We bought a treadmill that weighs hundreds of pounds and took quite a bit of effort to assemble and carry upstairs. On the second day, it broke. I took it apart and narrowed it down to a bad circuit board. To exchange it, I have to undo all my work and start over. Warranty work asks for it to be shipped, same problem, only worse. Is it ethical for me to buy another, identical item, swap the broken board for the new one, and return the second treadmill without assembling it and just get my money back after telling the store it was broken out of the box. I can get to the part without so much as taking the box out of my truck, and I can get a store employee to help me get it in and out of my truck.
2007-05-04 06:32:08 · 23 answers · asked by Luey 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Why should I have to pay over $50 in shipping fees to get the company to honor its warranty?
The board was part of the assembly process, that's why it is so easy to swap.
Why don't I get compensated for my time and effort assembling and disassembling this thing twice?
The store told me it was a warranty issue, and thus not their problem. I would have to go to a different store location to do the swap now.
2007-05-04 06:51:02 · update #1
Provided that you buy it from the same place, ethically, it is just fine. You normally have 30 days to return a defective item and after that would rely on warranty service. You happened to get the one with the broken part. The fact that you yourself replaced the item doesn't void the warranty as you would have just removed the part that needs replacing and sent that in anyway, not the whole machine.
Now, if you were buying the replacement from a store other than the one you bought it at originally, then ethically, that would be wrong because now the store is hit with a manufacturer's defect item that they didn't have in the first place.
Been there done that. Consider just calling the place and ask if you can just swap out a defective part. Many hardware stores do that, so I don't see why the place you bought it from wouldn't.
2007-05-04 06:51:47 · answer #1 · answered by CarbonDated 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm sure you know the answer is No. And of course by taking it apart, you have probably invalidated any warranty that came with it. You should have called customer service and insisted that someone come to take it back. If you made enough noise about it, when it broke after two days, you probably could have won that argument. Now, you're just in the wrong.
2007-05-04 06:34:35 · answer #2 · answered by MOM KNOWS EVERYTHING 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Why don't you just call the store, tell them the problem and ask them if they will swap out the part and defect the one they have in the store.
Most stores will do that rather than have you go through all of this. They get credit for the items that they defect out from the manufacturer.
2007-05-04 06:35:27 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Neat question. My first instinct was to say yes, it's unethical. However, when you explain the situation it makes the most common sense. Like if you had picked the box B the first time you wouldn't be having the problem you have because you picked Box A. Hey - I'll even justify it to this end - It was unethical for them to sell you Box A with the defect part - they should be compensating you for your time and trouble!!!
2007-05-04 06:37:50 · answer #4 · answered by workingclasshero 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How can you even ask? Of course that's unethical. The company is honoring their warranty and you are asking if it is ethical to screw them in order to save yourself an hour of putting together the item that you probably shouldn't have taken apart in the first place?
2007-05-04 06:38:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Walmart will take anything back... and a lot of other stores will too. Give it a try. It can't hurt. If they won't let you return it, talk to a manager. If that still doesn't work.... just sell it on ebay or craigslist.
2016-05-20 05:30:53 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As soon as you noticed it was broken you should have contacted to store instead of taking it apart. Now you are trying to back peddle to fix this mess. It may not be unethical but it sure does not seem ethical.
2007-05-04 06:47:11 · answer #7 · answered by Bookworm4124 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maybe not ethical but totally understandable. I would do it. In fact I HAVE done it. The way I see it, is it shouldn't have been broken in the first place and you shouldn't be the one suffering because of shoddy manufacturing.
2007-05-04 06:39:43 · answer #8 · answered by Yinzer from Sixburgh 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And if you're wrong your stuck with two broken machines. If it broke after two days, take advantage of the warranty. Don't be a lazy, cheap, mooch.
2007-05-04 06:35:22 · answer #9 · answered by johnnyinsnj 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's definitely not ethical. Can you take just the circuit board back? I'd call and ask.
2007-05-04 06:46:04 · answer #10 · answered by Debra B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