Class Action Alleges Dyson Unlawfully ‘Ties’ Product Warranties to Authorized Repairs, Parts [DISMISSED]

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Dyson faces a proposed class action lawsuit that claims the company has unlawfully conditioned the validity of consumers’ product warranties on the use of only authorized repair services or replacement parts.

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The 20-page lawsuit says that the company has run afoul of federal and state laws by selling products with warranties that tie continued coverage to the use of Dyson’s repair services and replacement parts alone, instead of allowing consumers to fix a product themselves or utilize a third party.

According to the suit, Dyson’s variety of consumer products—such as vacuum cleaners, hair care products, fans, lamps and more—include two- or five-year limited warranties that uniformly state that “modification that may impact a product’s resale, refurbishment, restoration or usability will void the terms of your product’s warranty.”

A consumer attempting to modify or repair a product themselves could therefore void their warranty based on this repair restriction, which the case claims is “unlawfully broad” because it “does not only apply to covered warranty services.” For instance, the limited warranty “does not cover normal wear of parts” or the “[r]emoval of blockages,” meaning that a consumer could invalidate their coverage by independently fixing their clogged vacuum, even though this repair is not covered by the warranty without a fee, the complaint relays.

Per the filing, a consumer seeking replacement parts for a product is directed by Dyson to its website, where parts authorized under the warranty are sold at a premium price. According to the lawsuit, “[t]here is no option on this website to obtain free parts for [products] that are still under warranty.”

Though manufacturers purportedly try to pass off such repair restrictions as attempts to “protect intellectual property rights” or prevent botched repairs and injuries to consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—which has lately warned several companies about their unlawful use of so-called “tying arrangements”—rejects these arguments, the suit explains.

“There is no justification for [Dyson’s] repair restrictions since the technology inside many of [the company’s products] is well known and simple, and the repair restriction is irrelevant as to any consideration of personal injury or improper repairs,” the case shares.

As the complaint tells it, the FTC elected in 2021 to increase law enforcement against warranty restrictions that preclude businesses and consumers from making product repairs.

The plaintiff, a New York resident, purchased a Dyson V7 cordless vacuum for $299 in January 2020, the filing says. Soon after, the vacuum’s filter began to malfunction and become clogged—a problem the woman attempted to fix by minorly disassembling the product and removing the blockages, the lawsuit describes. The suit states that, in doing so, the plaintiff voided her vacuum’s coverage based on the terms of Dyson’s limited warranty.

According to the case, the plaintiff would not have paid as much for the Dyson vacuum, or bought it at all, had she known that a repair restriction in its warranty would prevent her from fixing it.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased a Dyson product with warranty provisions that prohibit self-repair and/or the use of unauthorized parts.

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