Unlimited software warranties (was Re: Mach from mt Xinu)

[John G. DeArmond]

peter at ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:

>> After all, it works for WallMart 
>> (wonder if Sam Walton being the richest man in America could be a 
>> lucky coincidence?), K-mart, Sears, and most reputable mail order operations.

>I'll save bandwidth and leave out my problems with Sears, the most
>reputable of the companies you have named, but let me just say that
>if you think this policy is alive and well you can't have had the bad
>luck to buy a lemon lately.

Boy! Talking about Freudian Slips.  I was thinking Macy's and typed
Sears.  I'd never buy even the time of day from Sears.  Sorry :-)

>But this is beside the point. The subject at hand is an *unlimited* money
>back warranty. I admit the shortage of 30 or 90 day money-back warrantees is
>a high priority on my "what I'd fix if I was god for a day" list, but an
>indefinite one is really just asking for trouble.

Why do you say that?  There is some really basic merchandising psychology 
involved here that should be intuitive but if not, is outlined in 
a number of books on the subject.  There are three important aspects of 
unlimited money-back warranties.  The first is, the no-questions-asked
removes the dishonesty quotient from the equation.  People no longer 
have to lie about the product or worse, destroy it, in order to 
get their money back.  Just like at K-mart.  You hand them the package and
the receipt and they hand you money.

Secondly, the comfort of knowing a remedy is available actually pursuades
people NOT to use it as fast.  This is a well-proven concept, a concrete
example of which is the self-infusion pumps now used by most hospitals to
administer pain killers.  The patient can get a dose when it's needed by
simply pushing the button.  Patients use less pain killer because they
know it is available all the time and thus they don't have to request
anticipatory doses.  The same with product warranties.  If I know I've only
got 10 days to return something, I'll cut my losses early and get it
right back.  If I know I always have the ultimate weapon at my disposal,
I'm likely to continue with trying to resolve problem.  

Third, the vendor sets up small threshold, called a "speed bump" by some
because of the analogy, that makes the customer take some small 
assertive action in order to avail themselves of the money-back warranty.
In a storefront, require the customer to bring the item to the customer
service desk.  Mail order, require the customer to call and get an RMA
number.  You don't ask questions of the customer, you simply require him
to do a little something extra.  The psychology is that  if the customer
really has the guts to bring in an obsolete and/or destroyed product,
give him his money back with a smile. This process will embarrass the majority
of the people who don't have a legitimate problems with the product.

Let's take our old whipping post friend, ISC Unix.  Would you really have
the guts to use the product for a year and then arbitrarily ask for your 
money back?  I would not.  On the other hand, if I'd been trying to 
get a bug fixed for a year OR if 2 years down the road, a new application 
came along where, say, the Inode bug made it impossible to run and the 
well known bug had not been fixed, sure I'd bundle it up and return it.

Money-back guarantees level the playing field for the consumer.  As it
is now, especially if you are foolish enough to pay any attention to 
shrink-wrap "license" fiction,  you are pretty much buying software on
blind faith with no recourse once you step through the trapdoor of 
plunking your money down.   Money-back warranties, whether voluntary or
forced on the industry by the government, gives the customer an alternative
to just eating the cost when he buys a pig in a poke and that pig turns
out to be dead.

john

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC        | "Purveyors of speed to the Trade"  (tm)
Rapid Deployment System, Inc. |  Home of the Nidgets (tm)
Marietta, Ga                  | 
{emory,uunet}!rsiatl!jgd      |"Politically InCorrect.. And damn proud of it