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Comment by aspenmayer | Hacker News Reader

The warranty on the base model is only 8 months, and for the higher end model only a year. This is not good!

Even worse, and likely illegal(!), the warranty has terms that are likely against FTC guidelines, like voiding the warranty if you disassemble the robot. As far as I know, these type of terms are not valid. They also include terms saying your warranty is void if third party service or parts are used - these are also not valid under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

https://unitree.com/terms/policy/

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/07/ftc-annou...

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/07/ftc-says-co...

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/businesspers...

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/magnuson-m...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warranty...

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> The warranty on the base model is only 8 months, and for the higher end model only a year. This is not good!

They are also almost impossible to self-repair & service beyond changing motors & batteries. And spare parts are not sold, at least not through the web store: https://shop.unitree.com/collections/accessories

It could change in the future, but for now, it's best to think of Unitree products as very advanced toys & prototypes.

Is there an easy to repair humanoid robot in the market right now?

It's a true wonder that we even have a $16K humanoid robot on the market. :)

We are really in the early days. And this $16K humanoid robot is by far (like, 5x-10x) cheaper than other alternatives on the market. I might even buy one, despite it not being repairable or serviceable.

They are probably just selling this B2B in which case most of which you are quoting doesn’t apply.

Also I’m not familiar with USA laws in particular, but often domestic consumer protection laws surrounding warranties etc do not apply to overseas sellers.

Well, at least if they sell in the EU, warranty laws are event stricter, which is good imho. But still a shame

If they sell it in the EU, yes - again, for consumers, not B2B. If you import it into EU yourself, then none of that applies.

> If they sell it in the EU

shop.unitree.com has options for shipping to EU countries so yes, they sell directly to consumers in EU.

That they can ship it there doesn't mean they are selling it directly. They don't include VAT in pricing, so probably not.

AliExpress also offers shipping services that can deliver to EU but still, VAT and duty is your responsibility and thus they are not selling directly, you are self importing.

Generally, offering a shipping service that accepts an address in EU doesn't mean anything. Practically any shipping service can arrange delivery anywhere in the world today, even national posts. When I buy something on the internet (and I do this very frequently), the seller uses their local national post and my national post delivers it - but it goes through the international arrivals center where I have to pay duty and VAT.

They would have to incorporate a local branch in EU, pay import duty and take VAT from you for it to be considered a local sale according to EU consumer laws. You can check whether that's the case in Terms of Services - it should be clear who is the seller from that. If it's not an address in EU, you are self importing.

Even then, EU consumer protection mostly doesn't apply. They are shipping to EU countries, but selling from China.

If the sale transaction is with the Chinese entity, and the goods are then shipped to the EU, EU protections won't apply (will fall under Chinese consumer protection laws instead).

>Even worse, and likely illegal(!), the warranty has terms that are likely against FTC guidelines, like voiding the warranty if you disassemble the robot. As far as I know, these type of terms are not valid.

Yea that's the joke. They can just claim a tiny scratch is why the robot is broken and void the warranty that way. Standard practice these days.

> They can just claim a tiny scratch is why the robot is broken and void the warranty that way. Standard practice these days.

What is this, an ASUS product? lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pMrssIrKcY

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