Isn't it remarkable how short some manufacturers think your lifetime is going to be? As one reader recently discovered when he called for service under a limited lifetime warranty from SMC Networks, your life expectancy can be as little as two years. "I bought an SMC 8 port switch some time ago," the reader wrote. "On the front of the box it proclaimed 'Limited Lifetime Warranty.' I assumed that it was limited i Isn’t it remarkable how short some manufacturers think your lifetime is going to be? As one reader recently discovered when he called for service under a limited lifetime warranty from SMC Networks, your life expectancy can be as little as two years.“I bought an SMC 8 port switch some time ago,” the reader wrote. “On the front of the box it proclaimed ‘Limited Lifetime Warranty.’ I assumed that it was limited in that it was only good to the original purchaser or some such. It failed, I’ve called support and they inform me that support for that model was ended a year ago. So apparently my ‘lifetime’ is up!”The reader tried to find out why the warranty service had ended so soon, but without success. “All that I could really gather from the conversation was that this model’s support was ended a year ago,” the reader wrote. “I was talking to a ‘third party support organization’ – i.e, a bad phone connection to India — and I was lucky to get the very little information that I have. It was one of those support calls where you would ask a question and he would start from the top of his script at that point. Classic example of offshoring that has gone awry.” “They were nice enough to offer me another number where I could get support, however. Wait, you won’t fix it but this other phone will replace my switch? Yep, they told me, just give them a call and they will help. (OK, you’re probably already ahead of me .} I called the number which turns out to be a subscription ‘support’ number and they have NO intention of replacing the switch, which I really can’t blame them. They were going to give me a 3-month complimentary subscription ‘because I’m such a good customer,’ but they couldn’t replace the switch, so I had no need for their support contract.”When the reader first wrote me about his SMC experience, he wasn’t sure how long he’d had the switch, but then he managed to dig out the original recipt. “Found it – July 2003 for a price of about $65! Now I think I’m really upset. I.was figuring it was much longer than that AND a much lower price. Just gives me a much lower opinion of SMC. Switch doesn’t last but maybe three years, and apparently the limited lifetime warranty only lasts two. What a joke!”Read and post comments about this story here. Technology Industry