21 Mar
2013
21 Mar
'13
2:59 p.m.
"Lifetime" guarantees are the worst abuse.
[...example of abuse...]
When I contacted TT to ask for a replacement, they went through a
ritual of "you must have used it incorrectly" and eventually
concluded the issue by saying "Lifetime" is what we say it is and
your guarantee period is up.
Sounds to me like grounds for a small-claims suit, but of course I
don't know how likely that would be to fly even where I am, never mind
where you are.
On the other hand, a 30-year old Le Creuset dutch oven
shed a chip of
the porcelain on the bottom. LC sent me a UPS return box and a new
pot to replace it. All it cost was a phone call. What they received
was several subsequent purchases of their goods from a surprised and
loyal customer.
Quite so.
Back when I was a kid, there was a brand of tool - I think it was the
Sears house brand, but that memory is very fuzzy - that had lifetime
guarantees that meant something. My father once found one of their
wrenches in a ditch, corroded to the point where it was barely
recognizable. He took it in and they replaced it, no questions, no
fuss at all.
I wish some companies would learn that lesson.
There are some that do. They are depressingly few-&-far-between.
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