What happened to the concept of the warranty?

Upstatemax

I've had nothing but issues with companies recently when it comes to warranties.

I remember it being:

I have a broken product under warranty, it gets fixed/replaced no problem...

I sent my UD5007 back to Crutchfield because Marantz wanted me to foot the bill to ship a BRAND NEW machine back to them with zero idea of when I'd get it back, all they would tell me was; "we are pretty backed up". When I explain my situation, it was just a tough crap attitude.

Now I have my 3 year old LG washer blow its drive motor (covered under a 10yr warranty). I call LG and they say yes it's covered, but I have to foot the $350-$500 install! I tell them that's crazy as it's a warrantied part and I should not have to pay that. I talk to a Manager there and he agrees to pay the install. I just need to send in my receipt and they will call me in a week to schedule a time. 2 Weeks go by and I hear nothing...

I call them back and they tell me never mind, they will not cover the install. I end up speaking to an "executive Customer Service Rep" and they also tell me nope. Despite the fact that it's crazy to expect a customer to foot a bill to replace a warrantied item and you already told me you would cover it.

My wife called Home Depot (retailer that we got it from) and THEY called the LG rep for them because the way even they are reading the Warranty I should not have to foot the install.

The Manager at Home Depot was very nice and he told me that he does not even know why they carry LG anymore. I guess they are having a lot of issues with LG.

He was nice enough to ask me to come in and find a new washer if I want and he will work with me.

So I'm out an $800 washer after 3 years since LG also will not send YOU the part. They will only send it if an "approved" installer is doing it.

So I went in and Home Depot has 10% off appliances right now and they gave me an additional 15% off of our new washer because they felt bad. Lol. It was way more that what they had to do as they really did not have to do anything for me. We picked this up with a 5 year extended warranty and it should be delivered in a week:

http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=GHWN8355DMC

But I'm finding that the Manufacturers are just pushing any real customer service on to the retailers. When I called Marantz for the last time, all they kept saying was "Call Crutchfield and see what they will do", despite the fact that they knew I was out of the return period for Crutchfield...

treitz3

That's some pretty bad luck with warranties, sorry to hear of that. Of all of the recent warranty work I have had to get done, not one company made me pay shipping either way, for the part(s), repair or for shipping back. Heck, one blind company shipped me 4 spare gear mechanisms overnight from over the big pond so that I didn't have to be inconvenienced when the next one went bad.

Concerning LG, might I suggest filing a report on ripoff report https://www.ripoffreport.com/ and also contacting the BBB as well as writing a letter to the President of the company. No need to get nasty with any of this but if this is the way they treat their customers, then the truth should be known so that others are educated prior to purchase. I do wish you better luck in the future with warranty claims.

Tom

rpf65

Lot of manufacturers are trying to not cover their warrenties. The economy is making it harder to maintain a decent profit margin on new sales, so they are becoming nit pickey at the very least. Then of course they also try to convince you that what the wording says and means are 2 different things.

Problem is that many of these manufacturers forget that when people have bad experiences, they will not buy any of their products again. SO when the economy is left alone, and allowed to right itself, even more sales will go to the competition.

Polkie2009

Sorry to here about all the warranty problems guys. I've heard Samsung has been notorious about shafting their customers on warranties, remind me never to buy LG either.

sucks2beme

Any front loader other than commercial grade is Not going to last and cost $$$ to fix.
I don't understand the Marantz thing. They are trying to run Marantz as a high end
brand again, and you don't do that making customers angry. But like everything else,
money is tight and they are all cutting corners everywhere.

dragon1952

No part replacement labor cost on a washer or dryer should even come close to $300-$500. The most labor intensive replacement couldn't possibly take a trained technician more then 1/2 hr.

maximillian

If it's done by a plumber, they will want travel time both ways at their "fixing" rate. Then they take their time on the job. So a 1/2 hour job could really be 0.75 to 1 hour total labor and 1.5 hours of driving.

Being slightly sarcastic here, but the travel time charge is true, at least in my state.

hosedagain

maximillian wrote: »

If it's done by a plumber, they will want travel time both ways at their "fixing" rate. Then they take their time on the job. So a 1/2 hour job could really be 0.75 to 1 hour total labor and 1.5 hours of driving.

Being slightly sarcastic here, but the travel time charge is true, at least in my state.

Does anybody get paid traveling time to get to their office or factory job?

BlueFox

maximillian wrote: »

If it's done by a plumber, they will want travel time both ways at their "fixing" rate. Then they take their time on the job. So a 1/2 hour job could really be 0.75 to 1 hour total labor and 1.5 hours of driving.

Being slightly sarcastic here, but the travel time charge is true, at least in my state.

I was trying to figure out my bill for having my 20 amp lines installed, and it included travel time to the house, and to the electrical parts store.

BlueFox

I had a similar issue with Sony and a NS3100ES DVD/SACD player I purchased from Crutchfield. It arrived and as expected was brand new in a double sealed box. After a few months the video stopped working, but this is a Sony ES with a 5 year warranty, so no problem. Boxed it up with the original packing in double sealed box, and sent it to Laredo. After a while I get a note from them that the tech determined the unit has been tampered with and the warranty is void. I was furious as it had never been touched, but after trying any manager I could get a hold of they would not fix it unless I paid for it. So I asked that it be returned and it arrived wrapped in bubble wrap inside a flimsy box. I contacted Crutchfield and while it was out of their return period they took it back and gave me another.

I have to give Crutchfield credit for their customer service, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if it broke after a few years instead of a few months. SOL probably.

oldmodman

Warranty problems are the reason that I purchase everything I can at Costco.

I have returned items after 8 years. They give me an immediate cash refund and I go right back in the store and buy another.

They really know how to build customer loyalty.

chumlie

YELL LOUDER. Its pretty efective. Best to wait for a full showroom.

zane77

Costco rocks, returns never an issue, everything done with a smile

treitz3

One could say the same for Sam's Club as well. Never an issue......at least not yet for myself and those that I personally know.

Tom

smglbrth

I'm also sorry to hear about your issues. As far as warranty goes nowadays I think companies aren't used to dealing with people. I mean, society in general has been a "throw away" society for many years now...

Upstatemax

dragon1952 wrote: »

No part replacement labor cost on a washer or dryer should even come close to $300-$500. The most labor intensive replacement couldn't possibly take a trained technician more then 1/2 hr.

Trip one to "diagnose" the problem. Aka spin the drum and hear the grinding: $120

Trip two to fix the problem. Replace the drive motor: $240-$350

The cost of repairing this stuff is why 3 year old machines are throw away items...