2. misc-audio
  3. 990226958

Insolvency

I have visited and bought from a small high end shop for the last two years. Just today I went down to the store to buy some accessories. The store was dark and the front door had a sign on it: "Insolvency sale delayed until Monday because of sickness." I was shocked and sad since the store was run by two trully passionate long-time audio hobbyists into vinyl and nice tube gear. It was different, innovative, carried hard-to-get equipment from small, underground manufacturers. Here is my question: over the years when I bought a piece of equipment from the store, they would keep the warranty card with the promise to take care of repairs if the item broke. Now that the shop is gone, I have several pieces of equipment whose warranty I am unsure of. Will the manufacturer repair if I just show a receipt from an out-of-business audio shop? I assume that I will not be getting any of my current orders from this shop (luckily, I did not give them any cash deposits in advance). Have any of you had similar experiences?
slawney

Showing 2 responses by cornfedboy

cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
like it or not, guys, this is actually a legal question. and, before you kill all the lawyers, permit me, please, to offer some gratis (read:"rare") legal advice. under the laws of the usa, a manufacturer may impose "reasonable" conditions upon its warranty obligations, including a "registration" requirement of a "reasonable" nature within a "reasonable" period. some sellers, as supposed favors to their customers, retain warranty registration cards, usually for the purpose of falsely and fraudulently "extending" the warranty period. this may seem to be righteous to buyers but may, in fact, limit or obviate the warranty rights otherwise applicable. my advice is this: (1) if a manufacturer imposes warranty registration obligations, honor them; (2) a dealer's "lifetime" warranty is only as good as the lifetime of the dealer, not yours; (3) if you're in the same situation as slawney, explain your situation to the warrantor and pray that its got an ethical sense to honor your "warranty," irrespective of legal obligations to the contrary; and, (4) don't trust ANYONE to tell you that the terms of a warranty registration is "no big deal" and can be avoided. -kelly
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
sugarbrie is quite right on the marketing questions, which i rarely answer. some companies, tho, send you gifts when you register. i got a dvd, for example, when i registered my loewe crt.

as to "insolvency sales" : that's a rarely used description in the us. i've seen such sales advertised in the uk and canada. generally, a "true" insolvency sale would be held in conjunction with a bankruptcy. in such cases the trustee or debtor-in-possession hires an auction company to conduct these sales. they are usually open to the public but many have restrictions on bidding, requiring, for example, "lot" bids rather than individual "piece" bids. more and more liquidation sales are done on the internet. there are at least a couple of federal gov't approved sites used for specifically for this. the "insolvency" sale your dealer is advertising, slawney, may be a simple "going out of business" sale. such sales may, BTW, be subject to local gov't regulations, usually prohibiting the kinds of stores that "go out of business" for a period of a year or more. i would try to get your warranty cards from this dealer before he shutters his place for good. -kelly
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