term generally reserved for used car sales). If they can't fix a defective, in-warranty product in a reasonable time, the contract you have with them is void and they have to refund the price. In my case, Alltel kept sending me broken phones for my warranty claims, then the third time I sent the phone back they said the warranty was void because I had installed a registry browser on Windows Mobile (and that was apparently the cause of them sending me a phone that was missing a loudspeaker). At any rate, I don't remember the name of the law or the exact words anymore, but look into it so you know what you can expect when this happens to you. The FTC doesn't take kindly to it, and in some cases will actually pay a lawyer to fight it for you.

guard-of-terra 14y ago

That's not the reason. The reason is that they can bullshit you and get away with it. I sometimes wonder why isn't there a huge fine specifically for corporations trying to avoid their responsibilities by bullshiting customers. It should be in hundreds of thousands per incident. Because they do that and they feel free to do that and you can't punish them much for doing that. The worst case for them, they actually do their job.

freehunter 14y ago
In the US, if you know the law, there are penalties for a company disregarding consumer protection laws. I forget the name of the law, but I actually ended up filing a suit against Alltel before us Alltel customers were moved to AT&T following the buyout. Alltel settled as soon as my lawyer sent the papers. It's colloquially known as the "lemon law" (though that's a term generally reserved for used car sales). If they can't fix a defective, in-warranty product in a reasonable time, the contract you have with them is void and they have to refund the price. In my case, Alltel kept sending me broken phones for my warranty claims, then the third time I sent the phone back they said the warranty was void because I had installed a registry browser on Windows Mobile (and that was apparently the cause of them sending me a phone that was missing a loudspeaker). At any rate, I don't remember the name of the law or the exact words anymore, but look into it so you know what you can expect when this happens to you. The FTC doesn't take kindly to it, and in some cases will actually pay a lawyer to fight it for you.