Guarantee
Difference between Warranty and Guarantee
The term "warranty" originates from the law on sales and differs significantly in its legal meaning within the EU from that of "guarantee". The warranty covers liability for material defects and defects of title and represents a law of obligations as a guarantee for defects. In contrast to the guarantee, the warranty refers to the consumer's statutory claim against the seller.
The warranty comprises a voluntary declaration of liability for warranted characteristics, which usually also relate to the use or scope of use. In most cases, warranty and product liability are interrelated and are issued by the manufacturer or distributor of a product.
In the European Union, the Consumer Sales Directive (EU-99/44) sets uniform minimum standards for warranties in commercial sales to private end consumers. In particular, the limitation period may not be less than two years from delivery. Within the first six months, the burden of proof must generally lie with the seller.
Legal status of a manufacturer's warranty
A manufacturer's warranty is an independent stand-alone warranty contract with the manufacturer or distributor of a good. Such a warranty does not take effect by a general advertising statement or catalog liability, it must be declared at the time of purchase by a warranty card or by a warranty contract handed out. In such a warranty contract, the conditions of a warranty claim must be precisely defined. According to EU law of obligations, a manufacturer's warranty is automatically transferred if the product is sold to another person, such as through Ebay and other portals. Whether the exclusion of such a warranty transfer via the general terms and conditions or the warranty contract itself has legal standing is assessed by the courts depending on the circumstances.
Legal status of an edge impact guarantee
One of the natural material properties of porcelain and ceramic tableware is its lability to break or fracture when subjected to a strong mechanical load - when struck or dropped. In particular, resellers (dealers) and commercial customers (hotels, restaurants, catering) are aware of these disadvantageous properties of ceramic tableware, or are assumed to be aware of these properties by the responsible courts.
The advertising of porcelain or ceramic tableware with an edge-impact guarantee is done exclusively in order to inspire particular confidence in the goods offered and thus to favor the conclusion of a contract over other manufacturers - without such a guarantee.
= Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection - Federal Office of Justice
In case of doubt the seller is liable for the manufacturer
If a seller (dealer) advertises an edge impact or breakage guarantee to his customers - e.g. by passing on catalogs - any claims against the manufacturer pursuant to Section 311 (3) of the German Civil Code (BGB) may also be transferred to the seller if the manufacturer fails to fulfill its warranty liability or is no longer able to do so due to insolvency or liquidation.
Guarantees on porcelain - without legal and practical existence
On our homepage knowledge - buy and use we have disclosed some common exclusion conditions of such warranty statements for porcelain - such as that of edge impact resistance - from the fine print. Due to the legal status of a manufacturer's warranty (see above) and the exclusion conditions, we believe that all current manufacturer warranties for breakage resistance or edge impact resistance of porcelain and ceramic tableware are without any legal standing and represent a risk for the seller.
Apart from that, it lacks practical handling.
The end consumer must register with the manufacturer within a specified period and even submit a copy of the seller's commercial invoice. Apart from the fact that this is more than questionable from a data protection point of view, the manufacturer gains an insight into the calculations of its retail partners in this way and all the customer data free of charge. For every retailer, such warranty conditions are the voluntary self-sacrifice of their own sales competence.
No unserious guarantees from Holst Porzellan
Holst Porcelain praises the quality and especially the durability of the "High-Alumina Porcelain" in the combination of "physical resistance" and "hardness" in a special way. We could give 10 years and more edge-impact durability guarantees when used as intended. But we don't do that because it is dishonest, unprofitable, legally ineffective and hardly feasible in practice.
Of course we carry the full warranty for our products! But each of our end users knows that porcelain breaks if you throw it down or hit it hard against each other. None of our enlightened dealers would like to send us voluntarily the data of their end customers together with prices for our porcelain. No one wants to pack a package for a broken plate for less than 20 euros, fill out questionnaires and, in case of doubt, conduct time-consuming correspondence, so that afterwards it is said: "The damage is due to improper use".
By the way, most of such so-called "warranty statements" are dedicated to dishes that are not made of real porcelain.
Real porcelain does not need such advertising statements!