Pre Law student struggling with Company not upholding their warranty

[biglurr54]

I am a pre law student at Franklin Pierce University in N.H. and i recently have run into a problem with a snowboard company. I purchased a snowboard a year ago and the board has broke due to normal use. i sent the board in and they said they wont cover the board because it is "broken". I would greatly apprciate it if someone could please take the time to look over the case i have with them and tell me what i should do next.

Email from Arbor Sports
Larry,

Thanks for your patience. I've had a chance to take a good look at your deck and what we have here is quite simply a broken board. What appears to have happened is that you somehow got into a position where your binding acted like a fulcrum against the force of your body and the ground during motion and that one particular spot took the brunt.

All that being said, a broken board is not under warranty by our factory or any other factory in the world. However, I would to make you an offer I rarely make: 35% off of our whole cost which is 323.97 so your price would be $210.58 for a brand new 08 Element. While this may not have been exactly what you were hoping for, its a screaming deal on a new deck. Our only other option is for me to just send your deck to you. Let me know if you're interested soon cause I only have 5 Element 65's left.

thanks

my reply
Matthew Patti,
>
> After reviewing Arbor Sports warranty information, I have come to the
> conclusion that this "broken board? is covered under the two year warranty. I
> have followed the correct steps to file a claim through the warranty process
> that you have listed on the Arbor Sport website. I also have looked at the
> limitations of the warranty and did not find any limitations due to a binding
> acting like a fulcrum against the force of a body and the ground during
> motion. It is my understanding that a snowboard is designed to have bindings
> attached to them as well as a person and to turn/stop the board, the rider
> must use his weight against the ground with a fulcrum in order to use the
> snowboard in the way it was intended to be used. This "broken board?
> therefore is covered under your two year warranty. Furthermore, under the
> Uniform Commercial Code Article 1 Section 314, Implied Warranty of
> Merchantability, it is stated that "An implied warranty of merchantability is
> an unwritten and unspoken guarantee to the buyer that goods purchased conform
> to ordinary standards of care and that they are of the same average grade,
> quality, and value as similar goods sold under similar circumstances. In other
> words, merchantable goods are goods fit for the ordinary purposes for which
> they are to be used.? You stated in your first letter to me on Tuesday
> February 5, 2008 that, "What appears to have happened is that you somehow got
> into a position where your binding acted like a fulcrum against the force of
> your body and the ground during motion and that one particular spot took the
> brunt.? which is how one would turn or stop a snowboard which is a routine
> procedure during the act of snowboarding. This means that the product was not
> fit for ordinary use which is covered under your two year warranty and also
> covered under the Uniform Commercial Code. I would appreciate it if you would
> hold one of the five remaining 2008 Arbor Element 165 snowboards for me until
> we get this situation straightened out.
>
> Thank you for your time,
>
>
> Laurence Broderick


Arbor Sports Reply
Laurence,

I commend your research efforts and determination. Unfortunately snowboard
warranty policies are developed by the factories and manufacturers and are
not open to personal interpretation. Filing a claim alone does not guarantee
a warranty on things not covered by warranty. Honestly my guess is that you
hit a kick and landed big on that spot, which is what broke the board. That,
of course is impact damage and is not covered by warranty. There is no
possible way that the damage sustained to your board occurred during a "turn
or stop." The fact remains that your board is broken and a broken board is
not covered under any warranty from any brand or factory in the world that I
am aware of. I have reviewed your case with our President/CEO personally and
he agreed that my offering to you of 35% off of whole sale is more than
fair. The $210.58 I offered you is our cost on the board. I am willing to
extend that to you Laurence and not make a penny on this deck but I'm not
willing to pay you that amount to ride our board - which is essentially what
I would be doing by replacing your board.

