TRUSTED WARRANTY EVALUATION PROGRAM

The National Lighting Bureau’s (NLB) new Trusted Warranty Evaluation Program will offer electrical distributors assurance that lighting products they select are supported by warranties independently verified as worthy of trust.
Launched in 2020, the program audits warranties from manufacturer applicants in a points-based system. Qualifying warranties may carry the Trusted Warranty label, signifying the warranty satisfies the program’s criteria covering accessibility, internal support, clarity, relation of terms to reliability testing, warranty insurance based on length of warranty compared to years in business, and responsiveness to warranty claims.
For distributors, the evaluation program provides confidence that a given warranty satisfies the large majority of a list of published criteria. For manufacturers, it offers a way to demonstrate—via trusted third-party verification from a nonprofit organization—that they stand by their channel partners by taking care of their warranty issues.
The Trusted Warranty Evaluation Program is important for the industry as a whole, providing a means to separate manufacturers with strong warranties from bad actors and a distinguishing mechanism for new players to gain trust and credibility giving the electrical distributor peace of mind that the manufacturer will take care of their warranty issues.
SCHEDULE AUDIT
Technical Evaluation (points awarded: 0, 1 or 2)
Auditor will spot check 2 randomly chosen skus for reliability testing.
One point will be awarded for each sku for which reliability testing was completed.
Rationale: NLB auditor will not conduct any product testing, but the NLB believes it is important that the manufacturer have reliability testing data for any products covered by warranty. If a company has a warranty, they should have some basis or documentation to give them confidence in the quality of the product. The NLB takes no position if testing reports are internally or externally generated.
Claims Review Evaluation (points awarded 0, 1, 2, or 3)
Auditor will randomly choose three claims from the past 12 months and evaluate the trail from when the first notification was made until the claim was complete. Auditor will evaluate whether manufacturer acted expeditiously given the information that the manufacturer received. Manufacturer will not be penalized for incomplete or delayed information or samples from the customer.
One point will be awarded for each claim in which the OEM acted expeditiously as determined by the auditor in the auditor’s experience. NLB will institute quality checks to ensure that auditors apply a consistent level of scrutiny to all claims reviewed.
Qualification
Certificates will be awarded to companies based on the completeness of the documentation to validate their warranty program. A minimum of 8 points is required to receive the certificate. If deficiencies are noted that prevent the manufacturer from acquiring 8 points, the manufacturer will have 30 days to correct. If not corrected within 30 days, manufacturer will have to wait 6 months before re-applying.
Qualification
Formal Warranty Process
Warranty Language
Length of Business/Warranty Insurance
Technical Evaluation
Claims Review Evaluation
Total
Score
0, 1, 2, or 3
0, 1 or 2
0 or 1


0, 1, or 2
0, 1, 2, or 3
Typical Score
3
2
0


2
3
10
Cost: $1800 for the first year per company; $1000 per year for years 2 and 3.
The following information will appear on both the Trusted Warranty Certificate as well as the NLB Trusted Warranty website:
  1. Company Name
  2. Warranty Contact information to include address, phone and email
  3. The year the company (or division) was founded
  4. The existence and amount of any warranty insurance
  5. Date of certificate and expiration date
SCHEDULE AUDIT