Dealing with a customer’s warranty

Dealing with customer warranties can be a legal minefield, or nightmare, for computer retailers of any size.

Retailers are usually the first point of contact for warranty support but often find themselves stuck between customers, manufacturers and distributors, not to mention a myriad of misinformation and half truths.

Store operators are usually required to offer some form of warranty on products they sell and these generally fall into one of four categories defined in the summary box below.

Most computer retailers offer a 12-month return-to-base warranty on computer components.

Many manufacturers market their products using a two-year, three-year of lifetime warranty.

Legally, the retailer is only obliged to provide warranty within the 12-month period their voluntary warranty specifies.

Not surprisingly, the customer expects the retailer to provide warranty in the period the manufacturer has specified.

With many computer products and components obsolete after six months, direct replacements can be difficult to source, even within the 12-month warranty, never mind anything longer.

Quite often retailers are stuck with faulty components they can’t return because the vendor has decided to change their authorised distributor for the 15th time. The old distributor does not want to accept the product back as they are no longer dealing with the vendor and the new distributor does not want to deal with it because they never sold the part originally.

A customer’s knowledge or lack thereof can also contribute to a retailer’s warranty woes. There are few industries in Australia that allow equipment assembly from individual parts without some sort of formal certification – unfortunately, the computer industry falls into the ‘No certification required, do as you please’ category.

Computer enthusiasts can be a retailer’s best customer and at the same time the worst.

If you think warranty issues for a regular bricks-and-mortar store can be difficult, spare a thought for online retailers. Transactions often take place solely via email and many customers believe a faulty product gives them licence to be as rude and abusive as they like. In many cases it turns out that the rude and abusive customer is 12 years old and you end up on the phone trying to explain to a parent what ‘modding’ and ‘overclocking’ is and why their child shouldn’t be doing it!

A large part of the problem is that customers don’t understand their rights, or more correctly, the limitations of their rights.

They often demand action from a retailer that is very costly or just plain unreasonable.

Invest a little bit of time in your warranty processes and you’ll find many warranty returns can be directed straight to the manufacturer or their agent, with little or no cost to you.

Several major international vendors, such as Netgear, AMD and Intel, will provide tech and warranty support directly in Australia.

If you explain to customers, the process and benefits of returning products straight to the manufacturer, most customers will appreciate the quicker warranty turnaround and you’ll realise the benefits of reduced costs. When assessing which product lines to purchase and market, determining whether the manufacturer offers a local support presence can save you big dollars in the long run.

Don’t be afraid of the Department of Fair Trading (or its equivalent in your state), they are not the devil most customers make them out to be as they can be an invaluable source of information and advice.

I also recommend joining your state division of the Chamber and Commerce and Industry.