lairdb
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yknot:Since you asked for some specifics, let's start with the following, taken directly from Aqualung's web site
The Free Parts For Life Agreement is a three party agreement that involves responsibilities of the original owner, the authorized Aqua Lung Dealer and Aqua Lung.
[...]
The next part came from the FTC's web site:
[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1, Parts 0 to 999]
[Revised as of January 1, 1998]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR700.10]
[Page 536-537]
[...]
(c) No warrantor may condition the continued validity of a warranty
on the use of only authorized repair service and/or authorized
replacement parts for non-warranty service and maintenance. [...]
Now, my interpretation is that: You can't require parts and service together for warranty validity unless the service is free.
Unless you can. 15CFR2302(c):"[...]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."
That's one of two angles on which Aqualung may be in the clear.
The other is the question of whether the "Free Parts For Life Agreement" is part of the warranty. If I were in Aqualung's shoes, that's where I'd go first -- that the "Free Parts For Life Agreement" is separate and entirely unconnected to the warranty.