Re: Looking for serious opinions.

[Nomen Nescio <nobody@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Worthy said:

>I had a simular
>problem but the company put an expiration date on the recall. My problems
>didn't show up until well after the recall expiration date. Even though they
>acknowledged the problem and had a recall, they say the problem is now mine.
>Well....no it isn't. I've since changed product and distributor as well.

Bob, this is what manufacturer's warranties are all about.  If they
guarantee a product for two years, and people start having problems at two
years and six months, the manufacturer is absolutely within its rights to
say, "Too bad, that's life."  If they had wanted to give a three year
warranty, they would have done so.

Of course, a smart manufacturer may choose to extend the warranty on a
product that is known to have problems, in order to avoid alienating
customers.  But they're under no obligation to do so, much less extend the
warranty indefinitely.

To get back to the original poster's question, how to prove the products
were defective once you've sent them back:

1.  Consider keeping one of the items as insurance, if they're all
exhibiting the same defect.  You may be able to send it in later, after
they make good on the other 17, by saying you just found another one.  If
not, consider the cost as the price you paid for insurance.

2.  Before you send anything back, conduct tests and record your results in
a lab notebook with bound, nonremovable pages.  Date and sign each entry,
stating what you did and what the results were.  If possible, have someone
else witness your experiments.  This is one way people document inventions
before filing patent applications (except for the witness part).  Identify
the products you test by lot number, serial number, or whatever.  If the
defects are visible, take pictures.

3.  As Jim said, send lots of letters, certified, and make sure your
shipments of defective products have tracking and proof of delivery.  Send
a letter saying something like, "I wanted to thank you for your offer to
replace these items with a competitor's products at no charge.  It's great
to see  a manufacturer stand behind its products like that.  I'll be
shipping them back to you in about ten days.  Please call me if you have
any special shipping instructions, or if there's anything else I need to
do."  Document everything.

- badenov