Q: I bought a printer that carries a manufacturer’s one-year warranty. When I plugged it in to use it, it did not work at all. Must I ship the printer to the manufacturer for replacement, or can I demand that the store exchange it?

A: Although the seller of your printer also bought the printer in a closed box and had no way of knowing about the defect, he is still responsible to sell working items to his customers.

Therefore, since the printer did not work at all and was defective from the start, the sale is void and the seller has to exchange it or refund your money.

This would apply even if the seller would be unable to reclaim the money from his supplier, such as if the supplier went out of business (Rama C.M. 232:18).

In this situation, as we have seen many times before, if the common commercial practice is that the manufacturer’s warranty relieves the seller of any responsibility, we would follow this practice.