warranty

[andrea]

Has anyone found that their 5 year warranty is ending 2 years early? 3 years early? What is going on? I just got a notice that my warranty is almost up, and now they want to sell me a service contract. My oldest machine is not quite 3 years old. Any input?

[sschroed2]

YUP! same thing happened to me. I even sent copies of my sales contract showing the I had a 5 yr warranty. Melco said they could see how I misunderstood but they don't have a 5 yr . Said it's like a car warranty, bumper to bumper is only 2 yr and then told me that only the main things like driveshaft, etc in a car were warrantied for 5 years. I argued and told them before I purchased my machine, I specifically ask and was specifically told that it was a five years unlimited warranty. Far as I was concerned there wasn't any misunderstanding, but rather they were not standing behind their product as stated. Unfortunately I had a major failure when the issue came up. The best I could do was they gave me the parts at no cost and reduced my bill for the tech to fix the machine. A bargain in their eyes but not mine.

I was going to have an attorney look over everything, but then I incurred an injury and felt guilty that I went so long without doing so and paid the reduced bill.

[sschroed2]

As an added note, please let me know if you find a way to get the warranty honored.

[Maureen]

Agreed, the quote states "5 year warranty." It's not broken down into "2 year all inclusive" and "5 year other stuff not likely to break."

[levelbest]

What does the contract say that you signed. Legally, a quote is a quote, a contract is a contract. Not splitting hairs or saying that isn't exactly what you were promised, just curious whether you signed a contract before you handed your money over or just a quote and what wording was on the document you signed. I'd be challanged to find if/what we signed many years ago when we bought our first machine.

[Steve]

My car has a 4 year or 48,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty (whichever comes first.) Why can't Melco keep it simple like 5 years or 500 million stitches (whichever comes first.) Maybe I'm thinking in terms that are to simple and easy for people to understand???

[Maureen]

Obviously the contract states 2/5 years since Melco is not allowing 5 years, but I think everyone expect that what they are signing is what they were quoted verbally or in writing. The quote I have has every item spelled out with the prices for each. It says "5 year warranty." Being more specific like "2 year all inclusive warranty, 5 year big stuff warranty" instead of just "5 year warranty" on the detailed quote would prevent having people disappointed or angry later. What you see up front is what you think you're getting. The sales people are marketing to people to start a business, not just established business people. I'm sure it's all our own faults for not reading better what we signed, but no one expects to see one thing on the quote and something different on the contract.

[sschroed2]

The contract does NOT say 2 or 5 years. But the contract or it may have been in the terms & conditions that it says see the warranty policy for limitations or something like that. The problem for me was I did my entire order via email with the salesperson I had spoke with at one of the shows and then mailed the signed contract back and never got the actual warranty policy. Being new to this, I still feel I was mislead! I ask specific questions about warranty and was led to believe it was 5 year unlimited parts & labor. As bad as car salepeople can be I've never had one mislead me on the warranty or have it go down the way the sale of the AMAYA did. The first time I actually got a copy of the warranty policy was when I had a part breakI actual and was told it wasn't covered under warranty. I actually had to ask for the terms & conditions and repeatedly ask about warranty. Warranty was a main concern to me because this was to be a home based business and I didn't have a lot of cash up front. NO ONE will ever convince me that I wasn't intentionally mislead and it sounds like it's happening to others.

Melco sales reps have always seemed pleasant, nice and informative, so I stupidly thought I had no reason to doubt what I was being told. I'm not an idiot, but this sure made me feel like one.

The people I dealt with at Denver were also nice, and I think tried to work with me but would not go so far as to honor the 5 yr.

End result, lesson learned, if the machine ever has a major failure again, I'm done. I paid cash for my machine, thank goodness I don't have a lease to worry about.

The funniest part is, one reason I went with Melco was because I thought they seem more professional and honest. The other companies I spoke with at the show were quick to put Melco down and say how bad the AMAYA machine was and it wouldn't last. Melco reps didn't say anything bad about the other companies. But I wonder if the warranty thing is handled the way it is because they don't have long term confidence in their product.

[levelbest]

"But I wonder if the warranty thing is handled the way it is because they don't have long term confidence in their product."

