March 2018

Guarantees
ARE YOU GUARANTEED A NASTY
SURPRISE?
Here, Dave Cooper, Customer Technical Services Manager at Tata Steel, explores what
makes a good guarantee and explains the importance of really understanding them.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the
definition of a guarantee is ‘a promise that
something will be done or will happen,
especially a written promise by a company to
repair or change a product that develops a fault
within a particular period of time’.
Guarantees are a great way to boost customer
confidence. In fact, they are one of the most
“This often involves
navigating the supply
chain to determine the
outcome”
powerful commitments that a business can make
to demonstrate confidence in their products.
For example, a well-established company, which
has a strong track record, will provide end users
peace of mind that they will be around long
enough to honour a guarantee if required.
As such, when it comes to choosing your product
– especially pre-finished steel products – it is
important to understand what guarantees
manufacturers provide.
Indeed, for most building owners, discovering
whether the products used for their roof and wall
systems will be rectified within the parameters of
the guarantee is a time-consuming and laborious
task.
This often involves navigating the supply chain,
from contractor to contractor, right back to the
manufacturer of the product, to determine the
outcome.
For pre-finished steel products, this can be
especially frustrating if during the lifespan of the
building a single maintenance check or inspection is
missed, resulting in the guarantee being invalidated.
Also, it may be that not all features are included,
such as factory cut edges, and cover may be
limited.
52 TC MARCH 2018