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Companies buy parts, supplies and types of equipment every day. They spend tremendous amounts of time negotiating pricing, delivery and all the associated costs on these required purchases. Their receiving departments receive the parts they meticulously order, use them and then 21 months later when those parts break down, no one remembers to ask about unexpired warranties.
Stop spending money and ask first if it is still covered. Inquire about warranties. The urge to get the part replaced should be stopped to take time to inquire whether the failed or broken product is still under warranty. Some reputable vendors will keep track for you or inform you of the part’s current warranty status, but only if you call the original supplier where you bought the parts the first time. Because of this problem, your firm needs to track warranties on its important and most expensive purchases internally.
Add a warranty expiration date to your purchase orders. If your software does not have a warranty expiration date for purchases, have your IT people install or create one. When you issue purchase orders, warranty periods should appear on the body of the document and the expiration date should be entered at the time of purchase. If nothing else, do this for items over $500 or $1,000 at a minimum (you select the cutoff point).
Before spending money, have buyers inquire about the warranty. Once this procedure is put into place, teach your employees about asking about warranties on company purchases. Teach your employees to inquire about maintenance warranties to see if your company is owed any money when a piece of equipment fails.
Have extended warranties negotiated at the time of purchase. It may be preferable to force the procurement of new piece or replacement piece of equipment to be approved by one person who will enforce inquiry about any existing warranty to help cover the company’s expense exposure. Have all contracts go through a warranty review before signing the final signature. If the warranty is missing, negotiate one. If it is not long enough, get multiple bids.
Claim your credit remaining on failed parts still under warranty. When the vendor replaces a part, they should give the remaining period of time or pro-rated value left on the other part that failed. This will only happen if your company returns to the correct vendor; it will not if your purchasing people inadvertently call someone else for replacement parts. This is the same situation that happens when people experience a bad car battery in warranty. Most people realize that if taken back to the same vendor within the warranty period, a pro-rated credit for the remaining months will be applied to the cost of the replacement batter.
