HAYLOW folks,,,,
I am doing a little reading tonight,,,, I haven't had much time to lately,,,, this subject is dear to me heart. Fortunately (HAHA) I have been to court a couple of times regarding warranty/guaranty and contracts. If I can shed a little light on this,,,,, When we talk about warranty we are talking about insurance and this is a fact! Also with this language we have to understand LIABILITY. Who did what wrong? Right? Not really,,, not with a paid insurance policy, it is only a question of how much for what time period is my company LIABLE for!!!!! Well,,,, if there is a warranty/guaranty in place as part of the contract it has to have a VALUE. In other words, a PRICE for the warranty,,,, this is how I understand the contract law. If for some reason there is not a price (cost) (value of) for the warranty then actually the warranty cannot be defendable in court when any customer invokes the court for relief from the contractor. Also, we would not be protecting our operation and OUR NET with such an open ended insurance policy.
I suggest that you LINE ITEM the warranty on the contract or better yet have in place a seperate WARRANTY PAGE to be made part of the contract if the customer desires to! Yup,,,, give the customer the opportunity to explain exactly what kind of warranty and for how long they want the plants to be covered by this warranty. Give the details of the warranty INCLUDING THE ADDITIONAL COST or VALUE of this warranty coverage. This would also be explained as an optional extended warranty. I know,, I know,,, sooooo many contractors GIVE a year or whatever and most of the time do not charges for it,,,, they say it is part of the job?? HUH?? then somewhere there is a TRUE COST for this and the customer should be made aware of the fact! When the customer says well,, abc contractor doesn't charge for the warranty on the bid I asked for,,,,, all you have to do is explain the TRUTH. If the value or cost of the warranty is not clear or not clearly outlined in the proposal then most likely that will be what the warranty value is,,,,,, nothing,,,,,
Listen folks,,,, if you are not sure of this then seperate yourself from the mass amount of LCO who do warranty wrong. Tell your prospective customer that you give a company STANDARD 30 day warranty on all plant material,,,, no questions asked. You will replace FREE including labor for any plant within 30 days. After the INCLUDED warranty the customer may purchase an additional, OPTIONAL extended warranty from you for 6 months, 9 months, 12 months or what ever you negotiate, that includes any plant replacements up to $200,,,, or,,, $500,,,, or $5,000,,,, whate ever you negotiate and the customer is willing to pay for. NOW,,, IF YOU WANT TO BLOW YOUR COMPETITION AWAY,,,,, TELL YOUR PERSPECTIVE CUSTOMER THAT YOU WILL INCLUDE IN WRITING WITH THE WARRANTY TO REFUND 100% OF THE WARRANTY COST NOT USED FOR REPLACEMENTS TO THE CUSTOMER AFTER THE WARRANTY PERIOD IS OVER!!!!!!!!(maybe a small service charge would be non refundable) Tell them your not in this to sell insurance policies,,,, unlike your competition,,,, your not trying to make additional NET from selling warranties, that normally is not used, you would rather the customer use the money for additional up grades for plants etc etc. If they stay on the tune that ABC doesn't charge for a warranty then stick to your guns and tell the customer that you will give them the same warranty for the same time at the same price as your competition,,,, this will force your competition to come clean on there TRUE contract PRICE,,,,, and just what is the more PROFESSIONAL way of contracting,,,,, and,,,, still offer the refund back after the coverage time has expired! Always give another option that you will cover the install for LIFE,,,,,,,,,, as long as you have the maintenance contract with the customer. No contract for maint. then the guarantee is over. Of course this would be for new installation only.
Just remember,,,,, liability has to be handled at the point of contracting,,,, not afterward,,,,, afterward normally leads to bad feelings between you and your customer, court, and for sure the LOSS OF NET!!!! using my method will keep you from %^$#$% types of customers taking advantage of your best intentions.
Sorry so long,,,,, I believe I just had a fix!!!!!! A GTX FIX!!!! LOLOL
I hope everyones season is going GREAT!
Take care
Rick Carver