Lewmar winch handle - lifetime warranty? Guess not!

[phantomracer]

Had a Lewmar Titan winch handle fail (locking cam) .

Contacted Lewmar. Response was to buy a $30(+ shipping) repair kit to repair a $49 (west marine price) winch handle.

Not the end of the world. Not like I don't have other handles. Just shows lifetime doesn't mean lifetime apparently.

Sent them another email to see if they will comp the repair kit. We will see what happens.

Kinda surprised. So many other companies go above and beyond to ensure customers have good experiences with their products.

Still not as bad as my experience with KVH, another story for another time!

[Orion Jim]

If you have any supporting document which indicates your product was covered under a lifetime full replacement warranty there should be no question you have a case.
If you have a supporting document which indicates your product has a lifetime warranty the repair kit would fulfill their obligation but it should be supplied at no cost to the original owner. If you are not the original purchaser of the product the lifetime warranty may very well not be transferable and they would be correct to charge for the repair kit.

[phantomracer]

Lewmar has little info on their site.

Just saw it in the description on WM.

[chrisr]

My experience with lewmar is that they will honour a warranty...if you pressure them hard enough. don't expect it to be easy though...

whether it's worth the trouble for a $49 winch handle only you can say (my issues was somewhat bigger)

cheers,

[phantomracer]

Not going to put a lot of effort into it. If i win great. If not, i know where i stand with them when i have to make a purchase decision

[Jim Cate]

I note that the ad says "lifetime warranty against BREAKAGE". Yours does not seem to be broken, just worn. Perhaps that distinction is the basis for their reluctance to honor the claim.

Shabby, IMO, but to a bean counter quite reasonable.

Jim

[phantomracer]

Could be. At best it would be ambiguous. In contracts, it always goes in the favor of the party that did not draft the contract, which is what a warranty is.

To me, it is broken or it isn't. It is not usable now, to me, that is broken.

With no specifics, again, imo, ambiguous.

If it said excludes moving parts or something like that, it would be less ambiguous

[Celestialsailor]

I had a similar situation with Sitex. Bought a sounder that never worked properly from day 1. They swapped a read-out once before I took off cruising. I later told them it was still acting up while cruising. It had to be the transducer but would no longer swap out as it was out of warranty even though I had documented it with them on the phone prior. After pressuring them, they finally sold me a transducer at cost. As with everyone, I eventually upgrade my electronics from time to time. Do you think I will buy Sitex? Me thinks not.

[Curmugeon]

I have often noticed that lifetime warranties are only effective for the lifetime of the object... not my lifetime.

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Curmugeon

I have often noticed that lifetime warranties are only effective for the lifetime of the object... not my lifetime.

yup.. I couldn't find any actual text of the warranty..

However, Lewmar DID reach out and said the handle DID have a lifetime warranty, however, wants the receipt for proof of purchase. So that is something. I don't get if something has a lifetime warranty, that you need the receipt, other than to deny claims for people who don't keep receipts forever. However, I MIGHT have the receipt. Will have to look for it

[Orion Jim]

It is not unusual for “lifetime warranty” to not be transferable to subsequent owners, only the original owner with proof of purchase. Sears Roebuck taught the industry a lesson in being overly generous. It was one factor in their dramatic decline.

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I had a similar situation with Sitex. Bought a sounder that never worked properly from day 1. They swapped a read-out once before I took off cruising. I later told them it was still acting up while cruising. It had to be the transducer but would no longer swap out as it was out of warranty even though I had documented it with them on the phone prior. After pressuring them, they finally sold me a transducer at cost. As with everyone, I eventually upgrade my electronics from time to time. Do you think I will buy Sitex? Me thinks not.

Yup, to me, service is the name of the game. With B&G, the tridata failed out of warranty, they replaced it no questions asked, as well as other companies doing their best to be reasonable. Balmar swapped out a 614 regulator that failed well out of warranty as well. Streamlight swapping out a spotlight no questions after 5+ years of use. I guess I am just used to good service!

KVH held my (under warranty) fluxgate hostage for payment when I suspected it was defective. It wasn't but wanted something like $150 bench fee for testing a non-defective unit.

I was just kind of surprised at Lewmar making me jump through hoops for such a low cost item. I would respect them more if they just had say a 5 year warranty instead of lifetime when they know people will not hold their receipts . Eh, not the end of the world. if I feel motivated, I will go look for the receipt.

[Capt Clark]

Many warranties are against manufacturing defects. That way a lifetime warranty sound great but is only limited to defects in manufacturing. Most defects would be found in early use so a lifetime warranty is not much better than a 90 day warranty but sounds much better.

Capt Clark

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Capt Clark

Many warranties are against manufacturing defects. That way a lifetime warranty sound great but is only limited to defects in manufacturing. Most defects would be found in early use so a lifetime warranty is not much better than a 90 day warranty but sounds much better.

Capt Clark

yes, this warranty did state warranted against breakage. Yes that verbiage is often used to weasel out of a claim.

[Dooglas]

My usual problem with winch handles is when one is dropped overboard. I don't expect anyones lifetime warranty to reverse my mistakes.