The Relationship between Price and Repair Service for Consumer Durables

cent years. Complaints of soaring prices and slipshod service have had a broad impact on consumerism, stimulating the do-it-yourself movement and spurring the passage of innumerable federal, state, and local laws. That consumer distress with repair service has grown is not surprising in light of the role of costs in the total cost of selected products over their life spans. For example, a 1972 study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that servicing costs account for 35 percent of the total dollars spent on a color television set during its useful life.' Moreover, producers have recognized that no matter where complaints are first directed, manufacturers are usually flawed for product sales or service deficiencies and that these difficulties represent real and legitimate problems for many consumers.2