Most of the time, tie-in sales provisions are not really allowed. These kinds of provisions would require a buyer of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product if they want to be eligible to receive a solution to a problem under the warranty. The following are examples of prohibited tie-in sales provisions.
In order to keep your new Proctor Silex Coffee Maker warranty in effect, you must use genuine Proctor Filters. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by the Company, will actually voids this warranty.
While you cannot use a tie-in sales provision, your warranty also doesn’t have to cover use of replacement parts, repairs, or maintenance that is inappropriate for your product. The following is an example of a permissible provision that excludes coverage of such things.
While necessary maintenance or repairs on your Pioneer Stereo System can be performed by any company, you recommend that buyers use only authorized Pioneer dealers. Improper or incorrectly performed maintenance or repairs will void this warranty as well.
Although tie-in sales provisions generally are not permissible, you can include this kind of provision in your warranty if you can effectively show the FTC that your product will not work properly without a specific item or service. If you believe that this is the case for your product, you should contact the warranty staff of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection for information on how you should apply for a waiver of the tie-in sales prohibition.
