open this package and you're stuck with it

[Peter Nelson]

Scott Hankin  (hankin at osf.org) posts...



>>   If I spend $350 on a TV and I'm not satisfied I can return it; if
>>   I spend $350 on a C++ compiler I'm stuck with it no matter how
>>   dissatisfying it is.  This has to change.
>
>    Sometimes it's just a matter of where you get what you get.  MacConnection,
>    for example, lists lots and lots of items (the overwhelming majority, in
>    fact) which come with 30, 60 and 90 day guarantees - if you don't like
>    them, return them for a refund. I know that MacConnection is run by the
>    same folks who run PC Connection (at least at some level) so perhaps they
>    do the same thing.  This is their response to customer demand.  It makes
>    them more competitive than others in the same business.
>
>    I don't know how they work this out with the actual producers, because some
>    of them don't offer any guarantee at all (MacInTax, for example - although
>    I might be able to see the reasoning there) and I believe that it is up to
>    the vendor just how much guarantee they offer.
>
>    Legislation is seldom the answer to problems eventually solved by the
>    marketplace.

  Agreed.  But in the PC world, at least, the marketplace has failed to
  solve this problem.   I called PC Connection to ask why they don't offer 
  this arrangement for PC products and they said that for the Mac products
  the arrangement is made individually with each supplier.   It seems 
  they have had difficulties convincing suppliers of PC software of the
  benefits of this system.  Maybe consumers of Mac products are more
  demanding of quality or reliability in the products they buy?   

  Also, we shouldn't be too quick to assume it is the marketplace which is
  responsible for our being able to get refunds on defective products. 
  Many states have "implied warranty" laws.   Basically these say that
  no product can be sold "as is" or "without warranty".   If a product
  proves to be defective or fails to be whatever it represents itself to be
  on the packaging, then the consumer can get his money back.  According
  to Steve Poitrast, a lawyer with the Massachusetts Attorney General's
  office with whom I spoke last week, the existing "implied warranty" law
  in Massachusetts should also cover software.   He added that he's not
  aware of whether this has ever been tested in court.  

  [  BTW, this has gotten off of 'C'.   Is there an appropriate comp.? 
     forum for a topic like this?   ]

                                                         ---Peter