Coby asset buy voids existing warranties, customer products lost in shuffle

When it comes to electronics, cheaper is sometimes better — expensive tablets, for example, aren't the best product to hand off to a 5-year-old or take on a backpacking adventure. Such is where the long-existing budget maker Coby comes in. For many years, Coby has been making lower-end inexpensive products, among them being things like tablets and TVs. Unknown to many of its customers, the business underwent an acquisition of sorts a couple months ago, and under the terms all existing warranties were essentially voided.

Gordon Brothers Group acquired all of Coby's assets — all the way down to the name — back in late August of this year. Trademarks, patents, inventory, and other related business assets were all taken on by the firm, which plans to "infuse capital" into the business for bringing new devices under the Coby brand to the market. The problem is that the acquisition (which was an acquisition of business assets, not of the entire company) didn't involve taking on any of Coby's downsides — liabilities, that is.

Warranties fall under this aspect of the business, and because the sale agreement specifically involved not acquiring those portions of the company, Gordon Brothers is not required to validate or otherwise trifle with things like outstanding financial sums and valid consumer warranties on products. Whether the firm is required under wider state or federal laws to honor the warranties is another matter, but regardless, consumers have already found themselves snared by the quasi-acquisition.

Customers who have attempted to contact Coby and have their products serviced have found, at best, that customer service is now non-existent and no one is returning messages. On the harsher end of things, those who have mailed their products in to be fixed under warranty have lost access to their devices — there's no one to contact, apparently no one fixing the products, and no way to get them back from the warehouse in which they now collect dust.

SOURCE: Android Police