23rd June 2012
War and What?

Warranties. How much faith do you place in warranties? Have you ever bought anything which broke within the warranty period?

Did you ever get any appliance or piece of equipment machinery fixed anywhere for free with a smile, because it was still covered by its warranty?

I believe that the word ”warranty” was invented by some extra clever marketing expert to enhance the product which he wanted to sell, knowing that there was no danger that he or his company would ever need to honour it.

You know, something attached to an item to make it sound good, although you’re not quite sure what it is, and what use it will be to you.

For example, saying that a shampoo or skin cream contains lanolin, or aloe vera. Does anyone really know precisely what lanolin is? What exactly does it do for you hair, or your skin? Yet we all will choose a product with lanolin, above a product without it, for the same price.

Well in my opinion, warranties almost fall into the same category. We’ll certainly buy something with a warranty before buying something without, even if it is a little more expensive, but I’m ready to make you a bet right here: you buy any article with a six-month warranty on, say the twentieth of January, and the day it breaks down, I’ll bet you it’s the twenty-first of July of that same year.

These manufactures know what they’re about. As a matter of fact, the equipment on which this very article which you’re in the process of reading was typed, broke down and had to be repaired for the first time, exactly four days after the warranty ran out.

I find it amazing how most things which you buy, for home or for office, seem timed to break down just immediately after the warranty runs out, and you’ve got to fork out your hard-earned cash to get it fixed anyways.

Now let’s look at this thing a little further: none of the equipment or appliances which we use in St. Lucia is manufactured here. And all of the warranties attached to the various products are manufacturer’s warranties. In other words, “if found defective, return with warranty card to the manufacturer”. So suppose, just suppose that the incredible happens, and your toaster or lawnmower or computer decides to give up the ghost on the nineteenth of July .

“Whew,” you say, “still within the warranty period. I’ll send up to the manufacturer in Albany, or Saratoga, New York or wherever the darned thing was made, and get it fixed for free.”