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Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft Among Others Asked To Revamp Warranty Policies
The FTC has ruled that the warranty policies of six companies violate their marketing principles and practices regarding voiding warranties.
On the pack of your consoles is a little sticker on the seam of the console warning you that breaking the sticker, basically opening it up and breaking the seam, voids the warranty. The FTC says this is illegal. In letters obtained by Motherboard through the Freedom of Information Act, the FTC has warned Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, ASUS, Hyundai, and HTC that they cannot void the warranty for opening the case up.
Motherboard points out that this sticker is in violation of "the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which states that no manufacturer charging more than $5 for a product may put repair restrictions on a device its offering a warranty on."
The letters differ a little for each manufacturer, as Microsoft's specifies a different warning about limiting warranties to repairs only done by Microsoft. The letters were sent in early April and gave the companies involved thirty days to comply. It is worth noting that the FTC is not empowered to actually force companies to change their warranty policies, and the complaint letters appear to ignore companies like Apple who have similar policies.
[Source: Motherboard]
Our Take
I had always been paranoid about accidentally damaging those stickers. Those stickers being declared void would allow people to seek different options for repairs rather than the manufacturer, who might not be selling you repairs for the best price.
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