Why Doesn't US Make 2 Year Warranty on Products Mandatory Like EU? - csurya
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mathewsanders
New Zealand has the consumer guarantees act that requires companies to provide
repairs or replacements for goods for a reasonable duration.

[https://www.govt.nz/browse/consumer-rights-and-
complaints/co...](https://www.govt.nz/browse/consumer-rights-and-
complaints/consumer-rights-and-complaints/your-rights-even-if-you-dont-have-a-
warranty/)

I used this with my first MacBook when the trackpad stopped working outside
the default period.

Rather than being based on a fixed period of time it’s based on the expected
quality of the product- because Apple computers are a lot more expensive than
competitors it’s assumed that Apple are selling a higher quality/more durable
product that should last for a reasonable period of time.

Unfortunately Apple doesn’t have any NZ offices so I had to deal with
Australian office that took several letters to convince them they needed to
make the repair under New Zealand law.

In the end we negotiated and I got free replacement parts and service under a
$100 service fee.

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martin_bech
The products and prices are basically the same, so why you guys dont insist on
a 2 year warranty, is puzzling to me.

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foobarbazetc
People care more about how much money companies make than their own well being
as customers.

It’s weird.

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ng-user
Vastly different set of principles clearly.

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brianwawok
Why doesn't the EU pay developers 6 figures?

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lewisj489
> Why doesn't the EU pay developers 6 figures?

.. They do?

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nicolasd
Maybe in Switzerland - but not in Germany / Austria. If there are so many
companies that do this, please tell me :)

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tinus_hn
It’s crazy expensive to live in Switzerland, so you better have a big salary.

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s3nnyy
The costs don't hurt, because everyone's pay is good. (Example: Cleaning
personnel and waiters make more after taxes than engineers in Germany...) and
taxes are so much better than anywhere really. And you meet smart people
mostly.

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SamReidHughes
U.S. citizen here. The products I buy are working great, and I get cheap
stuff. No need for mandatory warranties.

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tinus_hn
If the products are so great it wouldn’t cost anything to offer 2 years of
warranty since they’d never break anyway. But they do.

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SamReidHughes
Yes it would cost a bunch, because many users suck at taking care of their
cheap stuff, they don't have any sense of stress their mishandling puts on
things, or because they're plain scammers. It's a risk companies and sellers
don't need, especially small ones, and the benefit is that they can make stuff
cheaper, sell stuff cheaper, and people can buy stuff cheaper. One of the many
reasons median Americans enjoy a higher material standard of living than
people in Europe.

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csurya
Can you state 5 examples of products which you think are working great for
more than a year and are cheap which you would buy without any warranty?

i am sure we all would be so happy to buy them.

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SamReidHughes
I generally don't look at the warranties of products, so, literally everything
I've ever bought except for my car.

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futhey
Consumer protection and regulation have declined in popularity in the US.

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jklein11
Do you know the name of the EU provision that makes 2 year warranties on
products mandatory?

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tho99
It's name is Directive 99/44/EG. Here is the link to the english HTML version
[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:319...](http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:31999L0044)

Unfortunately it is not that simple with with the two years. The directive
states that a good needs to confirm with the contract at the time of sale. So
the seller is only liable for a lack of conformity with the contract which was
present at the time the goods were delivered. And that's the point were one
needs to pay attention.

For the first six month any fault of the product - if it is required by the
contract explicitly or implicitly - the seller needs to prove that the fault
didn't exist at the time of delivery. After the six month period the consumer
needs to prove this fact. So there are 2 years theoretically but in practice
it is not that easy.

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M2Ys4U
That should be Directive 99/44/EC, with a C on the end, also known as the
"Consumer Rights Directive"

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basedfahayek
Freedom in principle is important in the US. Why can’t I sell a shoddy
product? Why can’t I buy a shoddy product?

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csurya
looks like there is a dark side to the word freedom.

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basedfahayek
How do you mean?

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csurya
freedom to do bad things.

