The Great Warranty Debate cont'd

[Quarrior]

Here's a question that's been puzzling me. Given most American's (can't speak for other countries) move around a lot, how does a LDS in your new town know whether the gear you brought in for warranty repair or battery replacement was purchased from an "authorized" dealer? Of course this assumes you bring in the warranty registration with it.

Seems to me, once the warranty is registered with the manufacturer, it's registered.

Another point is, how does the manufacturer enforce their warranty limitations when they do not list who the "authorized" dealers are on the warranty?

Don't get me wrong, I support one of the local LDS' here, but, sometimes I buy things on-line when the LDS just can't compete with the price or just can't get the item I'm looking for.

Brian

 

[Optik]

I imagine its done through serial numbers. Batch #30004 is USA batch #40003 is Spain, etc. Just a speculation, but thats how i would do it.

 

[scubatoys]

Yes, they know which units are for US sale - and what units each shop got. So if you try to register the warranty for a reg serial number 1234 saying you got it at Bob's dive shop - and they never sold 1234 to Bob's... it will red flag it. Then when we do service, depending on the company, we can go to a web page, punch in that serial number, and get all the info and service history on it.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Depends on the company.

Scubapro for example does not track the service history on each and every reg. That would take a lot of staff. They leave the registration for a new reg up to the dealer (who should register it on-line for you). The dealer completes a service slip at each annual service. One copy goes in a dealer file, another goes in a dealer file to be mailed a month or so before the next service is due and another copy is given to the customer, a final copy is sent to SP to obtain the free warranty parts but again is not used for tracking pursposes by SP.

The customer can go to any SP dealer and get warranty service with their copy of the slip or have the new LDS call the old LDS to confirm that the service was done and/or that the customer was the original owner. A purchase reciept can also be used to show that the reg was bought from an authorized SP dealer to obtain warranty service.

The dealer has a lot of lattitude but it is pretty much an honor system kind of thing. The dealer needs to be able to provide fair customer service to customers who may have misplaced their documentation but they also need to be careful to not abuse it and screw the company on the free parts deal.