As you may or may not know we make our boards at the GST factory in Austria.
If you are in any way familiar with snowboard production you'll know that
GST is probably the most legit snowboard factory in the industry. A lot
companies make their boards in China where the labor is cheap and production
costs can be lower. We have made a commitment to our customers, our dealers,
and ourselves to never make shit boards just to get more out the door. With
the US dollar so weak against the current Euro, us and a small handful of
other committed brands are taking big hits to continue to make the best
boards in the industry. GST is the least warrantied factory in the industry,
and Arbor is the least warrantied brand out of GST. One could then argue
that Arbor is the least vendor warrantied brand in the industry.

I'm sorry that you don't like what I've offered, but that's where we are.
The rules on a broken snowboard are pretty black and white so it's a take it
or leave it deal. Should you choose not accept the option I would be happy
to box your board up and send it back to you. Please let me know.
--
MATTHEW PATTI

 

[biglurr54]

my reply:
Matthew Patti

I feel insulted by your remarks. First and foremost I would like to inform you that warranties are, in fact, designed to cover "broken‰ goods. If you are unaware of the definition of broken I can enlighten you. Webster dictionary states the definition of "break‰ as of February 7, 2008 as "to render inoperable.‰ Broken is an inflected form of break. The definition of "warranty‰ by the same dictionary on the same date (February 7, 2008) is, "a usually written guarantee of the integrity of a product and of the maker's responsibility for the repair or replacement of defective parts.‰ If a product "breaks‰ or is "broken‰ due to manufacture defect during normal use, it is rendered inoperable. If the product is rendered inoperable it is considered a defective part. This means that it is "the maker's responsibility for the repair or replacement of defective parts.‰ Therefore a warranty is in fact created for instances like this. Also this means that all warranties cover "broken‰ products.
You stated in your email to me on February 7, 2008 that "snowboard warranty policies are developed by the factories and manufacturers and are not open to personal interpretation.‰ This is true but, warranties are open to legal interpretation. I understand that if one files a warranty claim that does not always mean that the problem is covered under the company's warranty. Manufacture defects are however covered under warranty though. You are now stating that the reason the board failed is because "you hit a kick and landed big on that spot.‰ Again this is normal use for a snowboard. When I purchased the board I was told that this board is an "all mountain board.‰ The Arbor Snowboard website stated on February 7, 2008 that "The Element is a technically advanced all-mountain board for riders who readily transition from one terrain, snow condition, or riding style to another. Its balanced design provides the versatility needed for the true "ride-it-all‰ experience. The Element was designed to freely initiate into any spin or line alteration and hold a solid edge at speed, in the steeps, and through the pipe.‰ This statement leads me to believe that I can take this snowboard off a "kick‰ and successfully land it with out having the board fall apart underneath me. Because this board did just this according to you, (the Arbor Snowboard warranty department) the board was structurally not equal to other Arbor Elements. If it was not structurally equal to the other snowboards then it is considered a manufacture defect. Again on the Arbor website as of February 7, 2008 it is stated "Arbor guarantees to the original buyer that the Arbor snowboard is free of defects in material or workmanship for a period of two-years from the date of purchase.‰ This is either a defect in material or workmanship that has created this snowboard to fail under normal use and should be covered by warranty and under the Implied Warranty of Merchantability which states "Warranty that guarantees that goods are reasonably fit for their ordinary purpose.‰
I have taken the initiative to look into three of your most common competitor's warranties. The three companies are Burton, K2, and Ride. I am sure that you are familiar with their warranty policies but just incase you are not I can enlighten you. Burton, K2, and Ride all state in their warranties that "Structural cracks on the top sheet, base, core, edge, sidewall due to a manufacturing defect. Delaminating of top sheet, base, sidewall, edge, tip and tail protectors due to a manufacturing defect‰ are covered under their warranties. This is what has happened to my board. I understand that your company is not required to follow other company's warranty policies, but you are required to uphold the same quality products under the Uniform Commercial Code Article 1 Section 314. "goods purchased conform to ordinary standards of care and that they are of the same average grade, quality, and value as similar goods sold under similar circumstances.‰ No where in your warranty is it listed that a product that has a manufacture defect is excluded from your warranty. Also it is not stated that products such as Arbor Elements that are not create with equal durability standards are not covered under the warranty. Lastly it is not stated that a board that fails to operate under normal use (breaks\broken) is excluded from your warranty.
I agree with you when you state that the warranty policies on snowboards are pretty black and white. With this said, I don't understand why you are refusing to honor your warranty policy when it is so "black and white‰ that what we have here is a manufacture defect due to either faulty materials or faulty workmanship. I understand that this is not a good situation for either one of us. I take offense to you saying that if you honored your warranty, like you are required to do, you would be paying me to ride on your board. If you do not honor your warranty then I am, in fact, paying you to give me faulty products. This is a clear case of a manufacture defect and under other snowboard companies warranties it is covered as well as under your warranty. It is also not listed as excluded from your warranty policy so therefore it is covered. Please honor your warranty like you are legally required to do, so we do not have to take any further steps to settle this dispute. I thank you for the generous offer but, I will not pay for your mistakes.

