Consumers rarely mail in warranties. Consumers register their warranties on the site. Peripheral players such as retailers and service shops can also access the site.
Retailers can also check on fraudulent claims, on returns, for example.
For individuals, fewer than 25 percent actually submit a warranty card. Everyone is cheating themselves out of a chance to get more out of the supply chain. Perhaps more important, by aggregating and Webifying warranty data, manufacturers learn more about their businesses and products. For instance, today it might take six months before a manufacturer realizes it has a product defect on its hands. By better analyzing warranty claims, they can get a real-time, instantaneous understanding of what is happening to their products, Vales says.