What does "Lifetime Warranty" mean to you ?

ToddB64

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The Title relates to the recent Tesoro employee layoff reported by Terry Solomon on T'Net and the question on everyone's mind "will Tesoro continue to honor their Lifetime Warranty ?".

The title question could be subject to interpretation by the average person vs highly educated law attorneys. Remember the response by our previous U.S. President when he said "it depends on what the meaning of is, is". :?:

Now please, I only used the above as an example to show that what we might normally believe a lifetime Warranty to mean, could be interpreted differently from a legal standpoint, not to challenge anyone's political views. So let's take a look at how the Tesoro Warranty is worded, noting the exclusions.
(Copied & pasted below in quotes)

"Our lifetime warranty covers defects in material and workmanship for as long as it is owned by the original purchaser. The warranty excludes batteries, damage caused by leaky batteries, cable breakage due to flexing, wear of the searchcoil housing, and leakage caused by the condition of water seals on underwater detectors. Also excluded are instruments which have been abused, altered, or repaired by an unauthorized party.

Tesoro can still repair or replace many items that are not covered by the warranty. There may be charges for such repairs
."

The first sentence in the warranty looks clear and straightforward to me and no mention is made of it being a Limited warranty. There are various exclusions, however, the second paragraph offers repair or replacement of items not covered and there may be charges for such repairs.

Where a customer could get into a disagreement of interpretation, is with some of the exclusions stated in the warranty. However, from customer testimonials I have read, as well as my own personal experience, Tesoro has always "bent over backwards" when resolving complaints, even absorbing repair costs in most cases, to keep their customers happy.

So I bring you back to What does "Lifetime Warranty" mean to you ? How do you interpret it ?

ToddB64
 
I would never expect a company to warranty abuse or defects or damage caused by the user, outside environment and batteries. Without reading their exclusions, I would assume that's what they entail.

Also I agree with WB, if the company is out of business, there would not be a company to ho or the warranty agreement.
 
Warranties, like contracts, are only as good as the paper they are written on.:research:
 
warranty is for the lifetime of the original owner, the product itself, or the company. Whichever dies first ends the warranty. If any of the three gets run over by a tank or a train, or has an end of life experience.... that's it. IT is not "forever"
 
Don't really know, I've used Tesoro's for 20 years and never had a problem with any of them so I've never thought much about it😮
 
1st sentence should answer your question. "Our lifetime warranty".. it appears they have reached their "lifetime".
Now, if they re-open under a different name/brand there might be a case there. But I doubt a lawyer with the ability to take it on would
 
Very little. I never own a detector long enough to run out of standard warranty much less lifetime LOL.

I buy used and the warranty is the last thing on my mind.

That and in my 40+ years of detecting and a number of detectors I couldn't begin to count, I have yet to have a single one go bad. /me knocks wood.
 
I've never had much trouble with any Tesoro and I've owned over a dozen over the years. The only issue I ever had was a bad coil on one of my Tiger Sharks. I sent it into the factory and explained to them I bought it used I was not the original owner. I fully expected to pay for any parts and labor, but guess what Tesoro replaced the coil at no charge and sent a couple of new o-ring gaskets and replacement ear muff covers. Now that what I call a lifetime warranty. Way beyond most.
 
Naturally, a "Lifetime Warranty" can mean a lot, in different ways, to different individuals.

Generally, a "Lifetime Warranty is only offered to the 'original' purchaser and is not transferable."

At one time a "Lifetime Warranty" was offered by D-Tex as well as Gold Mountain Technologies and probably a few others, and in their case, if you still have one of their models working, they are not covered because the company itself is defunct. Out-of-business. Gone.

It really gets back to who owns the company because I recall a time when Bounty Hunter offered a "Lifetime Warranty" but they changed hands and that meant a different Owner and they can set the policies they want to follow. The original Teknetics bought Bounty Hunter mainly so they would have the equipment to make the 10" coil for their models. Teknetics was sold in '87/'88 to a fellow, but in short order Teknetics/Bounty Hunter died.

The company name and products were purchased by First Texas Products, but they only made use of the Bounty Hunter line for the mass-marketing efforts. So, Bounty Hunter, the name, is still in business but guess what ... NO "Lifetime Warranty" because the original Company was sold and the NEW Company/Owner didn't make that kind of warranty offer, nor have to honor any products sold by the former company even niof the name was the same..

Since you're referring to Tesoro, and having been involved in the hobby as well as various phases of the metal detecting industry for over half-a-century, I knew the Lifetime Warranty thing could be a problem down the road for several reasons. It was a nice thing to offer, and it was made to be only for the original purchaser so that, alone, could make any detector have a very short warranty life if it is sold or traded away early on.

