cM :: MORLEY|DIGITAL

One of the differentiators that companies, be they integrators or AIB (add-in-board) partners, use in the PC tech business is their warranties.  And like the herd mentality that’s so prevalent in this business, what one does that’s even slightly successful is quickly duplicated by the rest.

In the AIB business, soon lifetime warranties became commonplace, and even “double lifetime” warranties.  For companies that merely slapped stickers on boards manufactured by someone else, there was little else they could do.

When I spoke to other AIB companies that resisted the option to go to lifetime warranties, their response was simple: “It’s not a sustainable business model, period.   And sooner or later it will come back to bite you in the ass.”

Seemed plausible to me and applicable to the integration side of the business.  PC components will fail.  No matter how much testing you put into a system, you simply cannot predict when a component will go bad over the life of a system.  But it happens.  And when it does, if the system is under warranty, you have to fix it.  And every time that you pick up the phone, replace a part, or send a tech out, that costs you money.

It costs you money to have someone answer that phone call, answer that email, or schedule an on-site tech - and then you have to pay shipping for the part or the system, pay the on-site tech, and then wash, rinse, and repeat if something goes wrong.  Anyone who tells you that they never have to go through this is either lying or hasn’t been in business that long.  Props to EVGA doing the right thing and reigning back in on this.

So when you see a company offering ridiculously low prices, infinite number of configuration choices, and then claim to offer superior customer service for several years free of charge, think twice.  The simple fact is this is unsustainable.  If you do not make enough money on each machine you build to support that customer and future customers it will catch up with you.  Offering infinite configuration choices will compound the issue.  And adding more and more years to your warranty free of charge will bite you in the ass.  I’ve seen it happen.  I’d say ask Monarch Computers if they hadn’t already gone out of business.