hey everybody how's it going I hope
we're having a lovely day today I'd like
to talk about another way that large
companies screw you when it comes to
products you purchase there is something
called the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act
and what this says is that a company
cannot condition the warranty of a
product on using their parts or their
services this is a law that is over 40
years old that has been ignored for a
very long time which is why the FTC
issued a warning back in April of 2018
that I went over in this video five
years ago where they warn companies that
it is illegal to condition warranty
coverage in the use of specified parts
or Services the absolute tldr of the
Magnuson Moss Warranty Act which I'm not
going to read the whole thing over here
is if you are a company and you wish to
void somebody's warranty the burden of
proof is on you to demonstrate that we
did something that avoided the warranty
so for example if I have a Macbook and I
replace the hard drive with a
solid-state drive and then two years
later the graphics chip on the
motherboard dies Apple cannot say you
are no longer eligible for this warranty
service program because you replaced
your hard drive if instead of using a
Phillips screwdriver I use the chainsaw
while replacing the hard drive Apple can
say we are avoiding your warranty
because it appears when you replaced
your hard drive you used a chainsaw
instead of a screwdriver you did this
we're not covering it that is completely
allowed but what is not allowed is
having a basic warranty void to remove
sticker and completely voiding your
warranty based on somebody simply
opening the product that's just not
something that has ever been legal
unfortunately as I said in the United
States of America many companies don't
actually have to obey the law because
there's no penalty for doing so
technically on the books you can find
people 39 or 40 000 somewhere around
there for these violations but that's
never how this happens FTC claimed to
take action against Weaver grills for
illegally restricting consumers right to
repair with warranty and the settlement
that they came to if you look through
this they were ordered to fix their
warranty by removing the illegal terms
but when you search for the word fine or
penalty you'll notice that the
violations may result in a civil penalty
of up to forty six thousand five hundred
Seventeen dollars
but they don't actually pay it something
similar happened with Harley Davidson
where the FTC took action against
Harley-Davidson for illegally
restricting consumers right to repair
and again the same thing with warranties
but when you search for the word fine or
penalty you get
nothing again if I don't break the law I
get fined anyway if a large company
breaks the law and it's demonstrably
true they're not even going to get fined
one percent of that penalty and do take
notice that that is a penalty of each
violation so I mean every single time
they did this to a customer they could
be getting fined forty six thousand
dollars this could add up very very
quickly but rather than find these
companies that do these things that are
very illegal for their instances of
doing something illegal
they get this
now let's read an instance of this
happening this is from a website whose
name shall not be named HP denying
warranty replacement and violation of
right to repair this has been copied
into my own ticket system because we are
not going to use the website whose name
shall not be named that's what a real
protest looks like hello your name was
mentioned enough thread and the
commenters thought you'd have a fun time
I'm dealing with HP right now on a
switch that has a lifetime warranty on
it a few weeks ago while moving the
switch from one building to another I
took the opportunity to put it on my
bench open the case which did not have a
tamper-proof label block the fans from
spinning and blew out the dust with
compressed air while I had the case off
I did a visual inspection of the
components and observed two capacitors
swollen and leaking I reassembled the
switch and put it back into service
since I couldn't afford the downtime
taking a proactive approach to get this
replaced before I had a network outage I
opened a support case with HP Enterprise
this week I explained the issue and
waited for a response I've included our
conversation below thoughts as a trained
system administrator blowing out a
device such as this is Child's Play I
know the tamper-proof labels are illegal
and I know I'm in a gray area with
regards to the business personal aspect
of the Magnus and loss Warranty Act
however since this device also supplied
internet to private individuals outside
the business hours I feel as if the ACT
shows it should rule in my favor below
is our conversation so far him when
cleaning the device I found capacitors
in the power supply in main border
swollen starting to leak HP may I know
how the issue started kindly share the
picture of the swollen and leaking
capacitors may I know if you are still
able to access the switch was there an
incident happened to the switch prior it
got swollen
was there an incident happened to the
switch prior it gets swollen so you can
see where HP Enterprise is sourcing
their tech support from I'm going to
take a wild guess it is not the United
States of America not sure when the
capacitor started leaking the switch is
still in service but is starting to do
odd behaviors switch Port speeds
charging speeds for no reason and I
don't have down time scheduled to pull
it out to get the pictures I'll see if I
can pull the cover while it's in use I'm
still able to access the switch no known
incident prior to the capacitor swelling
and leaking do you have a spare unit you
can use for now the picture is needed to
distinguish if this can be passed on to
the RMA team I've uploaded photos to the
portal if those don't work let me know
which angle needs to be changed please
give me ample time to check with my
supervisor I will give you an update
shortly warranty terms and conditions
provide repair or replacement at the
discretion of HP Enterprise for defects
in the manufacturer's material or
workmanship the warranty does not
protect against accidental damage loss
acts of nature or any other event that
did not originate during the manufacture
of the product for this matter the
switch found open and it voids the
warranty of the switch let me repeat
