22 - Wednesday, January 28, 1987 - North Shore News

CONSUMER AND Corporats Af-
fairs Canada’ advises consumers
that warranty protection available
on identical products can vary
from seller to seller and that con-
sumers should always enquire

about the specific warranty protec--

tion that is being offered to them.
Examples of products where war-
ranty protection can vary include
household appliances, home enter-
tainment equipment and smaller
articles such as batteries.

Some sellers have a contractual
arrangement whereby the manu-
facturer agrees to honor the war-
Tanty at designated repair outlets
in. Canada. These sellers are part

of a formal network set up or.

authorized by the manufacturer.

Other’ sellers who operate. in- .

dependently ‘of this network may
offer’a different.warranty on the
identical product... .

' “The department noted that the
practice of selling products outside
the - network authorized by. the
manufacturer — known as grey
marketing — has become morc
-widespread in recent years, Grey
- goods: are:now: offered for sale in-

retail. stores, ‘through magazine -

‘ advertisements and’ by. telephone
through discount clubs.- " ~
Grey market products offer an
“attractive alternative to paying full
price ‘for well-known. brand-name
goods:- However, consumers

should. also consider -the impor-
tance of the warranty in making a’

“purchase decision. In some situa-
_ tions, the manufacturer’s service
depot might. simply refuse to make
‘repairs or charge the consumer ‘the:
total cost of the repairs -involved:
for some grey goods.-
“In order for consumers-to make

an’ informed purchase decision, -

-. they “should ‘ascertain whether - the

‘seller has been authorized by the
manufacturer to sell the particular
product or. offers: a similar war-
ranty. -

:In situations ’ where grey goods
are offered. for salé and where
consumers are unsure of the war-

ranty protection that is available to .

- them, they should ‘telephone or
write to the service outlet listed in
the mam facturer’s warranty.

‘Through ineze steps, the
department noted, consumers can

assess for themselves the impor-

tance of. both price and warranty
coverage.

NEWS photo Nell Lucente

NORTH: “VANCOUVER City library employee Karen Coyne reads € ‘in Chiang and the Dragon's Dance to
children at ‘the library’s Saturday storytime. The storybook readings +. °

held every Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

NEW DEVELOPMENT

evice measures
back disabilities

A UNIVERSITY of Alberta
researcher has developed a com-
puterized device to measure how
much disability a back injury has
caused.

Dr. Shrawan Kumar, of the U of
Alberta’s Department of Physical
Therapy, says his device elec-

_ tronically measures the strength

and flexibility of the patient’s back
muscles and movements.

Until now, it has been difficult
to precisely assess the disability
back injuries cause. Only skeletal
damage shows up on x-rays and
other scans; muscle damage and
impairments of function do not.

Patients being tested by Kumar’s
device may be in either a vertical

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or a horizontal position. Their up-
per and lower bodies are restrained
so that only their backs can move.

Then the patients are given a
standard series of back movements
to perform. The machine's sensors
measure these movements, and the
muscle flexions involved, and
transmit these data to a chart re-
corder and a computer.

The movements can then be
analyzed to arrive at a quantitative
measurement and description of
the patients’ ability to use their
backs.

Kumar’s work has been funded
by the province of Alberta and by
the Natural Sciences and Engineer-
ing Research Council.

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