Are emails legally binding when no contract has been made?

Question

I received 1000's of emails per day and can often be overwhelmed. One such occourance was thus;

a customer sent an email askin if a product comes with a warranty. and how long (is it 1 or 2 years). after talking with the buyer of the product for my company, i informed the customer that i believed that the warranty was a 2 years. 1 with my company and the other with the manufacturer.i now know the customer took this information and came up with 3 years - then purchased the item.

i later found out that the warranty was 1 year only with the manufactuere - (after 30 days warranty with us).

the customer contacted me again stating that my advice was followed and that it had become a legally binding document as he/she purchased the item due to this and expected upto 3 years warranty - i know i can provide 1 year from us and the 2nd year can be from the manufacturer...but the 3rd year?

Can all this be legally binding, as the customer has stated that he/she now expects 3 years.

Answer 1

As first caveat, a question like this really should be asked of a lawyer in your state.

It depends in part about the customer. If you are dealing with another business, the dealing is controlled by the uniform commercial code (which is roughly the same in all of the states, hence the name). Under the uniform commercial code, businesses are entitlted to rely on writings from either side as part of the contract. For example, if I contact your company and order 100 door handles and you send a reply saying that you send something acknowledging receipt of the order and I send back a reply saying they need to be delivered within two weeks and you don't further respond, that "delivered within two weeks becomes part of the contract."

If the other party is not a business, the U.C.C. does not control but other provisions may influence whether or not it is considered to be a contract. Generally speaking, however, if you told the customer that the warranty would be for X years and the customer bought the product, you probably have a binding verbal contract. There are, however, some defenses but those are very fact specific which is why you need to consult with a local attorney.

Things like this is why attorneys advise companies to have warranties on products in writing and to tell their employees to merely send out the written warranty without trying to explain it. Such a policiy avoids stumbling into a contract that your bosses did not want you to enter.

As to the e-mail part of it, the law really does not make a distinction based on the way that a writing was delivered with some exceptions for particular types of notice (either as set forth in a contract or a statute). For the purposes of your question, it really does not matter if it was by e-mail, hand-delivered, snail mail, certified mail, or courier. It probably would not have mattered if it had been oral (except oral is harder to prove). A lot of us have gotten used to the convenience of e-mail, leading us to not treat it as seriously as other forms of written communication, but the law treats most written communications as being equal.

EDIT

If this were to go to court, they would be entitled to get records from your internet service provider to prove that it was your account. That information would be sufficient for a court to believe that you sent it. At that point, the burden would shift to you to prove that someone hacked into your account. A judge is not going to be likely to buy that "the dog sent the e-mail." If the e-mail appears to have come from someone in the business with authorization to extend an offer, the e-mail is likely to be considered an offer of a contract.

Answer 2

Without reading the precise wording of your email to the customer, I don't know how the customer came up with a total of 3 years. You should consult the legal advisor to your company to verify (1) what your email promises and (2) whether your email constitutes a binding agreement from your company. I'm assuming you verified that the manufacturer was willing to begin their 1 year warranty after 1 year from purchase rather than 30 days.

Answer 3

Would not think so, how can each of you prove who sent the emails in the first place, therefore how can it be legally binding, it could have been me, my cat or your dog emailing him etc, i am sure you get the point.

Answer 4

Do not admit to sending emails.
There are no service provider records after a certain time period (2-3 months).
Even if the records are available they show nothing.
A person can hack into your account and send an email from your laptop. If Target credit card service is hacked, you think your laptop cannot be hacked? ridiculous.
so no, emails are not binding unless you admit to them.