over here this is language that again
according to the FTC according to what
they said just five years ago in
reiterating the 1970s Magnuson Moss
Warranty Act is illegal and if we lived
in a country where large companies were
held to account when they brazenly
disobey the law
lie they would stop doing this but they
don't not only have they not changed
their policy but they are actually
public about it they are so certain that
nothing will happen that they are
willing to train their agents to have
this in their script five years later
because they know the FTC is not going
to do anything they are going to get a
zero dollar fine a zero dollar penalty
and it may take them five years to even
catch up with it at all one there was
not a label on the switch mentioning
prohibiting of opening the switch two
one of the warranty terms states that
the warranty may be denied as a result
of accident misuse spills abuse
contamination and proper adequate
maintenance or calibration or other
external causes is in cleaning and
inspecting of equipment a regular
maintenance task to prevent issues yes
cleaning out a device that is filled
with dust is regular maintenance so they
void your warranty if you do not do
regular maintenance but if you do open
up the product to actually do the basic
maintenance you also have your warranty
voided by HP Enterprise three the line
of modification or service by anyone
other than age P or an HP authorized
provider in the warranty terms wouldn't
apply since there was no modification or
service beyond what some consider basic
maintenance tests done to comply with
the earlier line referenced in the
warranty terms and conditions we are
currently researching the applicability
of the Magnus and Moss Warranty Act in
this situation in HP please find
attached warranty FAQs for your
reference okay I'm reading through this
FAQ which line are you using to deny our
coverage at this point I contacted
escalations him please consist with the
matter exactly how were the terms
breached I need proof that I am the
cause of the balloon capacitors denying
my claim due to me simply opening a
non-sealed case is a violation of the
Magnuson Moss Warranty Act also the US
FTC has ruled the denying a claim to
Simply opening a device is not allowed
as well hi Justin thank you for reaching
Aruba escalations we are checking this
case internally I'll check back to you
with the POC shortly and appreciate this
uh adding the case owner
new assist you further HP rep hi Justin
I understand that you would feel this
way by the way anytime a company says
this you are about to get massively gas
lit not I'm sorry that we are breaking
the law brazenly and ignoring you not
I'm sorry that we're not honoring our
warranty and screwing you I'm sorry that
you feel that way
this is a giant red flag anytime
somebody says I'm sorry that you feel
that way what they're actually saying is
[ __ ] you whether this is a personal
relationship a business relationship or
you dealing with a company that you
purchase something from I'm sorry you
feel that way
equals
[ __ ] you and that's exactly what it is
they're saying to the customer in this
case I understand that you would feel
this way however as much as I want to
help you opening the cover of the switch
voids the warranty of your switch we
really do apologize for the
inconvenience and thank you for your
patience once again I ask which warrant
determine which question the FAQ
especially was violated please refer to
q14 16 and 17 of the attached file and
him being a boss actually attached the
file 14. is my warranty coverage
affected if I modify or service the
product as describing the warranty
statement hpe's warranty does not apply
to products that have been damaged or
rendered defective due to modification
or service by anyone other than hpe and
hpe authorized service provider or your
own installation of an hpe approved part
okay so again this is from HP themself
this is something you can find on their
website they literally have a document
that directly disobeys the ftc's own
warning because they do not fear this at
all because they know there is no fine
there is no penalty manufacturers know
and innately understand that I am more
likely to punish black bear for
scratching my chair then the FTC is to
find them for breaking the law
technically the way that this works
they could get a penalty of forty six
thousand dollars for this one dude
getting denied their warranty
but that's not going to happen and I
think we all know why question 16 over
here
does my warranty cover apply to damage
caused by power surges powered outages
or similar events and again there is
literally there is no power outage here
they have not proved some sort of power
surge and does my warranty coverage
apply to damage Accords directly or
indirectly by a fire and again the
photos that he's applied did not have
evidence of a of a fire
this is a joke then the customer says
U.S federal law dictates that opening a
case does not violate a warranty and
once again I point out there was no
label indicating that I did nothing
other than basic maintenance maintenance
that is routine in common from any
electronic devices no power surge and no
fire at this point I need a supervisor
to contact me the burden of proof is on
you to prove that my actions cause your
capacitors to fail
this is informative and unfortunate on
this channel we've gone over a lot of
stuff with Hewlett Packard where they
have treated customers like garbage with
regards to their printers you have
printers that have ink DRM you can only
use their ink in your printer you have
subscription models for ink there's a
lot of stuff that HP does in the
consumer space that is less than ideal
but in the Enterprise space HP has
actually been known to provide excellent
customer service and to provide products
that lasted in standard the test of time
so the fact that HP is doing this even
with their Enterprise Products is as I
said informative and unfortunate now you
may ask the question why is the FTC not
taking serious action against this why
are they not actually doing this buy and
released an executive order on right to
repair and ask the FTC to Draft rules
about it so why is it that the FTC is
not actually doing anything here and
kind of giving these companies a slap on
the wrist that's an excellent question
there's a video that I did a year ago
where I went over the FTC management
being demoralized out of effective
Anti-Trust enforcement and I was is
