A warranty information page

A published promise is binding

Anything you say about standing behind your work becomes a term a customer can rely on. That is the point of publishing it, and it is also why the wording needs to be precise rather than generous-sounding.

Ambiguity generally resolves against the party that wrote it. A warranty saying we will always put things right means exactly what it says, in every circumstance the customer can think of.

So write what you actually intend to do. Our page on honest claims covers the principle. Nothing here is legal advice, and warranty law varies by place.

Say what is covered and what is not

Parts, labor, call-out, materials supplied by the customer, work by others afterward, wear, misuse, and anything outside your control. Each of those needs a position rather than silence.

Silence is read as covered. A warranty that does not mention labor will be understood to include it, and arguing otherwise after a failure is an expensive conversation.

Be specific about what voids it. Tampering, unauthorized repairs, use outside the intended purpose and failure to maintain are the usual ones, and each has to be stated.

Duration and what starts the clock

State the period and the date it runs from. Completion, invoice, installation and first use are all different dates, and disputes over a warranty period usually turn on which one applied.

Say whether the period is the same for parts and labor, since they frequently differ. A twelve month warranty covering parts for five years is a good offer that reads as confusing.

And say whether it transfers if the property is sold. Buyers ask, and a clear answer either way is worth more than a policy nobody wrote down.

What the page must state

The list below is what turns a warranty from a marketing line into a document. Every item missing is a question that gets answered by whoever is arguing about it later.

• Exactly what is covered, itemized
• Exactly what is excluded
• The period, and the date it runs from
• Whether parts and labor differ
• What the customer must do to claim
• What voids the warranty
• Whether it transfers with the property

How to make a claim

Say who to contact, what evidence is needed, how long you take to respond, and what happens next. A warranty with no claim process is one that feels like a refusal when it is tested.

Keep the route simple and monitored. A claim that goes to an unread address becomes a complaint, and a complaint about a warranty is far more damaging than the original fault.

Respond within the time you stated. The whole value of publishing a warranty is the confidence it creates, and a slow claim undoes that for every customer who hears about it.

Statutory rights sit underneath

Consumers usually have rights that apply regardless of what a warranty says, and a warranty adds to those rather than replacing them. Wording that appears to remove them is generally ineffective and may be unlawful.

Say plainly that your warranty is in addition to any rights the customer has by law. That single sentence is standard, honest and protective.

Take advice on what applies where you trade. Our compliance pages explain what rules generally cover by trade, and nothing on this site is legal advice.

Keeping the page and the paperwork aligned

The website, the quote, the invoice and any certificate you issue all need to say the same thing. Differences between them are what disputes are built from, and an answer engine repeating the loosest version makes it worse.

Keep a dated copy of each version of the page. A customer claiming under a warranty from three years ago is claiming under what the page said then, not what it says now.

Review it whenever your terms change. Our page on terms covers how the pieces fit together, and a warranty is the part most often updated in only one place.