Originally published at: This hidden warning inside Teenage Engineering's hugely popular product has no teeth - Boing Boing
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In the EU, it is important to differentiate between the statutory guarantee which results from the sales contract and is between the customer and whoever sold them the product (not necessarily the manufacturer) and any additional manufacturer’s warranty which applies on top of the statutory guarantee.
If something that you buy turns out to be faulty or doesn’t look or work as claimed by the seller, the seller is responsible for fixing this within the statutory (typically 2-year) period (the details are a little more complicated). The manufacturer, if different from the seller, has nothing to do with this – except that very often the manufacturer will repair or replace the product on behalf of the seller, but that is between the seller and the manufacturer. Many products come with additional manufacturer warranties that have longer terms and/or cover issues that the statutory warranty doesn’t address, but these are offered entirely at the manufacturer’s discretion.
The synth company is probably within its rights to refuse repairs under its manufacturer’s warranty (if any) to customers who have opened the case without authorisation. But this does not apply to the statutory guarantee which the seller of the device must extend to the customer. IOW, if you buy one of those synths new from your friendly music store here in Germany¹, then if that synth breaks down during the first two years after you bought it, chances are that the music store will need to sort this out (by repairing the device, replacing it, or refunding what you paid) at no charge to you. (Assuming that it didn’t break down because you opened the case and fooled around inside it with a soldering iron.) After those two years, it depends on whether the manufacturer provides a voluntary warranty and if so, whether its terms entitle you to a free repair.
- By way of example; Germany has a two-year statutory guarantee (the EU minimum).
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Author is Lux Sparks-Pescovitz
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Thats just sad. Synthesizers used to come with cool easter eggs to reward someone opening them up.
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That’s fun. I once designed a simple test fixture at work and laid out the board to look like the Chicago loop. I had two tall electrolytic capacitors picked out for Marina City.
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They’re also free to enforce illegal policies right up until they’re sued and lose. Just last week I had Amazon ship me the wrong product, then tell me it wasn’t eligible for a replacement, and then the customer service agent said they’d make an “exception” and refund me. I get he has to follow the script, but the script declared the policy was to illegally charge me for an item I was never sent (or similarly, for a product I didn’t order). Minor inconvenience for me, no big deal on its own, but illustrative.
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Ah, they’ll never notice this.
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Too long; cannot read.
TL;CR
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(sigh)
I had an old Korg Poly-Six where the internal battery leaked, and looking at the circuit board I decided I wasn’t a good enough technician to pull off the repair without causing more damage. Had to sell it “as is.”
(slightly off topic.)
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This is why I love working on old machines. Here’s an exploded view of every part of the machine, all numbered, frequently with a symbol and specifications for the parts that are common, off-the shelf fittings that you can buy anywhere. And recently I came across this, which is basically 1950’s manual speak for “if you didn’t buy the motor from us, you might have to do some goofy shit, don’t worry about it.”
edit: oops, replied to someone unrelated by mistake
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But I’m here for your pain. I’ve actually never even seen one of them in the wild here.
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It’s a joke. Teenage Engineering knows their customers, and they know many of them will open it up.
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