Insolvency


I have visited and bought from a small high end shop for the last two years. Just today I went down to the store to buy some accessories. The store was dark and the front door had a sign on it: "Insolvency sale delayed until Monday because of sickness." I was shocked and sad since the store was run by two trully passionate long-time audio hobbyists into vinyl and nice tube gear. It was different, innovative, carried hard-to-get equipment from small, underground manufacturers. Here is my question: over the years when I bought a piece of equipment from the store, they would keep the warranty card with the promise to take care of repairs if the item broke. Now that the shop is gone, I have several pieces of equipment whose warranty I am unsure of. Will the manufacturer repair if I just show a receipt from an out-of-business audio shop? I assume that I will not be getting any of my current orders from this shop (luckily, I did not give them any cash deposits in advance). Have any of you had similar experiences?
slawney
If they were an authorized dealer for the products in question, selling with a manufacturer's warranty (i,e., not a grey market item or used item without a transferable warranty), the fact that the warranty card might not have been sent in shouldn't matter, and the manufacturer should honor the warranty--you should check the warranty information that came with the equipment for the limitations on the warranty, though, to make sure they're not applicable. The dealer's promise to make all repairs, of course, won't be too helpful at this point. A sad story, unfortunately. My local dealer went through some tough times during the last recession, but weathered the storm and is now thriving, albeit primarily through home theater and multiroom installation work.
I asked my favorite dealer that question when I was in a similar situation and he assured me that the warranty is good whether the card was sent in or not. Proof of purchase date is all that the manufacturers require. I have not yet had to test this....but it seems reasonable to me. So I keep all the receipts like you did and hope.
like it or not, guys, this is actually a legal question. and, before you kill all the lawyers, permit me, please, to offer some gratis (read:"rare") legal advice. under the laws of the usa, a manufacturer may impose "reasonable" conditions upon its warranty obligations, including a "registration" requirement of a "reasonable" nature within a "reasonable" period. some sellers, as supposed favors to their customers, retain warranty registration cards, usually for the purpose of falsely and fraudulently "extending" the warranty period. this may seem to be righteous to buyers but may, in fact, limit or obviate the warranty rights otherwise applicable. my advice is this: (1) if a manufacturer imposes warranty registration obligations, honor them; (2) a dealer's "lifetime" warranty is only as good as the lifetime of the dealer, not yours; (3) if you're in the same situation as slawney, explain your situation to the warrantor and pray that its got an ethical sense to honor your "warranty," irrespective of legal obligations to the contrary; and, (4) don't trust ANYONE to tell you that the terms of a warranty registration is "no big deal" and can be avoided. -kelly
Thank-you for the info Kelly. I guess I better read the fine print a little better in the future. Bob
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