If you have ever opened your PC or any other electronic device, you have probably come across the infamous warranty stickers. These came with a clear warning: if they are broken, you will lose the right to claim the product warranty. Now, the FTC has reminded major manufacturers that this is an illegal practice.
Already in 2018, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission of the United States) issued a letter to ASUS, HTC, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Hyundai informing them that the use of these stickers was illegal. The organization has sent new letters again, but this time addressed to ASRock, Gigabyte, and Zotac. In them, they are asked to remove any type of threat that allows the warranty to be voided, such as these seals.
However, all the companies mentioned above include this type of threat in their warranties, according to The Verge. In the case of ASRock, we can read in the first line of their warranty that “the manufacturer’s warranty will be voided if the products are modified, damaged, or manipulated in any other way, for example, if the outer casing is opened or additional optional parts/components are installed/removed.”
The law that supports the right to repair (and that is advocated by the FTC) is the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975. Practices like stickers are considered a violation of this law, as they unfairly restrict the way consumers can repair their products. In other words, the customer has the right to fix their device or choose a specific technical service without losing the warranty.
The FTC has also notified each company that has “copied and retained” their warranties, and that after 30 days, they will be reviewed.
