Lemon aid for PCs gone sour
The fast-evolving personal computer industry is
on the cusp of catching up with an important 1970s-era
advance in consumer protection: the lemon law.
Despite
rapid progress with better PCs, consumers still
face a risk of buying a defective machine. Five
percent of desktop PCs sold since 1996 were dead
on arrival--totally inoperable when buyers set
them up--according to a survey of more than 54,000
Consumer Reports readers last spring. Another
11 percent of these PCs had serious problems in
the first month of ownership.
What
happens when your computer is a dud? Good luck
getting your money back from the manufacturer.
Computer makers, who tout their industry as the
key to consumer empowerment, take lots of liberties
where their own defective merchandise is concerned.
They often shift responsibility for warranty work
onto the consumer, who must replace parts, rejigger
software, and otherwise serve as the unpaid, unskilled
hands of telephone tech-support coaches.
In
most cases, the crash course in computer repair
enables the buyer to fix the problem. But when
that fails, the buyer must do more work--shipping
or hand-delivering the broken box to a real repair
technician. Computer manufacturers seldom send
repair people to the consumer's home to fix defective
equipment--the first service call alone can plunge
that sale into red ink--and they're loath to replace
a broken machine with a fresh one that works.
Nationwide,
statistics on the number of PC lemons are hard
to come by, but 1.5 percent of the PCs our readers
purchased in 1999 and the first four months of
2000 have had three or more components replaced,
according to our spring survey. We think that
reasonably quantifies the PC lemon rate. That
equals 238,500 of the 15.9 million desktop PCs
sold to consumers last year.
Jerry
and Barb Wells of West Chester, Pa., say they
know about such problems firsthand. In April 1998
they bought a $2,175 PC from Quantex Microsystems.
Over the first year, the hard drive, floppy drive,
and speakers failed, and the monitor went kaput,
they claim. Also, tech support helped wipe out
the preinstalled software and wouldn't replace
it, they said.
Finally,
after multiple repairs, hours of tech-support
calls, and an on-site repair visit, Quantex agreed
to take back the computer--if the Wellses paid
a 40 percent restocking fee.
"We're
appalled," says Barb Wells, who ended up
getting the computer fixed for $350 at a repair
shop. Quantex declined to comment.
Other
consumers report similar experiences with big-name
brands, including Apple, Compaq, and Gateway.
This is why a committee of the Pennsylvania state
legislature considered the nation's first PC lemon
law this year. In February, a similar bill was
introduced in Illinois.
The
bills would standardize guidelines for repair
of defective PCs and other computer-related electronic
devices sold in the state and would give consumers
a statutory right to a refund if the manufacturer
fails to fix the machine after two tries. The
bills are an improvement over the automobile lemon
laws they're derived from because they would require
refund or replacement after only two (vs. four)
unsuccessful repair attempts and don't require
that both attempts be for repair of the same defect,
only that the defects make the PC "operate
in a manner not intended."
Computer
trade groups say that hardware makers can police
themselves and that consumers already have protection
under the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
But
Craig Kimmel, an automobile lemon-law attorney
who has represented hundreds of consumers with
PC lemons and who helped draft the Pennsylvania
bill, says Magnuson-Moss has loopholes. For example,
it allows manufacturers to argue that the law
applies only to full warranties, not to the limited
warranty they provide, Kimmel says. Under Magnuson-Moss,
"only people with the greatest tenacity get
action," adds George Scully, a Cook County
representative who introduced the Illinois bill.
The
Pennsylvania and Illinois bills died this year,
but their sponsors say they plan to reintroduce
them. The Federal Trade Commission, meanwhile,
has expressed interest in using the Pennsylvania
bill as a model for federal legislation, Kimmel
says. Consumers Union also supports PC lemon laws.
To
protect yourself now:
Buy
a reliable PC. Based on our survey data since
1996, Dell and Hewlett-Packard were among the
more reliable brands. Acer and Micron were among
the less reliable.
If
you buy from a retailer, deal with a reputable
company with generous return policies. Consumers
who buy direct from a manufacturer should know
they may be trading away this line of defense.
Pay
for your PC with a credit card. You'll have the
added clout of withholding payment for unsatisfactory
goods under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act.
