Crappy warranty service goes across the field and across industries. But always expect rubbish answers from the first person you talk to. I had a Palm T|X that had a broken 5-way navigator after 11 months (1-year warranty). Of course, the first thing the support person wanted me to do was a hard reset (hit reset while holding "up"). I kept explaining that "up" was physically broken and it wasn't really possible to do that. It's really hard for them to get past that step in their script.

Anyways, I finally got someone who realized it wasn't software, but he didn't want to replace it. He said they would only replace it if it was defective. I said it broke in under a year, and that is the definition of defective. He said if it broke in the first 90 days, they would have covered it (I think he was off script). I asked him how many days were in a year cause it was sure as hell more than 90. I asked him where the warranty said anything at all about 90 days. I realized that he would never hang up and decided I wouldn't either. We went around-and-around for a good 45 minutes before he agreed to fix it.

Anyways, these gadgets are nothing compared to my warranty problems today. I have a '01 Honda Odyssey. In 2002, Honda realized that there was a material defect in the transmission on several Honda models (from '99-'01) and they extended the warranty to 7 years or 100K. (In 2006, they settled a class action lawsuit and extended it an additional 9 months or 109K). Well, here I am with only 60K but a 9 year old Honda and the transmission goes out. Technically, I'm out of warranty.

The problem is 100% related to the known defect. Apparently, they now handle these on a "case-by-case" basis rather than outright denying claims. I had to fax them my maintenance records and now I get to wait around to see how much they're willing to spend. Depending on the outcome, I'm looking to spend anywhere between $0-$4,600. On a problem that they know was their own fault.

Ultimately, what's legal in a warranty is a function of how many people are willing to sue and how willing the company is to sacrifice their reputation. In 2001, Honda had the top reputation in the industry (the main reason we chose Honda). Apparently, that reputation is worth less than the cost to fix their own mistakes.

Nokia never had that great of a reputation to start with...