Hypothetical Warranty Debate

Now heres an interesting debate

2. I would go where the best price and customer service would be at, if that happend to be a Authorized reseller or ebay or other Gray market outlet

(1) no - law dicates that items must carry a warranty of some type.

(2) I support the people who support me.

(3) no  - for the same reason you posted.

Here is a non hypothetical situation that is happening right now. Customer buys a sub and has a 1 year warranty on it. Sub has problems, who is the warranty through? The dealer or the distributor / manufacturer. My customers sub is sitting in the distributors and they refuse to warranty it based on it was a special order for them, they claimed there was no receipt sent with it, they claim I owe them money. A quick review of the situation on my end shows no money owed at all, a receipt was sent and if they lost it, another can be faxed to them, they are the authorized distributor for the brand, under Canadian law they must warranty it. So who is out in the end, the customer. So kids remember, let's not buy.....Audiobahn until they get their act cleaned up.

First off thank you Forbidden for your post

Your answer to number 1 may or may not be valid in the United States, my wife owns a High End Sunglass shop she sells gucci, oakley , dkny, etc..

IMO there is no debate.  If you buy something without a warranty, you have decided to regard the equipment as disposable.  If you want protection and support for an investment, you will purchase with a warranty.  If you don't care about warranties, buy it used.

Speaking from the perspective of a manufacturer, most would love to be able to not offer warranties.  One of the biggest headaches in any industry is returned material and trying to decide if a failure is a warranty-covered issue or a case of customer abuse or damage.  If we didn't have to deal with that, life would be much simpler.  But the fact is that most people (and ALL distributors) understand the value of warranties and will simply not buy brands that do not offer them.  There is no such thing as a perfect product as everything made or designed by humans will fail or have mistakes made now and then, so it is in any manufacturer's best interest to stand behind their products.  It keeps customers coming back.  The laws concerning warranty vary from state to state.

There will always be people who shop for price first, and there will always be knock-offs, grey markets, B-stock vendors, crooks and flea markets for them.  Let me tell you though that I take great pleasure in denying warranty repair work to some fool who bought their gear on-line at an "unbelivable bargain price" based on the pasted-on brand name and when it breaks we find out it is a complete fake.

Always support liscensed, authorized retailers and purchase factory-warranted items and you receive the most proection.  You eventually almost always get what you paid for.

Thanks DYohn I see your point in your post

1.) no - for the same reason Rob has stated, there are certain laws that require companies to maintain some type of warranty on their products.

2.) Authorized Dealers - due to the fact that most of those " much lower prices" are either B-stock or refurbished components, hence the low price. If I am going to buy something, and invest as much as I do, I want to see my product before I lay money down. As it's said "If it's too good to be true, it probably is".

3.) no - same reason you gave.

With that, you say your wife has a high end sunglass shop, in which none of them carries any warranty of any kind, but you have mentioned Oakley, now I know from personnal experience with them, Oakley sunglasses carry a lifetime warranty, I have had several pair and that's currently what I have. A couple years back, I had a pair of the "jackets" i believe they were, the plastic frame deals. My daughter broke one of the arms, I brought them back to "Sunglass Hut" in where I bought them from, and they sent them back. Oakley sent me a new pair.

A couple months later, I had them in my lap, got out of my truck, and they fell out, not realizing it, i got back into the truck, started backing out of the driveway, reached for my sunglasses, and they were not where they were supposed to be. Parked my truck again, and got out looked all around and found them under my truck, in five pieces. Brought them BACK to Sunglass Hut, and they sent them back, same thing, got a new pair. Well needless to say, wasn't long after that, I lost them, wouldn't you know, the warranty would not cover that!!!

With that, I am not looking to start a ruckus, just wanted to give a little personnal exp. with one of the brands listed, and the warranty they have provided me personally. Now with the rest of those brands I have no clue, but still would think there is some type of warranty, maybe your wife just isn't aware of such??