Have you ever purchased a product and found a sticker on it that said “Warranty Void If Seal Is Broken Or Removed“?
If so, you probably took great care not to tamper with that sticker while the product was still under warranty.
And why wouldn’t you? After all, out-of-warranty repairs can be quite costly!
Well, I have a little secret for you…
If you live in the United States that sticker doesn’t apply to you! In fact, the sticker itself is actually illegal!
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stated that altering, defacing, or removing a product’s warranty warning seal can not, and will not void the product’s warranty.
What’s more, the FTC sent warning letters to several manufacturers telling them to stop placing them on their products.
Back in the day some computer manufacturers used to place warranty warning stickers on their desktop computers in a place where opening the case would break the seal, forcing their owners to choose between installing a needed hardware upgrade and keeping the warranty intact.
Well, the FTC clamped down on that deceptive practice, and as a result I haven’t seen one on a new computer in quite some time.
I have seen them on a few other types of products, however – most notably game consoles.
Bottom line: If you see one of those warranty warning stickers on a product that you purchased in the United States, you can safely ignore it because the company cannot legally void the product’s warranty if you fail to comply with the warning.
Below you’ll find a fantastic short video that explains all of this is in more detail. It’s well worth watching in my opinion.
Note: As always, you can watch the video at full screen by clicking the “square” icon that will pop up in the lower-right corner of the video after it begins playing.