Vending locator guarantee: how to read what ‘guaranteed’ covers

What can a vending locator guarantee promise?

A vending locator guarantee can promise five things, in rising order of value to an operator. Four are a usable contact, a held meeting, a signed location presented by a deadline, and a replacement or move if the venue closes or underperforms early; the fifth, a level of sales, is red-flag territory. Each covers its own event only, so a lead guarantee never pays out because no venue signed.

Relocation promises are not new: in one 1997 case from a multi-state crackdown, the FTC said two companies selling candy vending machines had “pledged that if the site was not profitable, they would relocate the machines.” Its complaint alleged that “the promised locator services were not provided” (Federal Trade Commission, 1997). A promise to move a machine is only as good as the company’s ability, and its written obligation, to find the next site.

The top rung is the one to distrust: a promise about sales is an earnings claim, which the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule defines as any representation of a specific level or range of actual or potential sales, income or profits (16 CFR 437.1(f)). A covered seller may make one only with a reasonable basis, written substantiation and an earnings claim statement for the buyer (16 CFR 437.4). Vending locator red flags treats income promises as a reason to walk away, and the guide to the three locator models shows which model sells which rung.

What do “lifetime” location guarantees and location warranties promise?

A “lifetime” location guarantee or a location “warranty” promises only what its definition and remedy say. Both words describe how long a remedy lasts, not what the machine will sell. Before relying on either, find three things in the clause: whose lifetime it means, which event triggers it, and what you receive when that event happens.

• Whose lifetime. The venue’s, the contract’s or the machine’s? A promise that lasts for the life of the location can end the day the venue closes, the event you most need covered.
• The trigger. Closure, removal by a venue that stays open, or sales below a figure. Location warranties on the market can split these, with a short free window for a machine the venue asks to remove and a longer, paid one for other replacements, so count how many replacements the plan allows and how soon you must claim each.
• The remedy. A replacement location is not a refund. Ask who pays to move the machine, whether the new venue must match the first one’s traffic and share, and whether a replacement restarts the guarantee or uses it up.

Across the market the remedy varies far more than the word does. In PinPoint Vending’s comparison of nine locator services, the refund column recorded on October 1, 2026 runs from “no refunds” at two services and a 90-day warranty at a third, through a case-by-case policy and a claim window open only between days 60 and 120, to its own offer of the enrollment fee back plus a further $1,000 if no location is presented within six months. Every one of those is called a guarantee by the company offering it.

A warranty that replaces a location for low sales still promises no sales. One that names a sales figure is an earnings claim, and the FTC rule explainer covers what a covered seller needs before making one.

Step 1: Name the event the guarantee covers

Step 1 is to find the noun the guarantee rests on. A promise of “guaranteed vending locations” can be met with a list of addresses; a guarantee of “signed locations” needs an executed host agreement; “qualified locations” needs a written definition of qualified. Write the event in your own words, then ask the locator to confirm that sentence in the contract or by email.

Sample clause: “Company guarantees Client will receive 3 vending locations within 120 days or Company will refund its fee.”

What it means: “Location” is undefined, so 3 business names delivered on day 119 could satisfy the promise, and the refund never comes due.

Step 2: Find the trigger and the clock

Step 2 is the clock: when the guarantee period starts, how long it runs and what pauses it. A 6-month promise that starts when you send your machine’s specifications rather than when you pay, and stops for any delay you cause, can run past 6 calendar months from payment. In a 2007 settlement, the FTC’s order set the window at 90 days from payment.

That order said the sellers were “permanently prohibited from failing to secure locations for consumers within 90 days after the consumers pay” and had to “refund payments for any location not secured within 90 days” (Federal Trade Commission, 2007). It bound those sellers, not every locator, but it shows what a clock tied to the payment date looks like. Four questions pin down any clock:

• Start. The payment date, the contract date, or a later event such as sending your machine’s details? A start you control beats one the locator controls.
• Length. Calendar days, business days or months?
• Pauses. What stops the clock, who decides, and are you told in writing when it stops and restarts?
• Claim. Must you request the refund in writing, by what date, and at which address?

Step 3: Check the money-back remedy and do its arithmetic

Step 3 is the remedy: what you receive when the trigger fires. A full refund, a refund minus a processing fee, a credit toward another search and a replacement location are all sold as guarantees. The FTC’s guides on advertising guarantees say a seller should use the words “money back guarantee” only if it refunds the full purchase price at the purchaser’s request.

