[arrow]

Even the amazing Alan and his sources are not infallible. Remember, the first communication from Alan was that the whole deal was bogus to begin with. I seriously doubt that NEC will fail to honor their warranties. Note, that this is the first line of defense for all dealers. They always say the warranty will be invalid. However, I've yet to come across a case where one has not been.


A two week delivery delay is disappointing, but at this price, is a reasonable trade-off in my opinion. Certainly more acceptable than not shipping at all which is what some of us, including me, half expected to happen.


My recommendation is to ride the storm. This is a great price on a heck of a little HT performer. However, if you can't stomach the ride on the false information train, or feel like a moral obligation has been violated by Dell, then save yourself the pain and call and cancel now.


--Les


[This message has been edited by arrow (edited 07-24-2001).]

 

[RobertWood]

Well those lawyers can talk to each other till they're blue in the face. Won't do em any good though.
Cause we've got Imo on our side

http://members.home.net/bobwood21/IM0.JPG


Bob


------------------

~ The Sultan of Cheap ~


[This message has been edited by RobertWood (edited 07-24-2001).]

 

[KBK]

Imo what?


Imo' guy wit' a red cape?


------------------

goosystems.com


Ken Hotte

[email protected]

 

[jsaliga]

Here is the real deal on the LT150 warranty situation:


When confronted by the resellers NEC thought that it was best to consult with the psychic chicken network. A tarot reading indicated that the true state of the warranty would be decided by evaluating the naval lint of the guy who takes out the trash at NEC headquarters every third Thursday...but only during a new moon or when septic tanks need pumping. Scholar and noted naval-lintolgist Eeeza Krazie revealed that service would be expertly handled by someone only known as "Joe", who lives in relative anonymity but is secretly known to select anglers as the guy who invented the "banjo" minnow.


--Jerome

 

[rickforrest]

Agreed, don't panic.


But if you just can't help yourself, I'll take your unopened lt150 off your hands for $1600. Hey, it's cheaper than Dell's restocking fee (which is either 15% or 0%, depending on whom you believe)!

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

[lmo]

I'm immensely flattered - I don't think I've ever been iconified as a super hero before.


Dell represented that these items were warrantied for 3 years by NEC. If they're not, then Dell has (potentially) breached the terms of its sales agreement. I'd have to wade through TOS and all else, but I also don't see where Dell disclaimed any implied warranties, leaving them open to liablity for defects under the two most common state law implied warranties: fitness for a particular purpose and merchantability. I'd also have to question whether failure to inform the marketplace that these units came without warranty was unintentional.


I really hate getting into any of this at this juncture - I'm hoping to enjoy some good movie on my bargain LT150. But I'm beginning to smell a rat.


[This message has been edited by lmo (edited 07-24-2001).]

 

[arrow]

Imo,


Has the authorized dealer/warranty policy ever been tested in court?


I've always held out that this is just a method of price fixing by the manufacturer to "protect the dealer" from someone who would sell the projector for less than the approved minimum amount. This sure doesn't feel legal.


--Les


[This message has been edited by arrow (edited 07-24-2001).]

 

[apg]

In my salad years, I worked as a tech for a consumer electronics chain, who shall go nameless. We routinely were stiffed on warranty claims by all the major manufacturers; usually 10% were disallowed. The major reason was that the unit sold to a customer by another dealer was not new at all- it had already been sold and registered under another name.

(The major villian in this shall go nameless, although the phrase "Top of the hill, Daly City" should ring a few bells...)

What did we do? We ate the claims. We also created a lot of good will and future customers. Our service department was actually profitable, something unknown at that time. We did it by volume, and by parts sales. (Did you know that you could buy fuses by the _Case_, at a few cents apiece, and sell them for ~35 cents each- it adds up...)

Back then, warranty service on any electronic device was common, Tuners went out of alignment, output transistors blew often, tape mechanisms jammed easily, and ICs were notoriously sensitive to charge. Extended warranties were actually quite a good deal. Then.

Nowadays, warranty service is rare. Of _all_ the electronics that I've bought in the last ten years, I've only needed one warranty repair. It was handled courteously and expeditiously. (Thanks, Epson!)

If the LT150 has a history of being a turkey, by all means stay away. But from everything that I've heard, it is a well built little unit, and it is unlikely that any forum member will ever need warranty service, regardless of where it is bought.

I would go for the LT150 deal myself, but I have enough toys to keep me busy now, as it is...

apg

 

[lmo]

I don't know about that issue specifically, but speaking in generalities, there are two types of warranties - those which are express and those which are implied. An express warranty is essentially a creature of contract law, and they can generally contain any limitation the warrantor would like to include, such as making the warranty only valid for original purchasers (e.g. non-transferrable) or for units sold by authorized original vendors (which amounts to the same thing). This would typically be a valid limitation. Express warranties might also be made by the vendor, either in writing or verbally.


The other type of warranty is an implied warranty, which arises as an operation of law -- such as an implied warranty that a device will perform consistent with the intended manner. Usually, these warranties can be disclaimed if done so clearly and explicitly by the vendor (these are usually contained in the user manual or warranty card, and often times come along with a "limited" express warranty).


So the answer to your question is that in most situtations a manufacturer's limitation on an express warranty is valid, but there still may be issues as to implied warranties.


In this case, Dell evidently indicated that the product it was selling came with the 3 year manufacturer's warranty from NEC. If it doesn't, your recourse should be against Dell in contract for tendering a product that does not conform to its advertised specifications (that is, an NEC LT-150 with full warranty). There might also be implied warranty theories if something is, in fact, defective with the unit. Hope this helps.

 

[Ronald]

I could not agree more with Arrow. NEC will have real difficulties in trying to negate the warranty on these items because there was no disclosure of such to the retail consumer. In this instance all buyers would be "innocent" third-party purchasers.

 

[Jonmx]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ronald: NEC will have real difficulties in trying to negate the warranty on these items because there was no disclosure of such to the retail consumer. In this instance all buyers would be "innocent" third-party purchasers.

It would be interesting if NEC sold these projectors to this company without warrentees. Now Dell buys them up and sells them to the "innocent" consumer. Someone has to honor the warranty, but who? I am sure the NEC lawyers are talking to the Dell lawyers over this....