Warranties on gray market sales

[Dive Right In Scuba]

It is a violation of the tie-in clause, because ScubaPro is telling you that unless have your ScubaPro product serviced using their parts by one of their authorized service providers, your warranty is void. That is like GM telling you that the warranty on your car is no longer valid because you went to Jiffy Lube for an oil change and that they used Castrol instead of GM oil.

Like I said, I can understand this in terms of their free parts program, but not their warranty.

Buy a Lexus and see what happens....Alot of car companies you LOSE the warranty if the work is not done by them, if you miss an oil change, if you do the oil change, etc.....

 

[Swan1172]

Buy a Lexus and see what happens....Alot of car companies you LOSE the warranty if the work is not done by them, if you miss an oil change, if you do the oil change, etc.....

That is simply not true.

I drive a Mercedes and have been doing oil-change service on it myself since I bought it. As long as the oil is changed at the proper intervals and I am using the proper viscosity and grade of oil, my changing the oil in no way voids the warranty. To affect the vehicle warranty, the lubricant must be directly responsible for the failure. If the oil didn't cause the problem the warranty cannot be voided, regardless of brand or length of time in use.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

It is true!! Go buy a lexus..I didnt say Mercedes....If you dont believe me go ask your Lexus dealer

 

[Swan1172]

It is true!! Go buy a lexus..I didnt say Mercedes....If you dont believe me go ask your Lexus dealer

Show me.

It does not matter which car company you are referring to, because it is against the law (i.e. Magnuson-Moss Act) for a car company to make service at the dealership a requirement for keeping the warranty in effect. You can have the vehicle serviced anywhere, or service it yourself.

FTC regulations state: "(c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection may be waived by the Commission if - (1) the warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and (2) the Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest." (42 U.S.C. 2302(C))"

The only way the manufacturer can require you to use their brand of filter, or any other part is for the manufacturer to provide the item free of charge under the terms of the warranty, and I have yet to see any of the new car manufactures doing this. So, you can have any repair shop do your oil changes, tune-ups, fluid flushes, etc., and repairs using name brand, quality; spark plugs, filter, oil, belts, hoses, brakes, wiper blades, etc. and keep your new car’s warranty valid.

 

[Mafiaman]

Your Lex dealer may have been intetionaly gray with you in order to get you to bring your car to him for service, the following is cut from a lexus warranty and is an exclusion from the warranty:

Normal maintenance services such as engine tune-ups; replacement of fluids and filters; lubrication; cleaning and polishing; replacement of spark plugs and fuses; and replacement of worn wiper blades, brake pads/linings and clutch linings. NOTE: For 2004 Lexus models, customers will receive a 1,000-mile maintenance and may choose between the 5,000 or 7,500-mile maintenance. Beginning with 2005 models, coverage now includes the Lexus Personalized Settings (LPS) program, which must be completed within 12 months from the vehicle’s purchase date and the 5,000-mile/six-month maintenance.

http://www.lexus.com/models/ES/warranty/index.html

 

[cerich]

It is true!! Go buy a lexus..I didnt say Mercedes....If you dont believe me go ask your Lexus dealer

not true, they will invalidatethe warranty if you can't prove that you had oil changes done with the proper oil/filter at the proper specifed intervals. Keep your receipts that is all.

 

[superstar]

Will the Lexus dealer sell you parts?

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

I will concede that this may not still be in affect, but when I previously owned a Lexus, I was told it was.

As I said on the last Thread where we discussed this....its a never ending battle....Unauthorized means Unauthorized, you cant buy something from someone thats unauthorized and expect it to be the same as from someone that is authorized...Doesnt meant I agree with it or disagree with it....but I can tell you one thing...Im tired of talking about it Good luck with your efforts

 

[PalatkaBoy]

Terry,

It is a matter of federal law, as The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act specifically says that you can't do this. Generally, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty.

Per my first post, I quoted the Federal Trade Comission website:

"Although tie-in sales provisions generally are not allowed, you can include such a provision in your warranty if you can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FTC that your product will not work properly without a specified item or service. If you believe that this is the case, you should contact the warranty staff of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection for information on how to apply for a waiver of the tie-in sales prohibition."

It is possible to do a tie-in and not violate the MMW Act. Manufacturers pay for warranties on their manufactured products. A manufacturer will also make a reasonable effort to protect the consumer from buying substandard manufactured (throw-aways) and imitation (counterfeit) goods being offered as legitimate retail products (thus the 'authorized' retailer) in the retail channel. If you buy it from an 'unauthorized' retailer (i.e. 'me' on ebay, selling cheaper country 'x' knockoffs branded as 'BRAND Y" which may work very well, I might add), the manufacturer cannot guarantee that the product is manufactured (or even if manufactured by them)or repaired up to their standards. If it's a walkman, I don't care. If it's a regulator at 120', I really care.

And actually, there are plenty of other companies that do the same thing, selling cheaper versions of their products for very little or no warranty, usually in bulk to a retail bundler, with the retailer supplying the warranty. Intel and Microsoft both come to mind...

 

[Swan1172]

I will concede that this may not still be in affect, but when I previously owned a Lexus, I was told it was.

As I said on the last Thread where we discussed this....its a never ending battle....Unauthorized means Unauthorized, you cant buy something from someone thats unauthorized and expect it to be the same as from someone that is authorized...Doesnt meant I agree with it or disagree with it....but I can tell you one thing...Im tired of talking about it Good luck with your efforts

It never was in effect, but you thought it was because that is what you were told by your Lexus dealer to keep you coming into their shop for service. The entire reason that I started this thread is because I think the same thing is going on in the scuba industry.