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I wonder if differences in implied warranty cut into margin in Europe. It's not super clear what the actual standard is, but I know that (for example) a laptop
by pacaro 12y ago
I wonder if differences in implied warranty cut into margin in Europe.
It's not super clear what the actual standard is, but I know that (for example) a laptop that I had failed at about 13 months old because of a design flaw and in the US I was SOL, but other complainants with the same flaw in the UK had the motherboard replaced because the laptop was considered "not fit for purpose" which if I understand the Sale of Goods Act in the UK is good for 6 years after purchase — that could really eat into the margins in the hardware industry
- Silhouette 12y agoThe 6 year figure is an upper bound, and even if a device failed after 5 years the laws here in the UK wouldn't normally require a full refund of the original purchase price or anything so disproportionate. However, there is a principle that essentially says something has to last for a reasonable length of time given what it was bought for. I think few would claim that a laptop costing hundreds of pounds and failing just over a year after purchase met that criterion, and that's what triggers the repair/replace/refund rules in the kind of situation you described.
- ekux44 12y agoDo these consumer protection laws apply to security updates or cloud/service-dependent features?
- noinsight 12y agoIn the EU there's a mandatory warranty of 2 years for all electronics. At least in Finland, the "not fit for purpose" stuff also applies in addition to that so if you can prove that your hardware failed "unreasonably soon" because it's somehow defective and not just due to "standard wear and tear", the manufacturer has to fix it. Of course it has to be a very valid reason for that to apply. http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/buying_goods_services_en.htm http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/buying_goo...