Thanks for your time

Laurence Broderick

one last reply from Arbor Sports
Laurence,

Your welcome to keep trying, but what you're not understanding is that the damage to your board is impact related. IMPACT. And if you were to have continued researching other brands warranty policies you would have read that under no circumstance is impact covered by warranty. Please try and understand that. The word warranty doesn't mean that if you break it we'll give you a new one. This is not a vendor defect. This board was not defective. The board did not fail to operate, you broke it. It is impact damaged. I understand that you believe that landing big is considered normal use – and on a personal note I would agree with you. But from a warranty policies standpoint that is considered impact. There is no way for you to be able to prove to me that your board did not break from impact, and I have never heard of or seen a board broken like that from anything else.

Think of it like this: you buy a new truck from Toyota and have it about a year. You then proceed to drive in into wall, on accident of course. Nonetheless, into a wall. You were driving the truck at the time, so that could be considered normal use, right? Do you think you can turn around and tell Toyota that they owe you a new truck because you were "normal use" driving it and it happened to end up front first into a wall at 45mph? There was nothing vendor defective about that truck, and while you were just driving it (normal use) you drove it into a wall. Though now, technically, its broken and by your definition covered under warranty. See what I'm saying about personal interpretation. In that case, and in the unlikely event you didn't have third party insurance to cover the damage, wouldn't you think Toyota was doing you tremendous services by offering you a brand new truck at their manufacturing cost rather than retail? Our situation with your board is very similar.

I'm sorry I insulted you or hurt your feelings Larry. That certainly wasn't my intention. Please feel free to contact those other brands and ask what they're policy is on broken boards. Frankly, I feel I've gone above and beyond to help resolve this matter with you and at this point I'm sorry that you're not understanding what I'm telling you. However my offer stand for 35% below wholesale. Legally, I don't even have to do that – feel free to ask those other brands that as well. That price is something that I want to offer you as customer and rider. I respect you doing your homework on the matter and thank you so much for all the "enlightenment". Were this case a legitimate warranty I would honor it. The offer is still on the table, but on the same hand – I will not pay for your mistakes either.

Thank you for your time.
--
MATTHEW PATTI







i really do appreciate any help you can give me on this case

is the next step small claims court?

do i have a case to take to small claims court?

what should my next steps be?

 

[B1k3rtr1x]

Take the deal

Hey Laurence,

Sorry to tell you but you have no case. I work warranty at one of the snowboard companies you cited in your rebuttal. The fact is that impact damage is not covered by any snowboard company. It sounds like they have offered you a really good deal and by the time all the litigation is through you are probably going to have spent way more money than if you would just try and buy a new board. It sounds like the crew over at Arbor are doing everything in their means in order to keep you a riding their gear.

To be honest it seems as though you are trying too hard to use the little law education you have to bully this company into thinking you are going to take this further. My advice to you is take the deal before you lose in court before you ever become a lawyer.



- Chris