I was once told, more than 10 years back, that the warranty on my earphones was void because I didn’t have the original box in which the stuff came in.
Today, I look back on that incident with a fresh pair of eyes. What sort of company would force you to preserve a product’s original packaging to claim warranty? What could be their reasoning here?
Is it because they need proof of purchase? But a bill does that job better. Is it because they need a serial number for their records? Then why not carve that into the product itself.
After exhausting several other explanations, I am led to believe that this condition exists merely for the company to weasel out of a warranty claim. It saves time and effort that way. But whenever I see a product whose original packaging I need to treat like a museum artifact, I am going to avoid it. For good measure, I am also going to avoid that entire brand and I am going to tell my friends to do the same.
It is easy to see how voiding warranty can bring you immediate benefits. It takes a little more imagination to see how much it can hurt you in the long-term.
Are you in it for the long-term?
Observations 