Legal question about regulator warranties in NY, and gray market

[scubamikey]

Does anyone know the consumer protection and anti-trust laws in New York regarding warranties? If I buy a gray market regulator will the manufacturer be required to service it under their regular warranty? I know they claim they will not, but some laws say otherwise.

 

[cowboyneal]

I don't know what laws those would be. If you buy grey market (depending on what shade of grey it is) usually that comes with no warranty. It depends on the serial numbers. Manufacturers are doing a much better job of keeping track of warranty and out of warrantied merchandise. Therefore, if you are not buying from an authorized dealer (or direct from the manufacturer) you could get a 'no warranty' regulator.

CN

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Does anyone know the consumer protection and anti-trust laws in New York regarding warranties? If I buy a gray market regulator will the manufacturer be required to service it under their regular warranty? I know they claim they will not, but some laws say otherwise.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.

I do believe that a regulator purchased through the gray market is still covered with regard to defects. I do believe that they are allowed to offer free parts for regulators purchased through authorized channels, not LeisurePro for example. These free parts programs are often referred to as a warranty, but are really sales incentives. Most of these regulators do not carry the sales incentive of free parts in other parts of the world.

I think that if your regulator needs to be serviced, but that regulator was purchased at LeisurePro, your local shop should perform the work, but they would almost certainly charge you for parts. If the shop wanted to refuse to perform the work they would probably be within their rights, but it would be a poor business choice. If you sent the regulator back to the manufacturer they would probably not be allowed to reufuse to perform the work, buy again, they would almost certainly charge you for the parts.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Charlie99]

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/products/warrant.htm is a good place to start, as is a Google search on "Magnussen-Moss".

Magnussen-Moss makes it difficult for a manufacturer to evade some very basic responsibilities ---- making a product that isn't defective, and making a product that is suitable for the purpose for which it is being sold. Even something that you buy through a non-authorized dealer, or 2nd hand from your buddy down the street has some implied warranties. The practical effect of this is that the manufacturer will still end up having to replace a regulator that shows up dead-on-arrival.

One subtlety of this whole warranty thing is that it is advantageous to the manufacturer for him to offer an explicit written warranty, since this can be used to limit the period of the implied warranty to less than it would be if he didn't have a written warranty. Mangessen-Moss still sets minimum implied warranty periods, however.

OTOH, it is acceptable for written warranties to have conditions and exclusions -- such as excluding equipment being used commercially or equipment bought from 3rd parties other than authorized dealers. That's why you need to look at what sort of warranties somebody like Leisure Pro offers and see if they are suitable.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty.htm is a more detailed discussion of warranties on the US Federal Trade Comission website.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

In order to avoid the problem buy from an authorized dealer. Then there won't be any question. If on the otherhand you can service your own reg and do all assembly and disassembly then you don't need the warranty and can support unscrupulous dealers and gray(read "black") marketeers who don't care about anything but the mighty dollar or in this case euro. I do not necessarily agree with most manufacturers dealer agreements. Some are downright nasty and so restrictive that they prevent alot of people from getting what they want. If they would realize that their tactics are no longer helping the industry but actually hurting it they might change. Not allowing competition is what is going on. One major line that is being discussed on this board recently is getting alot of bad press due to their draconian storm trooper like tactics. They may have been around since the beginning but I firmly believe that the spirit under which they were founded is nearly dead. The way they are treating their dealers who try to compete with the internet is a disgrace and if allowed to go on may result in them going the way of the dodo.