With the holiday season in full swing, most of us will be out shopping for all types of new products from electronic devices to home improvement items. When your tearing through the wrapping paper and boxes before you throw away that Product Registration card, STOP!! The process of filling out the registration card seems like a hassle when all you want to do is starting enjoying and using your new product; however, that little card can prevent a serious injury and/or save someone’s life. I was just recently reminded of how important registering a product is.

I was recently retained by a client who was severely injured when a defective product exploded in his face, causing him to lose an eye. The product had been recalled by the manufacturer for this exact problem; however, the product was never registered, so my client did not have notice the product he was using was defective. If the product had only been registered when it was purchased a couple of years earlier, he would had be on notice of the recall and this horrific incident would not have occurred. As I was sitting down with my client after we resolved the case, he said, well I can tell you from now on, I’m going to register every product I buy. Sadly, the important lesson of registering products came at a very high expense for my client; however, we want everyone else to learn from this tragedy. Registering your new products will not only allow the company to send you notice of any recalls or safety issues it will also allow the company to inform you of software updates and new releases of the product.

So this holiday season, please save those product registration cards, fill them out and send them in.