State requires 4-year warranty for most items purchased

Maine’s Express and Implied Warranty Law is little known and understood in the state. The law provides automatic warranty protection in addition to any “express” written or verbal warranty received from the seller or manufacturer. Although not widely known, the law is very important and the following is a brief statement of the law:

“All new and used goods purchased for family, household or personal use – clothes, new cars, appliances, sports equipment and more – are warranted by law to be fit for the ordinary purchase for which such goods are used. They cannot be seriously defective.”

The law covers consumer goods for up to four years or the expected life of the product, whichever comes first. The only exception is that used-car dealers can disclaim implied warranties when they sell a used car “as is” without any express warranty. The law says that the seller and the manufacturer are equally responsible. The seller cannot, under this law, disclaim responsibility and tell you to contact the manufacturer.

Buyers may find in small print on their written warranties for new consumer goods these words: “Your rights may vary from state to state,” or “Some states prohibit limitation of warranty rights.”

This statement is required to alert consumers to the fact that they, as residents of Maine, have additional warranty rights, the implied warranty of merchantability, beyond the written warranty. If the warranty does not include this type of language, it may violate Maine law.

A case in point is that of a consumer who purchased a $600 digital camera from a local store. Within nine months, the camera had stopped working properly. Unfortunately, the consumer had moved and no longer had the sales receipt, but the camera had been available in stores for just a bit more than one year.

The buyer called customer service where the camera was made and was told that, since she no longer had her receipt, they would have to assume that she had had the camera for more than a year and the one-year warranty they offered had expired. She then took her complaint to the store where she bought the camera and was refused help unless she was able to produce the original packaging. She was told that they might then be able to at least repair the camera.

Since she had lost the sales receipt in moving, it was hardly likely that she had kept the box that contained the camera. The consumer is a member of Northeast COMBAT but opted to contact the businesses herself, following COMBAT’s suggestions. Two letters were written, one to the president of the manufacturing company and one to the president of the store, which was a national chain. These letters outlined the problem with the camera and both letters included a copy of the Maine attorney general’s pamphlet about the implied warranty law. Since her camera was covered by the law for four years, the consumer asked that she receive a new camera or have the present one repaired.

She received a communication from the manufacturer in which it included a USPS merchandise prepaid return label and promised to repair the returned camera for her. Another letter, this one from the store, instructed her to take the letter and the camera to the local store and she would receive a new camera from it. Naturally she chose this option and, on offering the letter to the store manager, received her new camera. Because of the implied warranty law and also with Northeast COMBAT’s assistance, the problem was resolved satisfactorily.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual membership $25, business rates start at $125 (0-10 employees). For help and information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.