Y2K: Grey areas in PC guarantees

By Chris Barton

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs' announcement that home PC owners who bought their machine after 1996 should be able to get any year 2000 problems repaired for free may prompt a flurry of calls to PC retailers and manufacturers.

Consumer Affairs' general manager, Keith Manch, said the ministry made the statement based on its interpretation of the Consumer Guarantees Act.

He said 1996 was chosen as a "reasonable" date to go back to because it was at that time that computer manufacturers started installing components in their PCs to address the date change problem.

But the date was also chosen because it was considered an appropriate period of time that consumers could expect a PC to last. Mr Manch stressed that the act only applied to PCs which were being used for personal and domestic use and not for business.

But he agreed that the interpretation of the act applied to hardware could also be extended to software bought at the same time. Consumers unable to get satisfaction from either the manufacturer or retailer may seek to have the matter resolved through the Disputes Tribunal.

The ministry has prepared a booklet outlining consumers' rights in relation to PCs and other electrical appliances that could suffer from the year 2000 date change problem. The booklet will be available for free at New Zealand Post outlets and libraries from next week. In the meantime, users can access the information at www.consumer-ministry.govt.nz/y2k.html.

The ministry advises consumers to first determine whether their PC has a problem and then to contact either the retailer or manufacturer. Most PC manufacturers' Web sites contain information about Y2K compliance.

But as Mr Manch points out, fixing the hardware is only part of the problem. The operating system - normally Microsoft Windows - and the software applications need to be checked too.

PC owners should either ring Microsoft New Zealand or visit its Web site (www.microsoft.com/year2000) to find out if their software is compliant. Most PCs sold in 1996 used Windows 95 which Microsoft has deemed "compliant with minor issues." Similarly, many versions of Microsoft Works - a common suite of applications sold with PCs are deemed compliant as long as users have the "Microsoft Works 2000 Update."

Mr Manch acknowledged that ultimately it would be up to the courts to decide if PC manufacturers and retailers were reluctant to fix Y2K problems. Other areas still be tested are whether a software patch constitutes an acceptable Y2K solution. There is also the question of who pays for "consequential loss" - such as the expense involved in getting a PC fixed when the consumer lives some distance away from the repair centre.