going over an article that was sent
linked to me by somebody who I don't
want to expose here who is trying to
whistleblow the fact that nothing was
going to happen at the FTC as a result
of the leadership the leadership is such
that they are kind of demoralizing
people there out of actually doing their
job again this is an interesting article
over here trouble in Khan's Corner Jen
Howard often wears a silver necklace and
blazing with one word in a delicate
curse of script [ __ ] the irreverent
jewelry is emblematic of the at times
combative attitude she's brought to the
role of chief of staff at the FTC it's
an attitude that helped her rise through
the ranks including stints at a variety
of government agencies but it's one
that's also alienated her from others
within the administration
um
one person with direct knowledge of the
dynamic told West Wing Playbook that
some officials within the White House
were concerned about friction between
Howard and others at the FTC over
aggressive managerial Style
now again one of the things with
leadership is that it is very easy to
demoralize people out of doing their job
or caring about their job it's one thing
to sign an executive order saying we
support right to repair it's another
when the people that you appoint to lead
your agency are not actually doing the
job of leading that agency and dealing
with the day-to-day again this is
incredibly important as long as the fine
to a large company could be anywhere
from zero to forty six thousand dollars
and you choose to find them zero instead
of forty six thousand dollars for those
individual instances where they have
done something that is illegal not only
will they continue to do the illegal
thing but they will also advertise in
plain text on their website that they
are doing the illegal thing this over
here is HP Enterprise sending a giant
middle finger to the FTC saying we are
not going to listen to any of this like
come at me bro that's pretty much what
this is five years after the FTC said
this most manufacturers whether we are
talking about home appliances washing
machines dryers computers phones or
Enterprise switches are essentially
laughing at the FTC because they know
they're not going to do anything and at
this point I've kind of accepted that
that's the case that they are not
actually going to do anything as I
mentioned in that video I was
interfacing with the FTC before they
came out with their 59-page document
mixing The Fix In Summer of 2021 because
I figured that we were close to the
point where Biden may ask the FTC to
draft these rules I actually hired an
Anti-Trust attorney to interface back
and forth and to come up with a 60 page
white paper that goes over all the times
that the FTC has dealt with this type of
antitrust stuff before and what they can
do into the future and why it is a
problem right now in the words of my own
antitrust attorney and over 30 years of
dealing with FTC cases I have never had
this low level of Engagement with the
FTC
I and I know there's going to be people
in my comments saying you have to give
them more time you haven't given them
enough time dude I've been fighting this
crap for eight years and that executive
order got signed over two years ago so
at this point I really don't think that
it is unreasonable for me to suggest
that they actually have some teeth and
dare I say it if they catch a company
brazenly disobeying the law to find them
for it again I'm not saying apply this
penalty of forty six thousand dollars
times every customer you sold a product
to
how about you apply it once like one
just just to be symbolic like you apply
it once just to show that there are
teeth actually there
because if you don't do it what's the
point if the penalty for being caught
speeding was zero dollars do you think
we'd see as many people going close to
the speed limit on the highway like if
the penalty for stealing from Walmart
was zero dollars do you think we'd see
more people stealing from Walmart normal
people have to obey the law we have to
obey the law we cannot get away with the
stuff so why is it the large companies
are able to get away with this and why
is it that there are no consequences for
it if you have a warranty void if remove
sticker on your product that sticker is
breaking the law and it is illegal and
even if that sticker doesn't exist if
the company deals with you in the manner
that HP Enterprise dealt with this
particular customer you should report
them to the FTC because what they did is
technically illegal even if it is not
functionally illegal because again is
something really illegal if you don't
get punished for it it is technically
illegal and above all this is about
basic maintenance of an Enterprise
product the warranty tax says improper
maintenance voice year warranty but
simultaneously this dude using
compressed air after opening the case
was also voiding his warranty and lastly
I think it's really important to shed
light on the fact that whether we're
talking about consumer products or
Enterprise Products HP has devolved into
being a completely Garbage Company
having DRM in the ink having products
that break very easily and having
products at the Enterprise level where
their warranty is worse than what other
companies offer at the consumer level
really hammers home the fact to me that
I never want to own something with an HP
logo on it as long as I live let me know
what you think in the comments down
below do you think that I'm going
overboard or do you think that it is
reasonable to ask that companies be
fined in for instances where they break
the law do you think that we are being
unreasonable for suggesting that the
warranty should be maintained if you
open the top cover of the product to
blow the dust out or should that be
something that is covered under warranty
should HP Enterprise be forced to prove
that this man using essentially
compressed air is what caused the switch
to have these random issues along with
bulging capacitors I'd love to hear your
thoughts in the comments down below
that's it for today and as always I hope
you learned something thank you for
watching this channel thank you for
liking and subscribing and above all
trying to ensure that we live in a world
into the future where we actually have
consumer rights rights of ownership and
the ability to on a very expensive
Enterprise level product actually have a
warranty I'll see you in the next video
bye now