When Jack 'retired' and the company went to Vince and James, it had "new owners" and I really thought at that time, and considering how fast-paced the competition was with progress in the digital realm, that the "new Owners" should have simply ended that type of warranty and followed what the competitors offer.

Maybe a 5 year, or a 2 year, and make it transferrable or not. Simple and, honestly, it would work better than trying to continue offering ... or honoring ... Lifetime Warranty repair.

I have seen too many cases, personally, where people have requested repairs to be done on detectors they didn't purchase new, and I am certain that there has been a lot of cost for employee clock-time, parts, and return shipping to have been a real issue for Tesoro in more recent years

If I were to buy Tesoro, or if someone else did, or if there was an official ownership change even involving former owner/s, I would expect it to come with a more "Limited Warranty" like almost everything else these days.

In the long run, as others have mentioned, I've used a LOT of Tesoro's for thirty-five years, and have had but two issues that needed attention and they was a simple thing. I don't pay attention to warranties on detectors.

My two Nokta CoRe's are almost 4 years old and my Relic is almost 3, my White's XLT dates to about 2001 and my modified Classic ID is about that old as well, and both of my Teknetics Omega 8000's are older, too. Oh, I can't forget my two Bandido II µMAX and my Silver Sabre µMAX are in the "didn't buy them new" category, either. All are out of any warranty period, but it doesn't concern me because these are generally very reliable detectors and hold up well.

If they work, and work as they should, and I have fun and enjoy some success afield with them, 'warranty' doesn't matter.

Matter of fact I have 11 more very reliable, proven, and issue-free items that are all also 'Out-of-Warranty' and I don't let that bother me, either. Those 11 are my 4 semi-auto handguns, 3 revolvers, 2 shotguns and 2 rifles, most of which I bought brand new and they cost more than most of my detectors, and they are also very fun to use and bring me success afield.

Warranties ... who needs them if you have a decent product and take care of it?

Monte

Oh, let's not forget that most of us are reading and responding on expensive computers that cost a good amount, get used more than our detectors, and most have a very limited 90 day warranty.
 
Tesoro Bait and Catch, or Bait- Hook- Release

Like anything else , if the company goes under, or changes the name , sells the business , that's the end of the warranty, just like when Gary Storm sold Detector Pro, the new owner's would not update my headphone's , even though they kept the Detector Pro Name, they said since the phones were made when Gary owned the business NO Go , it doesn't look good . For anyone owning one of there machines , wish you the best, Earl
 
As far as I am concerned, once a company goes belly up the warranty is null and void. There is no body remaining to replace or repair your item.
 
Means nothing to me.
More like a baiting by a manufacturer.
We see stuff advertised all the time with lifetime warranty.p on TV.
And I’ll a lot of it is made in China.

Question is whose life is it referring?
Mine, the product itself or the sellers.

Let’s see, how about an anvil with a life time warranty. Lol
 
All it ever meant to me was the life of the product.
What that means is, if you have a product that has a lifetime warranty, and it goes bad on day 723, you may be told the "life" of the product was only 722 days, and you are SOL.
 
Assuming Tesoro is closing down completely (does anyone know for sure?), the best case scenario would probably be that its assets and warranty obligations were transferred to another company capable of fulfilling on the warranties.
 
Most of the posts in this thread offer logical possibilities as to what will happen to the Tesoro Warranty and we can speculate "until the IRS mails our tax returns", but we will just have to wait and see.

Maybe Tesoro will bounce back on their financial feet and continue on with a new marketing plan for the future, but that's probably a stretch and actually any number of things could happen. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer!


ToddB64
 
"Lifetime Warranty" on any product is a marketing gimmic now a days!...Its all in the fine print! With the modern electronics and Credit card purchases and whatnot, about nothing fails! ...Its not like an old Magnavox with vacuum tubes paid with cash......

"Lifetime Warrantys" are worthless! They have the life span of a Fruit Fly!...24hrs! Who has ever been questioned for a product warranty redemption claim by a fruit fly? A freaking fake plastic Banana mfg who sells decorative fruit baskets at TJMaxx?? Little Fruit fly says, "I dove in with great vigor, and this fake plastic banana broke off my front tooth!"..."I want justice!"

Boss Man of the wax banana factory says to the phone staff, "Ok..just wait for a little! He's just another little Fruit Fly complaining! Time is on our side! Run out the clock"...:laughing::laughing:

Digger Please!
 
I buy Cisco switches with a "Lifetime Warranty". The Cisco 3750X, for example, has only a 4 year life span. After that they are considered obsolete.
 
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