A Warranty Pet Peeve...

[Steve]

For Christmas my wife gave me a Lotus Triple Torch Lighter (The Wedge). Saturday, I get out of the truck, light a cigar and walk up to the deck with the lighter in hand. I sit down on the deck and after a few minutes go to touch up the cigar and no joy. The lighter has not been out of my hand, not struck or bumped anything, not been dropped, nothing. Gas comes out of the lighter, but no ignition. Usually there is a "click" as the piezo is triggered, but now, nothing. WTH...

I know where my wife bought the lighter so I run down and see Howard about it. He confirms that Lotus has a 2 year warranty, but that I'll need to send it back because Lotus doesn't like too deal with their dealers on warranty items. He even looks, but doesn't have a replacement lighter. No problem really, just a hassle having to send the lighter back. Fortunately my trip to the Keys has been postponed and I can make due for a couple of weeks until it comes back.

[rant on]

Here's my pet peeve: I have to send $9.00 with the lighter to cover return postage. I guess I could understand if I had had the lighter for several months, but I have had it less than a month before it failed. It kind of chaps me that I have to spend an additional $9 on top of what my wife spent. I spoke with a lady on the phone a few minutes ago, and although she was very nice about it, she confirmed that I need to send the money.

[/rant]

Am I off base here or does this bother anyone else? Some of ya'll know me, and you'll notice I don't gripe and complain about a lot of things, but this just strikes me kinda wrong. I'm sending it in tomorrow, but I'm going to include a letter expressing my "disappointment" that I need to pay more money for a defective product. We'll see what happens.