Product warranty returns — here's what you need to know

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Many manufacturers require consumers to register to get the benefit of their full, voluntary warranty. Stock photo.
Image: 123rf

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:

Want to change the plug on your new appliance?

That’s quite a tricky decision to make. Here’s why: Francois bought a R1,000 flat iron from a major retailer in February 2020. It came with a five-year guarantee from the manufacturer, subject to it being used according to the instructions.

The heat regulator button broke last week and when Francois attempted to return it to the retailer, he was told the warranty had been voided because he’d “tampered” with the item.

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) gives consumers the right to return defective goods within six months of purchase if they develop a fault which renders them unfit for purpose — unless, as the act puts it, “those goods have been altered contrary to the instructions”.

Francois had changed the two-point plug which came with the appliance to a three-point plug as the original one kept coming out of the socket.

WENDY KNOWLER | Check the store’s return policy before making a purchase

Defective goods must be returned at the supplier’s risk and expense and without penalty — no admin fees may be charged.

Many readers will relate to that. Until around 2015 the ombudsman for consumer goods and services had advised that changing the plug on an appliance qualified as tampering and invalidated any warranty. But around that time the ombud‘s office had a change of heart, following the lead of consumer protection agencies in New Zealand.

Now changing a plug does not automatically invalidate a warranty, unless it can be proved attaching a new plug caused the problem.

The problem for Francois is that that only applies to the CPA’s “implied warranty” of six months after purchase. From the seventh month, warranties are voluntarily offered by suppliers, and they have the right to impose their own Ts and Cs, which almost always include original packaging and plug.

So if you’ve changed the plug on an appliance, you’d better hope that any defect becomes apparent within six months of purchase.

Warranties with sneaky conditions

Staying with warranties, Jason began his e-mail to me by quoting a line from a Tom Waits song: “The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.”

It applies perfectly to his coffee machine experience.

“I bought a Russell Hobbs coffee machine from a Durban branch of a national retailer and it had a big 'TWO-YEAR WARRANTY' sign on the front of the box,” he said. That was the large print.

That two-year period only expires in March 2023, so when the machine broke a week ago, Jason thought it was covered. But when he returned it to the retailer, he was told no warranty applied — he would only have got the benefit of the second year’s warranty if he had registered the product on the manufacturer’s website shortly after purchase.

Under that large-print “two-year warranty” on the box were the following words, much smaller and fainter: “one year retail/one year extended warranty upon registration: visit. ”

“I’m obviously not the only one who got fooled by this, because the new boxes now state the warranty as 'one year + one year'.”