Gray lie on warranty?

February 16, 2016 8:27 PM

So I bought a new small kitchen appliance that I'm very happy with in mid-December. It comes with a great 10 year warranty, which is a big part of the reason I selected this rather than another unit. Apparently I was supposed to register it within 10 days of purchase. I did not even realize I had to do this until today, when I was reading some Amazon reviews for it and someone mentioned the 10 day policy. Am I screwed on this, or can I just lie and said I just bought it/it was a gift that I just received?

The context of the review mentioned that the person ordered it, and wasn't able to get it for a month or so, when the warranty date had passed. They said customer service was happy to still register it for them because of that extenuating circumstance.

So, should I call up customer service, explain that I'm a space cadet and didn't even see the warranty card when I unboxed it, and hope that they still honor the warranty? Or should I make up a bullshit story about it being a Valentines day gift that I just got this weekend, and here I'd like to register the warranty now. Do they check these things with the seller, or could I just claim to have bought it recently? I bought it through Amazon, via one of their many random sellers.

Disclaimer - I know this is a lie. I am a very bad liar and I don't do it often, but if I don't have a warranty on this thing I may just return it through my credit card's policy because it's not worth the purchase price if it breaks and I can't get it fixed. It's basically worthless without a warranty.

posted by permiechickie to Shopping (7 answers total)

Does the manufacturer say that you actually need to register for the warranty to be in effect? That is apparently almost always not the case. See here.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 8:34 PM on February 16, 2016

Response by poster: It says in the back of the instruction manual that I am required to register for warranty service by completing and mailing the warranty service card, and that no warranty service will be provided until they have received the registration, within 10 days of purchase.
posted by permiechickie at 8:35 PM on February 16, 2016

Unless you are asked to submit your receipt along with the registration, there is no way for them to verify this. They can't know if something was purchased as a gift or not. Just send in the card with the date of the day before you mailed it in in the 'purchase date' field.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:50 PM on February 16, 2016 [8 favorites]

If the alternative to having a valid warranty is returning it, I'd just call up and tell them the truth including that part and see what they say. I bet they'll accept it.

While they may not require proof of receipt upon registration, that sounds like some fine print that may void the warranty if you need to make a claim that requires the receipt/dated proof of purchase...
posted by vegartanipla at 9:18 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is not legal on the manufacturer's part in the US as far as I know.
posted by cecic at 9:19 PM on February 16, 2016 [12 favorites]

What jacquilynne said.

Also, I'm fairly sure that manufacturers can't impose such a requirement for a warranty to be in-force. Heck, most manufacturers even say on the warranty card that you don't have to register.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:20 PM on February 16, 2016

Warranty cards get returned to the marketing department. They have nothing to do with the warranty.
posted by COD at 5:24 AM on February 17, 2016 [2 favorites]