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Topic: FTC Proclaims "Warranty Void if Removed" Stickers Totally Illegal And Moronic (Read 81 times)

legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1049
Death to enemies!
I always loved these Warranty Void If Seal Broken stickers on Quantum harddrives. I always laugh when I see this parody.

legendary
Activity: 1049
Merit: 1006
FTC Proclaims "Warranty Void if Removed" Stickers Are Totally Illegal And Moronic

https://hothardware.com/news/ftc-proclaims-warranty-void-if-removed-stickers-are-totally-illegal

<< We've all seen those annoying "Warranty Void if Removed" stickers on electronics. They're normally either slapped over a screw silo or wrapped around where two pieces of metal/plastic join together to discourage you (or a third party) from opening up the device to tinker with it yourself. Well, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now deemed these stickers to be illegal.

The FTC says that is has put six major companies on notice for the use of these stickers (among other practices), and say that they violate the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (MMWA) that provides guidelines for consumer product warranties. The MMWA specifically states:

No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer’s using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade, or corporate name.

The FTC goes on to say that of the six companies that it has warned, they include automobile, smartphone and video game console manufacturers. With regards to game consoles, both Microsoft and Sony are guilty of liberally applying the stickers on their Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in an effort to deny warranty repair claims if the seal is broken. >>
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