I don't think thats a fair statement at all - if so, everything every company sold would come with a lifetime warranty. Warranty work and service/support work costs companies money and a decision is made as to how long to warranty a given product based on what is standard in the industry and what makes sense for a company offering it. You can search online how much it costs every time a customer calls in about a product (it's a lot) as there's plenty of data on that out there. There is a tradeoff on what is reasonable and the cost of support you build into the initial cost of the machine. You could have an unlimited warranty on something but you'd pay a ton more upfront.

I certainly do think a simplification of terms and a clearer statement both verbally and in writing by melco is in order - as this subject seems to pop up every 4-6 months here. I just spent ten minutes tooling around the melcousa.com site trying to find warranty information on the Amaya with no luck.

[Steve]

"I just spent ten minutes tooling around the melcousa.com site trying to find warranty information on the Amaya with no luck."
I couldn't find anything easily available online either. I poked around Tajima's website as well for about 5 minutes and found nothing easily found online. SWF advertises a 5-year warranty as stated: In addition to the two-year parts and labor warranty, SWF East, Inc. warrants "parts only"coverage of all shafts, pulleys, bearings, bushings and gears on your new SWF embroidery machine for a period of five-years from the date of installation.

[Maureen]

Sorry, I should have said that obviously from Melco's point of view the full warranty is only 2 years. It is not obvious to a potential buyer when the quote, which specifies what you're expecting to get for your money, says 5 years, nothing else.

[Jenny]

When we bought our Amaya XT in Dec. 2006 our salesman Gerald in N.C. explanined to us about the 5 year warranty. He told us that it was not a full 5 year that it was broken down like some of you are saying. Gerald was so helpful with me in our buying experience and has stayed in contact with us. Last time I had an e-mail from him was several months ago now I had a question for him and he wrote back to me the very next day.
I wasn't sure he would remember me but he did because he even stated that he was sorry for us that our college team lost to our biggest rival last year.

[Steve]

Gerald is the only honest salesperson Melco has. It's a shame they took away some states from him about 10 years ago. The guy can remember everything. Even if you only see him once a year at a trade show, he remembers your name. It's too bad every salesperson can't be like him.

[Sewfly]

"Gerald is the only honest salesperson Melco has."

Wow, Steve! That is a pretty strong statement. Have you had dealings with EVERY salesperson Melco has? I'm not saying there aren't bad salesreps with Melco, but to say there is ONLY ONE HONEST salesperson is not right either. Unfortunately, the bad deeds of some people tend to overshadow the good of others.

I will say that my salesperson, Haven, is like Gerald. She remembers names after one meeting.....replies PROMPTLY to emails as well as phone calls....and has called numerous times "out of the blue" to see how everything is going. I don't just consider Haven my Melco salesperson or contact, but a business friend. I don't think I am the only customer of Haven's who has had and continues to have a great experience with her.

Susan

[Steve]

I have had 5 salespeople in the past 5 years. (To be honest I have no clue who my current salesperson is since the last one passed away a year ago.) You would think Melco could at least send an email informing everyone in that territory who the new salesperson is so Denver's receptionist isn't flooded with "who is my salesperson now?" Or how about a personal touch, have the new salesperson call every customer and say "Hi I'm your new Melco salesperson and here is my number if you need anything"
Gerald used to be my parents salesperson when he covered Maryland (Melco took Maryland away from Gerald about 10 yeas ago.) My parents never had a problem with him and he would call about every 6 months or so just to check in (and of course ask if they need another machine. It really wasn't a sales call but just to check in and chat and see if we need anything which was great.) Gerald is very good at following up and solving issues. Once Gerald was no longer the salesperson for Maryland, everything went downhill from there as far as salespeople go. I have never had a salesperson call me since 2002 (2002 is when I stated my biz but my parents had been customers since well before then) to see how things are going for me. The personal touch really left when Gerald lost Maryland and never got it back. If Gerald was still my sales rep, I would probably buy another Melco because he can get things done if you ask him and handles isues. I still haven't gotten an answer as for why Melco couldn't tell me why they can't notify their customers Live Designer is about to expire and ask if we wanted renewed instead of just pulling all the content thinking it's the customers responsibility to call a sales rep to pay again for another 12 months. Sales people are on commission, they should be calling me, not the other way around when something is about to expire. I know Gerald would be slamming some heads around in Denver if I called him on this. No one at Melco seems to care about my business. It's amazing the difference one salesperson in a company can make.