FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of Specified Parts/Services

Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by AdmiralAsshat on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:39PM (#16812867)

A few years back, there was a well-known issue with HP Touchpads where the plastic near the speakers would start to crack.[0][1] HP accepted the Touchpads more or less without question and offered to repair them free of charge.

After I sent mine in, I got a call several weeks later from an HP employee who informed me that they had found "third-party firmware" flashed onto the device (like pretty much everyone who bought a Touchpad after HP discontinued them, I loaded Android onto it). I argued with him for a few minutes about what relevance that has to a well-known hardware defect on the device, but he insisted that flashing a third-party OS voids the warranty. He eventually agreed to repair it, issuing me a "warning" about future repairs and saying that they would wipe it and flash a stock image before sending it back to me.

Would the FTC's warning have covered my incident above had HP not eventually agreed to repair it?

[0]https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1250645

[1]https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1502123

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by Waterluvian on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:51PM (#16813031)

I had almost the exact same experience with my MacBook. I made it into a hackintosh and later tried to have the keyboard replaced (the white ones that would stain yellow).

They gave me a hard time about it but ultimately agreed to do so. I think the store person was just following a script.

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by jsight on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:53PM (#16813046)

How can a MacBook be a hackintosh?

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by Amelorate on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:57PM (#16813101)

I assume Waterluvian is using the term to refer to a mac laptop with Windows or Linux installed onto it.

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by Waterluvian on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @03:14PM (#16814479)

Correct. I used the wrong term.

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by blhack on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:56PM (#16813089)

Install Linux on it.

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by jsight on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:59PM (#16813117)

Ah, that is kind of the opposite of a Hackintosh. A Hackinlinux, perhaps? :)

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by rjbwork on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @01:18PM (#16813313)

A Macinix perhaps?

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by post_break on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:53PM (#16813052)

How do you make a mac into a hackintosh?

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by mcguire on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @12:43PM (#16812909)

One would expect (and hope) it would. It's pretty clear the software changes had nothing to do with the defect.

On the other hand, if the battery exploded after you changed the software....

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Re:FTC Warns It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty on Use of S... by mindslight on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @01:07PM (#16813218)

Part of the reason we need these laws to be enforced is so that manufacturers are discouraged from doing idiotic things like making the application software in any way involved in whether the battery explodes.

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