Fatima Muhammad

SAUDI GAZETTE

 

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a new “know your rights” statement in which it announced that all electric appliances, vehicles and electronics are to have at least a minimum of two years warranty.



The period gets extended if any delay is made due to maintenance or providing a repair part. This, stated the ministry, includes vehicles, phones, refrigerators, ACs and other similar products.



Salem Al-Matrafi, head of the Civil Defense in Jeddah, said they cooperate with the Ministry of Commerce to document any machines that are forged.



He told Saudi Gazette that compromised machines result in fires and added that they report to the ministry any such forgeries. “It is hard to provide any accurate statistics about the number of fires that are due to such products. We usually arrive at the location and find out the fire has damaged everything. But what we are sure about is that they are a main cause of fires because they cannot handle high power.”



Fahad Al-Otaibi, an investor in electronics, said his company does not offer any warranty that is less that two years. He said: “We do not have to wait until that ministry imposes this on us; we are already doing it.”



Ahmed Karim, a father of two, said a two-year warranty will only be a waste of ink. “The problem is that there is almost no benefit from getting a warranty paper. The moment you discover something wrong with the machine, you will be told that it is not included in the warranty.”



Karim said he recently bought a washing machine that has three-year warranty but could not even benefit after he discovered that his machine stops unexpectedly. To cut a long story short we just call up a technician to fix our stuff.” Samah Anwar, a student, bought a camera from a well-known shop here in Jeddah.



After six months she returned the camera as she noted the shots were not clear. The shop referred her to a maintenance office. However, the office told her the warranty does not include fixing the problem and if she wants she can pay over SR850 to get her camera fixed. “This is just a lesson for me not to buy expensive products,” said Anwar.