Under 16 CFR 239.1, most of those guides apply to the advertising of any guarantee. Section 239.3(b) adds that an ad mentioning a money-back or satisfaction guarantee should disclose its material limitations or conditions. Here is what different wordings return on an assumed $1,500 locator fee:

The same guides say a seller should advertise a guarantee only if it promptly and fully performs its obligations under it (16 CFR 239.5). Ask how many days a refund takes after a valid request, and get that number in writing.

Step 4: Read the exclusions and the ways to lose the guarantee

Step 4 is the list of ways to lose the guarantee. Exclusions can cover delays you cause, inaccurate machine details, locations you declined or did not answer, late payments and removing the machine early. Each may be reasonable alone; together they decide whether the guarantee is likely to pay. Count the exclusions you could trigger by accident, such as missing a 3-day reply window.

• Silence counts as a decline. A short reply window plus “no answer means no” can end a search while you are out on a route. Ask for presentations by both email and text, and a window counted in business days.
• The locator alone decides “unsuitable.” If the locator can declare your machine or area unsuitable and stop the clock, the guarantee depends on its judgment rather than on a date.
• A refund that requires a release. A refund conditioned on signing away every other claim trades your protection for paperwork.
• The guarantee is the only remedy. Some contracts make the refund your exclusive remedy for non-delivery; know that before you rely on it.

Federal rules back the written terms. A seller covered by the Business Opportunity Rule may not misrepresent any term of its refund or cancellation policy, and must provide the refund when you have met the terms it disclosed (16 CFR 437.6(k) and (l)).

General information, not legal advice. Regulation text checked October 5, 2026.

Step 5: Get the guarantee into the paperwork

Step 5 is making sure the guarantee you were sold is the guarantee you signed. Business opportunity sellers covered by the FTC’s rule must attach every material term of a refund policy to a one-page disclosure document. That document is due at least 7 calendar days before any signature or payment, and the FTC’s guides say ads for a money-back guarantee should disclose its material limits.

1. Ask for the full guarantee text before paying, not the summary on a sales page.
2. Save a dated copy of the terms version you accept, as a PDF or a screenshot that shows the date.
3. Keep every presentation, reply and timestamp, because decision windows are counted from them.
4. Put the guarantee deadline, and the date to request a refund, in your calendar on the day you pay.

The questions to ask a vending locator include these guarantee questions in a form you can send before paying.

Those records are also what you need if a locator later won’t honor the guarantee. Start with a dated written demand that quotes the clause, the trigger date and the remedy owed, sent to the notice address in the contract; the refund escalation ladder covers every step after that.

How does one locator’s guarantee read, clause by clause?

The posted guarantee of PinPoint Vending is quoted below so the five steps above can be tried on real wording. If no location is presented within 6 months of signing, or of sending the machine’s specifications if later, the company refunds the whole enrollment fee and pays $1,000 more. Up to 2 locations are presented, and a venue closure within 12 months of install brings a replacement.

Published term: “If we have not presented a location within 6 months — counted from when you sign, or from when you send us your machine’s specifications, if that is later — we refund 100% of your enrollment fee and pay you a further $1,000, within 30 days of your written request.”

What it means: On a Standard location that is $1,000 back and $1,000 on top, $2,000 in all; on a Premium location, $3,000. The event is “presented,” which the terms describe as a qualified location delivered in writing, showing the venue type, the area and the share the venue agreed to. Any delay the operator causes extends the 6 months day for day.

Watch for: The guarantee does not apply where the failure comes from the operator’s delay, inaccurate information, or a location the operator declined or did not answer, and the terms call the refund the operator’s “only remedy” when no location arrives in time.

Published term (same terms, section 4): “You have 3 business days from the day we present a location to accept or decline it in writing. No answer counts as declining, and we may then offer the location to someone else.”

What it means: One decline is allowed, with a reason, and one more location follows within the rest of the 6 months or 60 days, whichever is longer. A second decline ends the search: declined in writing, the deposit comes back and the processing fee does not; declined by silence, the deposit is forfeited.

Ask for, from any locator: presentations sent by email and text, a window counted in business days, and the same refund whether you decline in writing or let the clock run out. How a decision window works explains how to spend those 3 days.

Published term (same terms, section 6): “If the venue goes out of business within 6 months of your install, we find you one replacement location in the same area, free of charge. If it closes between 6 and 12 months after your install, we do the same for a $500 replacement fee, paid with your notice of the closure.”

What it means: The placement fee continues through the gap, moving the machine is the operator’s cost, and nothing is replaced after month 12, after a second closure, or when an open venue simply asks the machine to leave. What happens if your vending location closes covers the steps after a closure.

None of these clauses promises sales, and the terms say so plainly: the company disclaims any warranty that a venue will perform as its traffic figures suggest.