Third Party vs Original Equipment Manufacturer

Posted June 13, 2009 - 15:56 by iso.consultant
Any product you buy will some or the other day stop functioning. If it is under guaranty (not warranty) there is not much problem as you get original parts from the manufacturer free but if not you are asked to pay for the parts. 

If you check the open market, similar or same parts are available at one-fifth the price of the original or manufacturer supplied or original equipment manufacturer or manufacturer approved part. 

The main objective behind creating list of approved parts or vendors (by authorizing vendors to produce those parts of selecting from their lists) is to provide consumer with easy access to parts but this also creates monopoly and manufacturers use this opportunity to charge higher price to its customers.

Two situations faced by me recently, one when combo drive of my HP Presario V2000 laptop went out of order and I had no option but to replace it; The original equipment part (HP spare part number 373525-001) is almost INR 8000 ( USD 177 Approx) while similar drive manufactured by Sony and other vendors is only INR 2000 (USD 44 Approx). I was able to replace it with DVD-R (instead of Combo drive) for only INR 2500 (USD 55 Approx).

Second when battery of my battery operated scooter went out of order. 12V 20A (4 Nos) Chinese batteries were offered by manufacturer for INR 9500 (USD 211 Approx) while I was able to replace the same with better quality third party manufactured batteries for just INR 6000 (USD 133 Approx)

Manufacturer create fear in the consumer that if you use third party parts, warranty will not be available (Warranty void if third party parts are used). But legally this is not tenable. There are numerous court decisions that clearly spell out consumers right to obtain compatible parts at right price.

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