Some snippets from an article that I don't think has been posted elsewhere on TE. Have a read -
Flipkart says vendors can't deny warranties
Hitting back at certain consumer electronics manufacturers that have been dissuading buyers from purchasing products on e-commerce platforms, Flipkart – India's largest e-marketplace operator – said it allows sale of only original products covered by replacement policies and manufacturers’ warranty. “The original products with an official invoice with all taxes paid cannot be denied warranties,” Flipkart spokesperson said responding to dna queries.
On the pretext of calling the e-marketplaces like Flipkart, Amazon India, Snapdeal, eBay India as 'not authorised resellers' of their products, consumer electronics manufacturers like Sony, LG, HP, Nikon, Lenovo, Dell, etc. have on their respective websites said they cannot vouch for the genuineness of products sold on these e-marketplaces and hence the consumer's right to warranty coverage and support on those products could be impacted.
What these consumer electronics manufacturers are indirectly trying to say is that they won't take responsibility, if something goes wrong with the product being bought from the e-marketplaces that are offering them at significant discounts. In fact, the companies are also seem to be alleging that products sold on the e-marketplaces are 'fake'.
For instance, in an advisory dated October 6, 2014, LG India informed customers that it 'has not authorised any e-commerce company / web portal to sell LG product(s) – television and audio products, home appliances, air-conditioners and mobiles in India for and/or on behalf of the company. The company does not take responsibility for the genuineness of an LG product(s) sold through any of the e-commerce companies/web portals in India, and thus, the company retains the right of not extending additional services/warranties to such LG product(s). LG product(s) can also be booked online directly at the company’s website (www.lgbrandstore.com/in) which is the authorized website for online purchase of all LG product(s) in India.'
LG India officials did not respond to dna queries and clarifications sought on the aforesaid advisory which was spotted by Nithin Jawali at a physical electronics store, a picture was posted by him on twitter -- https://twitter.com/Nithin/status/521993062566739970.
Commenting on the warranty / guarantee issue, Amazon's director of category management, Samir Kumar, said, the e-marketplace takes pride in claiming that it sells genuine products. “We ensure vendors on our marketplace are selling genuine products and if any vendor isn't, we will take them out of our network. Brands and manufacturers are obligated to honour the warranty if products sold are genuine.
"We also take a very customer backward approach in case anything happens to products bought from our e-marketplace and back it up with what we call the 'a to z guarantee', wherein we take care of any issue that a customer might face from a brand or a vendor,” he said.
eBay India on its part said that sellers who put up the listings of their products are governed by what they state as description and specification for their items, which at times may include manufacturer’s warranty as well. “We have rarely come across instances where manufacturers have refused to honour warranty services. In case a buyer claims manufacturer warranty for a product purchased from a seller on eBay India, the buyer is expected to coordinate with authorised service center of the manufacturer of the product to avail the warranty.
"If such an instance does occur, then as a responsible ecommerce player, we coordinate with the seller and the buyer to arrive at a resolution,” said Girish Huria, official spokesperson, eBay India. He added that manufacturers denying honouring warranty on the ground that a consumer has not purchased their product from the authorised outlet of the manufacturer (even if such purchase falls within the warranty period) ultimately affects the interest of consumers.
Retail industry experts are of the opinion that, it's a matter of public interest litigation (PIL) and customers / consumer groups can take the consumer electronics manufacturers to court for not extending warranty / guarantee on products sold on e-marketplaces. Experts too say firms are obliged to give warranty/guarantee on products irrespective of where they are sold.
“It does not matter what price I have paid or for that matter where have I bought the product from i.e. offline, online or e-marketplaces. The companies are obliged to give warranty / guarantee on all the products manufactured by them. The only exception can be if the customer has bought a fake product,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman and managing director, Technopak (a specialist retail industry consultancy and advisory).
Queries seeking responses on the warranty / guarantee issue from consumer electronics companies like Sony India, LG, Videocon, VU Technologies, ASUS, remained unanswered at the time of going to print. However, among few consumer electronics companies supporting the e-marketplaces are Samsung India, Panasonic India and HTC.
