Purchasing through EBay invalidates warranty, according to PalmOne

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Many manufacturers restrict their warrantees  -- like many cameras -- 
thus "grey" market. But all, I believe, tell you that.

Dave


Begin forwarded message:

From: Dave Crocker <dcrocker () brandenburg com>
Date: September 24, 2004 7:10:58 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Purchasing through EBay invalidates warranty, according to 
PalmOne

Dave,

This is remarkable enough to be worth wider consideration.

A little over two years ago, I bought a Handspring Treo 180, with the 
view that
it embodied a significant chunk of mobile-office heaven.  By an large, 
that
opinion persists.  I really do love using the thing... When it works.

However shortly after running past the 1 year warranty deadline, I 
found that
the built-in speaker (in the flip-up cover) stopped working.

Given that replairs are expensive, I wound up buying a new replacement, 
just
under 1 year ago.  Sure enough, the speaker stopped working this week.  
I have
since found documentation of this problem on the web, of course.

I called Handspring Customer Service and they informed me that because 
I bought
it through EBay, they would not honor the warranty!

I ran up the chain in the front-line support office and they then 
directed me to
Corporate. Shaun, on the PalmOne corporate escalation team assured me 
that this
policy was in fact true.  The fact that I went through EBay meant that 
I did not
purchase the product through an authorized retailer.

Interesting, there are no provisions for these exclusions in the 
warranty that
PalmOne publishes on their web page.  The language in that document is 
simple
and clear: "The warranty period is one (1) year from your date of 
purchase."
There is no language in the warranty that restricts where you may 
purchase it
from or when.

As often happens when one objects to such explanations, the support 
staff
started inventing a number of new reasons, as time progressed.  The one 
I liked
the best was that PalmOne does not honor the warranty if the purchase 
is made
more than 1 year after manufacture.

I had planned on getting a Treo 650, but it is difficult to justify 
spending
that much money, nevermind having my professional communications rely 
on a
company with both technical reliability problems, coupled with 
capricious and
unreasonable customer service policies.

d/
--
Dave Crocker  <mailto:dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking  <http://brandenburg.com>




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