As the name suggest, the Manufacturer’s Warranty is the warranty supplied to the purchaser at the time of the sale. This warranty is funded by the manufacturer and is generally quite comprehensive. However these warranties are not all the same. For example, some manufacturers will not pay any travel outside the service area of their service agent. For quite a few manufacturers this is the Bundaberg city boundary. Outside of this area, the customer will be required to contribute the travel cost of the serviceman. Of course the customer has the option of bringing the appliance in to the workshop, but this is not always practical. For example, an oven is hard-wired and cannot easily be disconnected or a side-by-side refrigerator is quite a large appliance to move around!

One particular manufacturer will not pay for any ‘rust’ repairs, regardless of whether the appliance is 3-months old or 18-months old! Furthermore, some manufacturers will not pay for ‘customer mistake’ calls while others recognise this as a fact of life. They understand that there will be a degree of ignorance on the part of a customer with a new appliance.

Manufacturers usually supply a warranty between 1-year and 5-years. Mostly 2-years seems to be standard these days, with refrigeration components (compressors, sealed systems etc.) often carrying up to 5-years. Sometimes this extra warranty is parts only, while others pay parts and labour.

So, it becomes obvious that quite apart from the quality (or lack thereof) of the appliance which a customer finds himself about to purchase, there is the huge issue of the ‘policy’ of the particular manufacturer. In many cases this might be as important a consideration as any about the the quality of the appliance.

Unfortunately, the salesman either does not know about these issues or does not want to know.

In an increasing number of cases, the customer must be able to present the technician a ‘proof of purchase’, usually the purchase invoice or receipt. Quite a few companies require that the customer ring a national hotline to log their warranty complaint, rather than phoning the local service agent direct.