Well, I heard about the new warranty last week or so. Do they really think I am going to keep 25 years of receipts? What a bunch of fart heads. Guess I have purchased my last Waterman/Parker. satrap From: "richard.jarvis@xxxxxxxxxx" <richard.jarvis@xxxxxxxxxx> Reply-To: <fptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:38:27 -0500 (EST) To: "pens@xxxxxxxx" <pens@xxxxxxxx> Cc: <fptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Parker and Waterman No Longer Life Time Warranties Sanford Brands has announced the following changes effective January 1, 2007: "The current 'Life Time Warranty' will be replaced by a new 'Limited Warrany,' which has a three-year gurantee for Waterman Products and a two-year gurantee for Parker products. Consumers can extend these warranties by an additional two years by registering online at www.parkerpen.com or www.waterman.com." "The new warranty will be gradually added to products shipped ... over the course of 2007. Warranty changes in stroe will only effectively being to take place throught he end of the first quarter or later int he year. Any inventory ... currently [in stock] or [received]that state 'Life Time Warranty,' will be honored as such. "At this time we will also be making changes regarding how our sevice centers handle repairs. -- In order for any work to be carried out free of charge under eith the 'Life Time Warranty' or the 'Limited Warranty,' we will require the consumer's proof of purchase. This can be in the form of a duly complted and dated warranty leaflet or a dated receipt containg a product description. -- If we do not have a proof of purchase, we will consider thatn the repair is no covered under either warranty. -- We will no longer be offering the sale of spare parts to retailers -- We will be revising our prices for repairs to be more in line with global competitors in the market" Further information from Sanford indicates that they intend to make Waterman a more up-market brand to distinguish it from the Parker brand. Basically, Sanford goes on to state, that pens that break after two or three years break because of wear or use and not because of manufacturing defects. A lot of the accompanying materials also indicate they will take a hard line on repairs and intend to start charging consumers fully for the costs of repairs on out-of-warranty pens or those that are not properly documented as to whether the owner is the original owner. So, if you're buying a Parker or Waterman, make sure you register the pen online and, for now, perhaps ask if the pen is one that still has the the "Life Time Warranty" on it when you buy it from a dealer. ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.