Warranty

[65Buick]

What does everyone offer for warranty? I was thinking this may be a way to compete.
In my particular case I could even offer unlimited warranty, including materials.

[MinUph]

I've always offered a 1 year guarantee on my labor when asked. I don't mention any guarantee on fabrics that is for the fabric company to offer. I have one company offering a lifetime warrantee on their fabrics. I explain it would cover the fabric not the labor. I am very honest with all this. Be careful what you promise.

[kodydog]

Ask yourself how far out would you make a repair on your work. If a customer called 5 years later and had a problem would you make the repair? How about 10 years? How about a life time? Imagine giving a warranty unlike any other upholsterer. Imagine the marketing possibilities with a lifetime warranty. Sounds crazy dosn't it?

[SteveA]

A general warranty for a term period - how do you separate out abusive wear from a true defect in craftsmanship or fabric.  Most folks will consider a warranty all inclusive. 
We're not Bed Bath, and Beyond or Walmart that can absorb those kinds of claims.  I don't offer anything in writing.
Two weeks ago an account sent me a cushion cover to replace an existing cover where the side boxing was fraying on the middle cushion.  I thought to myself this is very strange how a boxing could fray like that tucked away out of use.  When the designer opened the door two cats ran off.  After the cover was removed the designer asked if I could make a throw cushion out of the old cover.  It had cat hair on it - I declined -
SA

[sofadoc]

It's been my experience that the ONLY people that inquire about a warranty are the ones that have every intention of taking full advantage of it.

I do a lot of warranty repairs for local furniture stores. Their customers that buy the extended warranties are the worst complainers. They think they can send the whole sofa back every time a wrinkle arises, or a creaking noise pops up.

Many of them will physically abuse a recliner, and expect the store to send them a new one every few months.

I make no mention of warranty to my customers if they don't ask. If they do ask, I tell them that I guarantee my work "indefinitely". But not the fabric. I can't think of any case where my work didn't outlast the fabric.

[Mojo]

You may have discovered one of our secrets - Warranties.

My entire adult career was spent in marketing. Some of my mentors were the best in the business. I learned a great deal from the Fortune 500 companies I worked with. One of the things they taught me was making your service or product stand out from the competition. You can do this in many different ways. I used a multi pronged method of warranty - customer service - quality.

Our warranty on acrylic awning products, Coachguard, is 10 years and lifetime on the thread. Our vinyl Migliore products are warranted for 6 years. Our fabric manufacturers warrant the acrylic for 10 years and the vinyl for 5 years. The thread is warranted by Solarfix for the life of the fabric.

We include an owners packet with each order. It includes a thank you card, product care instructions and a warranty card which spells out the entire warranty. We have two different warranty cards 1. CoachGuard 2. Migliore

I will post a copy of our warranty in another post.

Our growth has been due in part to using the best materials possible and then offering a warranty no competitor can match. 2 years ago I marketed the hell out of our warranty knowing no competitor could match it. It has worked well because people relate long term warranties with quality and long life. My entire reason for doing this was to make us stand out as well as create doubt about our customers products and longevity.

Mojo 

[Mojo]

Ya'll are probably wondering how bad we get killed on warranty claims. I keep a close eye on warranty claims and calculate them continually. Over our 12 year company history our warranty claim rate is 0.3 %. This is based on approximately 20,000 various products we have made over that time period.

I would never offer the warranty we do unless we were using the best materials you can get your hands on. If you are not going to use high quality materials then I caution you not to offer long term warranties. You will go broke.

If any of you want to copy and use parts of this warranty, help yourself. I am always willing to help the members here with these kinds of marketing items. Unfortunately, since I suck at furniture upholstery I can at least provide support with marketing and PR. :)  Here is what is printed on the back of our warranty card:

" Stone Vos LLC warrants your Coachguard acrylic awning or slide topper for a period of 10 years from the date of manufacturer. Migliore vinyl fabric is warranted for a period of 6 years from date of manufacture. If your awning or slide topper should fail due to workmanship or materials, Stone Vos LLC. will replace your fabric free of charge. In addition Solarfix warrants the thread for the life of the fabric.

These warranties do not cover any failures or deterioration due to lack of maintenance, abuse, improper use of cleaning chemicals, burns, negligence, improper installation, wear, rips and tears created by awning assemblies, vandalism, perforations from objects, natural disasters or acts of nature. The product must be properly installed and maintained. This warranty only covers the replacement of the fabric and thread and does not include monetary reimbursement. It also does not cover labor charges for removal or installation, the repair or replacement of frames and other awning/slide topper assemblies. In all cases it will be the responsibility of the owner to ship the damaged or failed awning/slide topper to Stone Vos LLC. for testing and inspection. Replacement fabric will be shipped at the expense of Stone Vos LLC There are no other warranties, expressed or implied that extend beyond the description of this warranty. "

Mojo

[SteveA]

Mojo - Every legal disclaimer has a vulnerability but I agree with what you're say about offering the unbeatable warranty.  There is a company here in our county who did just that and has grown 100 times above everyone else.  His favorite saying is " keep them smiling"   however he runs the business so when there's a call he sends someone.  Unlike me it would add to my work load -  warranty's are not for small guys.

The small guy isn't loosing sleep because his quality of work is questionable.  Like doc say's - stuff isn't coming back for poor craftsmanship. 

Anyway I have a neighbor who gets something delivered and they can surely find a nick or scratch to get off another 10 percent off.  This same neighbor bought a computer and before the three year warranty was up he purposely overheated the board and got a replacement.  Dell + HP can handle it the small guy not so much !
Thank goodness I've had luck staying away from disingenuous customers.  They are usually recognizable to me before getting started.
SA

[Mojo]

Steve:

Thankfully we are in the awning business and not the furniture business. I am not sure how I would structure warranties on furniture since the amount of abuse can be so out of hand ( obese people, pets, kids, etc. ). I just do not know enough about your business to really know what a good warranty period would be. In the awning trade it is pretty straight forward and very easy to determine wear and abuse. We just had a warranty claim this week on an awning. We denied the claim because the assembly itself caused the damage. But out of goodwill we offered to replace the fabric at cost. The customer was happy and understood.

I am still a believer though that warranties can separate you from the competition and help in boosting your market share.

Mojo

[kodydog]

If its something I screwed up I correct it. If it's something I should have noticed when I had the piece striped down I repair it.

If the customer screws something up we take it on a case by case basis. Most often I will fix it. Two things we cannot warranty, Foam and because we do not sell fabric we cannot warranty fabric.

Our craftsmanship gets a lifetime warranty. If I fix a frame its warranted. If I fix a spring it is warranted. I got this idea from Manta. The author suggested if you are going to stand behind your work why not promote it? So we include our warrenty on a page on our website titled Why Use Ladd Upholstery Designs? We have promoted this policy for 4 years and it has not come back to bite us. Someday it may, but if its something I did wrong, I'll fix it. For a lifetime

http://northfloridachair.com/WhyLUD.html