Commenting on the issue, Manish Sharma, managing director, Panasonic India, said, “As a philosophy, for us the customer comes first and e-tailers provide us with one more channel to cater to customer needs and focus on customer satisfaction, which is of utmost importance to us.”
Chia-Lin Chang, president of global sales and chief financial officer, HTC, on Friday (October 17, 2014) announced exclusive partnerships with e-marketplaces like Amazon.in (for HTC Desire 820 and 820q) and Snapdeal.com (for HTC Desire 516c dual sim and little camera RE). Responding to market concerns on the warranty / guarantee issue, Chang assured, “HTC will honour all responsibilities.”
Rajiv Mishra, vice president (media) and spokesperson, Samsung India said that the company management has kept its ears close to the ground and has been regularly monitoring the developments in both the online and offline retail space. “A key stakeholder in our growth strategy, the interest of our business partners is of prime importance to us. We have been able to successfully manage expectations across channel partners by ensuring that their interests are well taken care of and will continue with the same strategy in the future,” he said.
Full article here for anyone interested -
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-flipkart-says-vendors-can-t-deny-warranties-2028188
Reason I posted this is I'm actually going to test this out myself. I'm ordering an LG Washing machine from FK tomorrow. WS Retail is the seller & they are stating a delivery time of 2 days for the product (which I shall be monitoring as well).
FK clearly states on the product page that the machine carries a "2 Years Comprehensive Warranty from LG" whereby -
"All Parts excluding Outer Cabinet and Plastic Parts from the Date of Purchase will be Covered under Warranty. This also covers all Manufacturing Defects."
They even go so far as to state -
"Standard installation and demo is provided free of cost. Kindly call the toll-free customer care number for LG at 1800 180 9999 to schedule a demo of your Washing Machine. You shall provide details of the purchased model during the call. Post the call, you will receive a ticket number from LG.
The brand authorized service engineer will schedule a mutually convenient time to provide installation and demo at your doorstep. Usually this is done within 48 hours of logging a ticket with LG customer care."
So in essence, LG will "authorize" and depute an LG Service Engineer who will visit for both the demo as well as the Installation of the machine.
IMO, this will actually be a very important -FIRST TEST- in a sense as I fully intend to tell the person I speak to on the LG toll-free customer care number that the machine in question, has been purchased from WS Retail off FK.
If LG feels that WS Retail is NOT "an authorized seller" and therefore that the machine may not be "Genuine", then they should REFUSE the demo/install process itself while clearly stating their reason for doing so.
If this were to happen, I would be well within my rights to ask FK for a full refund should I choose to do so.
If however LG doesn't object and instead send their deputed "Engineer" to Demo and Install the machine then IMO, they are tacitly accepting the fact that WS Retail is "authorized" to sell the product, that the product is GENUINE and that therefore the Warranty would apply as normal.
Of course, this fact may need to be tested in a Court of Law but I'm fairly confident that the outcome would be in the Consumers favor on the issue.
And if BY CHANCE something happens to go wrong with the product within the 2 year Warranty period and the part in question is covered by the Warranty and LG refuses to honor the Warranty I plan on taking both FK and LG to the Consumer Court.
FK for "false advertising" and "misleading claims" and LG for refusing to honor Warranties on a "genuine" product bought for with a proper tax paid bill.
Either way, ONE of them will be proved wrong and online consumers might finally discover what the legal position on the issue really is.
I will of course, post on TE -IF- this happens as I'm sure a lot of TE users would be interested to see how that goes.
Maybe the machine will run flawlessly during the Warranty period and I wont need to test the legal stand on the issue. Who knows?
I'm going to let fate decide.
I honestly believe that until someone actually does this (or maybe some enterprising consumer/lawyer files a PIL on the issue), there won't be any sort of clarity and we, ie., online consumers will always be left feeling unsure on where we stand with Warranties of certain brands of (Genuine) OEM products sold by various sellers (WS Retail specifically in this case) on E-Commerce sites...
