Big three warranty changes
- Thread starter swimcmp
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I have a couple problems with this... I've bought a LOT of stuff over the years that has manufacturers warranties or really warranties in general and I can think of exactly ONCE I've used a manufacturer's warranty... on a 1000 dollar Sony flat screen. The hdmi board died in the first month. they sent a tech and it was replaced. If you buy it on a credit card sometimes they extend the warranty but If they hadn't... I probably would have just gone and bought another one or lived with it. Basically I'm saying a manufacturers warranty is darn near worthless.
Second issue, a local pool company gave me a quote on a salt system for $1800. I can buy the same salt system for less than 1000 online. The pool company said "well yeah, you can buy it online but then you won't have a warranty and they fail all the time".... Well a) why are you selling junk that fails all the time? and b) So lets say it fails immediately and the manufacturer won't cover it after I throw a fit... ok so I saved 800 dollars initially and I go buy the whole thing again, now I'm down 200 bucks, seems like a pretty reasonable gamble that they won't have a 100% failure rate.
As for being pro-trade, I'm pretty pro-trade. I want guys to earn a fair wage. I'm not above paying a guy 50-100 dollars an hour to install something like a salt system, but you're telling me it takes 8-16 hours?? Besides which, are these pool companies paying their workers 50-100 bucks an hour? I'm betting not.
Final question as others have mentioned in many states don't have licenses for professional installers, what do you suppose the companies are accepting as a professional installer? If a warranty was something I put any faith in and I didn't want to pay a professional installer, I might investigate the criteria to be called a professional.....
They can spin it however they want, they are just trying to set a price floor and/or get out from standing behind their products.
Second issue, a local pool company gave me a quote on a salt system for $1800. I can buy the same salt system for less than 1000 online. The pool company said "well yeah, you can buy it online but then you won't have a warranty and they fail all the time".... Well a) why are you selling junk that fails all the time? and b) So lets say it fails immediately and the manufacturer won't cover it after I throw a fit... ok so I saved 800 dollars initially and I go buy the whole thing again, now I'm down 200 bucks, seems like a pretty reasonable gamble that they won't have a 100% failure rate.
As for being pro-trade, I'm pretty pro-trade. I want guys to earn a fair wage. I'm not above paying a guy 50-100 dollars an hour to install something like a salt system, but you're telling me it takes 8-16 hours?? Besides which, are these pool companies paying their workers 50-100 bucks an hour? I'm betting not.
Final question as others have mentioned in many states don't have licenses for professional installers, what do you suppose the companies are accepting as a professional installer? If a warranty was something I put any faith in and I didn't want to pay a professional installer, I might investigate the criteria to be called a professional.....
They can spin it however they want, they are just trying to set a price floor and/or get out from standing behind their products.
Received a call today form a person with a 6 month old Sta rite and says from what he sees, three blinks of the LED on the control module, he believes the ignitor is blown. He smells gas when the valve opens during the lighting sequence. Says he called Pentair and they told him he has to show proof of the unit being installed by a licensed professional. He says unit was installed by a person that works for a pool company but it was a side job. I suggested he call Pentair back and complain to get it looked at under warranty.
Sounds to me like Pentair is serious about this new change.
Sounds to me like Pentair is serious about this new change.
This is simply put insanity!
I just finished a new pool build using all Pentair eq., I don't have a single piece of paper proving it was installed by a licensed PB. My original agreement stated Jandy, we changed midstream, now what? Ive to prove to Pentair this is what happened if something were to go wrong?
This nothing more than move to limit liability, no more, no less. If the change just took place, how can they tell a customer to oblige by the new rules?
This practice, if true, will very quickly come to an end as soon as the first class action is filed for breach (assuming they continue w/ the 'show me the proof' for purchases that have occurred prior to policy change)
I just finished a new pool build using all Pentair eq., I don't have a single piece of paper proving it was installed by a licensed PB. My original agreement stated Jandy, we changed midstream, now what? Ive to prove to Pentair this is what happened if something were to go wrong?
This nothing more than move to limit liability, no more, no less. If the change just took place, how can they tell a customer to oblige by the new rules?
This practice, if true, will very quickly come to an end as soon as the first class action is filed for breach (assuming they continue w/ the 'show me the proof' for purchases that have occurred prior to policy change)
My problem with so many "service professional" is the double and triple dipping they do in the name of profit, first they charge a labor rate that typically 10-20 times the national minimum wage while paying the actual technician a small fraction of the rate, then the require the service parts be bought through their company, and the parts are often marked up far more than 100%, often these parts are not on the shelf, and must be custom ordered in or picked up from parts houses where they get preferential pricing, then charge for mileage, etc. on top of all that.
Let me relay a recent $300 air conditioner repair deal I had, the problem was the fan on my outside air conditioner unit had failed (blades sheered off laying in the bottom of the unit), I call the company I usually use for air conditioner problems, tell them what the problem is, so they send a technician by to diagnose the problem, he of course did not bring a new fan even though they had the model of the unit on file, so I get charged a service charge for him to show up, I get to pay mileage for him to drive 20 miles to their parts supplier and back with a new fan blade and then I get invoiced $75 for service call, $25 mileage fee to get to my house, $100 for a fan blade (which probably costs them $30) and $100 for labor, counting the time he was on the road going to the parts supplier to get the fan blade that took all of 10 minutes for him to change out.
Ike
Let me relay a recent $300 air conditioner repair deal I had, the problem was the fan on my outside air conditioner unit had failed (blades sheered off laying in the bottom of the unit), I call the company I usually use for air conditioner problems, tell them what the problem is, so they send a technician by to diagnose the problem, he of course did not bring a new fan even though they had the model of the unit on file, so I get charged a service charge for him to show up, I get to pay mileage for him to drive 20 miles to their parts supplier and back with a new fan blade and then I get invoiced $75 for service call, $25 mileage fee to get to my house, $100 for a fan blade (which probably costs them $30) and $100 for labor, counting the time he was on the road going to the parts supplier to get the fan blade that took all of 10 minutes for him to change out.
Ike
I completely agree and am closing the thread. Fretting over the "other guy" making too much money serves no purpose and doesn't advance the discussion.
We normally don't allow a subject to be reopened when closed but this topic (of warranties) has had a lot interest so if someone wants to start a fresh thread that can stay on topic of warranty changes within the pool industry, that'll be fine.
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