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Show Consumer protection bill comes before California assembly this month UThe 5 iMlBusiness Computer i, ,!,.., ii. i.ih ui by FrankIynll Peterson and Judy K-Turkel California's Silicon Valley has given us more than its share of computer innovations. But a big one is taking shape three hours' drive north of there. It's the country's first computer consumer protection legislation. legis-lation. It came about because Los Angeles Assemblywoman Gloria Molina got burned buying her first computer. A constituent sent her our column on "what to do if your Apple turns into a lemon." She phoned and together we started drafting a bill that narrowed a buyer's chances of getting stuck. We were asked to fly to Sacramento to testify at Molina's Consumer Affairs Committee hearing hear-ing on the bill. Everybody had expected opposition from big guns inside the computer industry. Sure enough, lobbyists for two big-name manufacturers had already made members think that if they voted for the bill, they'd be voting for unemployment in computer-industrialized towns. But the only spoken opposition at the hearing was from the president of the Association of Better Computer Dealers. Molina invited the ABCD after they told us they favored consumer protection. In person, they tried to convince legislators that the industry would clean up itself. We left Sacramento feeling the damage had been done. The bill had been tabled and looked doomed. Suddenly, just a week later, the bill surfaced again, rewritten and surprise of surprises beefed up. And even after Computerland and the electronics industry's trade association spoke out opposing it, a special session of the committee passed the stronger bill. Even Byron Sher, who represents the heart of Silicon Valley, voted yes. When we talked later, he said he'd done it after consulting the same industry bigwigs who'd opposed the first bill. Why did they all do a quick about-face? Assemblywoman Molina thinks that one point that came out during our committee testimony got a lot of legislators and industry execs thinking. "Unlike most U.S. industry," indus-try," we argued, "computer makers are now suddenly on hard times. Why? Because consumers have become distrustful of the whole industry. They're not buying, because they're afraid of getting burned." It is our opinion that this bill can help restore confidence that computer makers can be trusted. Molina's bill comes to Assembly vote this month, and later to the California Senate. Since she began her crusade, we've also heard from Florida, Rhode Island and Wisconsin legislators who seem eager to introduce the bills. The California . bill is now so good, you may want to clip and forward these main points to your state legislators along with a note about your experiences as a computer consumer. The bill covers the "sale or lease of a computer hardware of software product." Recognizing that you often buy because of a sales pitch, it also covers what's said in those pitches, including "the manufacturers' manufactur-ers' and seller's implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose... and the manufacturer's andor sellers' express warranty that the product conforms to, promises or factual affirmations made for their respective advertisements." In short, it makes computer ads a part of your warranty and then defines an ad as "any commercial message in a brochure, manual or any advertising medium that promotes the product's sale or lease." Then it "makes warranties which are created creat-ed by the bill non-disclaimable, non-modifiable and non-limitable." The bill provides that if there's a "breach of any warranty... in the event that a warranty limits a buyer's remedy to repair or replace, and that remedy fails to cure defect, the buyer may either reject the goods or may revoke acceptance of the goods up to one year from thej product's purchase or installation,! whichever occurs later." ft Here's the clause that puts teeth, in the bill: "In connection with enforcing his or her warranty rights;! the buyer shall be awarded reasonable attorneys' fees, litigation; expenses, and triple damages if the manufacturer or seller willfully fails to accept the buyer's rightful rejection or justifiable nonaccept ance of the merchandise within a reasonable time after receiving notice from the buyer." Legislators spearheading similar bills elsewhere are: Supervisor Dorothy Dean, 901 N. 9th St:;' Milwaukee, Wis. 53233; Assembly1 man Rene Lafayette, State Capitol;; Providence, R.I. 02903; Senator Pat Frank, 238 E. Davis Blvd., Tampa, Fla. 33606. ,tl The authors will answer questions and send a checklist of available back; issues. Send a stamped, self'' addressed envelope. Comparative details on computed price and performance are found in a, new 4, 000-word special report,: "Your Personal Computer Buying, Guide." For your copy, send $3 for Report FP02, in care of The ParR Record, P.O. Box 3688, Park City UT 84060. You can read back issues of these columns on NewsNet's5 on-line data base: for details, 1-800-345-1301. ? (C) 1985 PK Associates, Inc Distributed by Tribune Media , Services, Inc." .CU5?i AS i SI, x y wuL |
