INTRODUCTION

Whenever you buy a product, you have certain expectations of the product. If the expectations are not met, then you as a customer will be very disappointed. To cater to your expectations, many companies provide Warranty and Guarantee with the product. However, consumers get confused with respect to the difference between warranty and guarantee. I will explain it in detail in this website. So first of all, i will explain what is the difference between warranty and Guarantee before we discuss about the product. 

What Is Warranty?

Figure 1 : Example of Perodua Manufacturer Warranty

To understand the difference between warranty and guarantee, let us understand Warranty first. To state it simply, Warranty means a commitment from a manufacturer to its customers that if the product breaks or if there is any problem in the product, the manufacturer will provide free repair for the product. But the manufacturer does not commit replacement. He commits only repair. Warranty period or time frame depends on the product types, product problems and the manufacturer policy. Some products maybe 1 month, 1 year or 3 years and the longest warranty is 5 years. For example, for any Perodua car such as Perodua Bezza, Axia and Myvi the warranty for the services is 5 year or the distance reach by the car 150,5000km (Figure 1)

This basically means that the customer is protected against sudden breakage or sudden problems in the product. If you bought a costly Sony Television today, and it stops working one month down the line, why would you pay for the repairs? There should be a minimum time frame when the company is responsible for the product to work.

Companies therefore provide warranties with their product as a sign of assurance that the company is invested in the well being of the product. In other sense, if a company does not provide warranty for the product, then the company is not confident about the quality of the product or the liability lies with the consumer.

Example of Products covered under warranty – Your smartphone suddenly starts behaving weird. Some icons are not clicking even though you are pointing at them. As the phone is covered under 6 months warranty and it has been only a month since the purchase, you take the phone to the service center and they repair it for free. No charges applicable.

Example of product not covered by warranty – Continuing the above example, after 2 months, the phone slips from your hand one day and you break the screen. Now this is not covered under warranty so you will have to pay for the screen to be replaced. It is the owner who is liable in such cases.

Companies look at their own products before committing a time frame for warranty to be applicable. If a company which manufactures goods is sure that their product will last at least 1-2 years without need of any service, then they are most likely to give a warranty on that product.

What is Guarantee?

Figure 2 : Symbol of Guarantee Product

Guarantee is a step ahead of warranty wherein the company is so confident of their product, that they offer repair or replacement of the product. In short, if there is any problem in the product, the company will first try to repair the product and then if not repaired, it will offer free replacement.

When Amazon Kindle was launched, it was a completely new concept in the market and there was a 1 year guarantee on the product. Kindle was known to have a soft screen and its screen breaking was a problem. However, Kindle knew what percentage of their customers will suffer from this problem. Due to the guarantee in place, many customers got direct replacement of their Amazon Kindle therefore motivating more People to adopt the Kindle faster.

Companies like Sharp or Singer have lifetime guarantee of their products. They are so confident about their products, that if anything happens to the product which is not resolved by the company, they offer free replacement to the end customer. Off course these companies have to factor in the margins for the replacement so that they are in profit at the end. But the cost of guarantee commitment is a different issue altogether.

Warranty and Guarantee. What You Need To Know?

       A warranty provides a promise from one party to the other that certain conditions, such as the quality or life span of a product, will be met. If the product doesn’t meet the conditions of the warranty, it can usually be returned, repaired or replaced. If a merchant guarantees a feature of a product, or even your satisfaction with it, the same holds true. The difference between a warranty and a guarantee is largely a question of word choice.

      A guarantee is the promise included in the legal warranty. It is an agreement that one party assumes responsibility to perform or complete something and offer security for that agreement. A guarantee is a promise, typically given in writing, that swears the quality of a product or that a service will be performed to a certain standard.

What Creates a Warranty or Guarantee?

Any promise about the quality, condition, or reliability of a product that a seller makes and that you rely upon when buying a product can create a warranty or guarantee. A direct statement, either verbally or in writing, promising that a product will meet specific expectations creates an express warranty. For example, if a car salesperson promises a minimum gas mileage for a particular vehicle, they have created a warranty. However, even though warrantees can be created orally, it’s smart to ask for them in writing as well, in order to create a record of the merchant’s promise.

Other warranties don’t have to be expressed explicitly at all. These implied warrantees are guarantees that the law reads into your transaction. Almost all consumer products, for example, are covered by an implied warranty of merchantability, meaning that the product is guaranteed to work as typically expected. A merchant can disclaim implied warranties through disclaimers or "as is" sales, but several states will refuse to recognize “as is” disclaimers for consumer goods. Similarly, some warranties can be limited in scope and others may be voided by certain actions. For example, a lifetime guarantee on your refrigerator may be limited to the expected lifetime, say ten years, of the product and voided by unauthorized repairs or modifications.

CONCLUSION

   

      We as a consumer of product in the market and as a Malaysian consumer have right to make our decision either want to buy or not. It's all in your hand but you must have access this two things : First is Warranty and Second is Guarantee. Last but not least, be a good consumer, buy a good product. Thanks for visiting my blog. Any suggestion or discussion just comment in the comment space.