The Kahrs website tells people to buy from local dealers, and implies that there will be warranty problems if someone buys from an online vendor. I emailed the company -- the response is copied below. The response is unclear, but it implies that a faraway vendor will fail to inspect and process a valid claim Does anyone have experience with trying to get warranty service on flooring after buying online? In theory, an online vendor could process a complaint from another part of the country by hiring someone locally to inspect the problem -- large carpet vendors do his when necessary. But I saw a comment in a post on this site from an installer who said that product purchased online basically has no warranty.

(From Kahrs tech support:)
Thank you for contacting Kahrs. First of all, we do not sell to on-line retailers; we only sell to distributors who, in turn, sell to retailers. Our complaint policy is that all claims must be initiated by the selling retailer, and processed by the selling distributor. In the case of a retailer that has gone out of business, it is still the responsibility of the selling distributor to manage, and process the claim- this is part of our distributor agreement. In short, if a distributor sells out of their authorized selling area, it is still their sale, and, hence, their responsibility to manage the claim.
We have our stated internet policy as we are confident you will get the support you need in the purchasing process and the support you will need if a problem arises from a local Authorized Dealer.
In conclusion, before you buy our product, or a competitor's, ask for the service policy in writing from the selling retailer.
Kährs Technical Services
1-800-ASK-KAHR

Actually the inspection service is faster for on-line dealers!!! I get calls to inspect for on-line dealers and distributors far away. We inspectors are the eyes and ears of those far away, and we don't work for them, so we are unbiased in our observations and testing. Local retailers, because they sell an installed product, will beat around the bush, trying to buy time, because 90% of the time, it is an installation related claim, and the local retailer installed it, so he buys time trying to figure a way to BS his way out of an installation defect.

Don't be scared of buying on-line. There are independent inspectors all over. and I guaranty you send a letter of intent to Kahrs letting them know your suing them for a defective product, they are not going to care who sold it, they are going to be right there with an inspection!!!!!

Interesting subject. I was curious to see how many online retailers including our site was actually listed on the Kahrs website as being a dealer. By taking some contact infromation from their respective websites, only two out of ten are actually considered authorized dealers according to the Kahrs website.

Yes we are listed

Thanks for the clarification, very helpful.