How tiny can they get a printed warranty?

Got an SSD for installing on a computer. It had attached to the back a piece for Australian warranty terms. I needed a magnifying glass to read it as my eyes aren’t so good but I still think it’s one of the smallest I have ever seen. The picture below is a copy of 4 panels there are another 4 on the rear and one still attached to the box. The second pic is to show what they can fit in a 3 mm wide slice (I think they can fit about 7 letters in lower case in 3 mm).

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Could you read it unaided, is this the smallest out there, can anyone find one printed in smaller type?

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Based on the ruler you included, the first pic appears exactly 1:1 on my screen. I can read the headings unaided, but not the small type.

All I can say is that Kingston can certainly pack the data into a small space!!

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Small or unreadable font can be considered an unfair contract term, something to consider if you have any issues in the future.

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A quick experiment suggests the warranty is printed with 3 point type. Certainly smaller than any font size I have encountered. Many editors have concluded that for maximum comprehensibility one should use seriffed fonts of 11 pt, though newspapers have long been produced with about 8-point fonts. From which I infer that comprehensibility is not the aim of the manufacturer. What a surprise! :slight_smile:

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I’d suggest that if anything goes wrong with that drive, including wearing out from age, take it back and demand a warranty replacement. Keep that warranty slip, and just show it as evidence that since you couldn’t read it, you assumed it was a total replacement warranty for all circumstances and they should therefore honour that, since it’s their fault the print is too small for most people to read. Hehehe you never know your luck, eh?

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I suspect that any sales assistant will also not be able to read it…especially if one with a few more years under their belt is purposely selected on returning. One could easily say that they think the warranty indicates free replacement, no matter the age of the chip. It would take some time for a sales assistant to read the warranty to prove otherwise.

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Even with glasses this is hopeless (deliberately?)

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Mine looks about 1:1 also, and without glasses I can read “Product Warranties Policy For Australia” :slight_smile:

I must admit, I keep receipts for way too long but with the problems encountered getting media replaced I tend to treat drivers/etc as consumables once they’ve lasted a year or so …

Point taken on print size though - how is it that “being able to actually read the warranty” is not enshrined in law?

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Is the manufacturer under any obligation to provide a printed warranty with the product at all?

Regardless of what the warranty says, it does not override the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

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Good question - I don’t know, and to be fair I’ve always assumed what was written was rubbish anyway unless it exceeded the provisions under the ACL, which is rare, but when it does I make sure I keep those details :slight_smile:

I guess my position would be that if details are provided, they need to be readable by people not native to Lilliput :slight_smile:

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No it doesn’t override the ACL as you rightly remarked, but the express terms can add to the rights conferred by ACL eg the terms may add extra time to the warranty that exceed those required by the ACL or some other additional rights as @draughtrider pointed out, as an example it may provide always replacing the item even if damaged by user handling. The warranty actually printed on the backing was addressing the rights of people in other Countries, so to make it clear what the rights were in Australia they had to attach the document so that no one could mistake the rights conferred (but the print was so small as to make it nearly illegible to the unaided eye in my case and perhaps in the case of many others).

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Deliberately unreadable!!

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