warranty is not insuranceWARRANTY is intended to cover consumers for manufacturing defects for a limited time. It's a guarantee that a product has been made correctly, that you are getting what you paid for.

INSURANCE will cover you for things like accidental damage, malicious damage, and loss and theft.

Understanding these differences is essential, particularly because some consumers are being misled when it comes to warranties, which are absolutely no replacement for insurance.

The ACCC has issued a warning to jewellers about extended warranties. There have been complaints there are some jewellers making claims that an extended warranty has certain benefits when it does not, and that an extended warranty provides additional benefits which consumers are in fact already entitled to.

Australian Consumer Law (ACL) provides consumers with automatic guarantees. Depending on the product purchased, these guarantees could last beyond any warranty provided.

Several business have been taken to court by the ACCC, including Hewlett-Packard Australia, who had been making misleading claims to their customers regarding their rights. This included telling them that the warranty period for HP products was limited to a specific amount of time, and that the customer would have to pay extra to extend this period.

The important thing to remember here is that according to the ACCC, extended warranties should only be offered to consumers if they provide benefits beyond what consumers get automatically under the consumer guarantees. If any business sells extended warranties any less than or the same as what people are already entitled to, it leads consumers to think that they are getting extra benefits when they are not.

This puts an even stronger emphasis on the fact that warranty is no replacement for insurance. Not only is warranty entirely insufficient if you were to lose or damage your new engagement ring or other piece of jewellery, but you can't even be sure that paying for extra services will make any difference!