Lemon Law for cell phones

[Gcox]

In Illinois, state Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago) has proposed a bill that would allow customers to leave their contracts without penalty if their cell phones need to be repaired three times because of a manufacturing defect. The proposal has been dubbed the "Cell Phone Lemon Law." No other state has such a law on the books, although Tennessee is considering a similar law.

The bill needs to be approved by the Senate before it becomes law, but I'm willing to bet that it will pass. Some say that this would just cause the price of phones to go up. What do you think? (vote in the poll)

You can read the full article from the Chicago Tribune April 23, 2007 at this link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704220333apr23,1,3952576.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704220333apr23,1,3952576.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed)

Keep in mind that articles are moved to archives after a reasonable time so you might need to Google for it.

[indy101]

I don't know why we need a separate lemon law for each item. The FTC covers consumer products under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/adv/bus01.shtm#Magnuson-Moss

[donlemon]

Rhode Island has started the ball rolling by introducing such a lemon law.

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText09/SenateText09/S0632.pdf

[jonssmith1]

Cellphone Lemon Law Passed by US State Legislature

Published on: 30th April 2007

The Illinois House has passed a "cellphone lemon law" which would enable consumers to break their contract without financial penalty, if their handset develops a fault on three or more occasions. The lawmaker's bill also offers consumers the option of upgrading or downgrading their phone model by paying or being refunded only the difference in cost based on promotional prices - also without incurring penalty charges.

A proposal which would have required a mobile phone operator to pay a consumer $25 for each day the handset is unavailable to the consumer or each day the consumer does not have full access to all of the contracted services was rejected.

"When someone buys a cellphone that turns out to be defective, they have to go back to the provider for a repair or replacement," said Rep. Susana Mendoza, the Politician who promoted the law. "When this happens repeatedly, it burdens customers both in terms of time and money lost, but also with increased frustration. Cellular providers have an insufficient incentive to be responsive because the consumer is usually locked into a long-term contract."

The House bill, which was approved by a 72-to-43 margin, now heads to the Senate for consideration.