Final answer:
Warranties and guarantees offer different types of assurance to customers on their purchases. Warranties usually have a fixed time period for repair or replacement of goods and can often be extended, while guarantees may not be extendable and can be abstract. Service contracts are a form of extended warranties, often provided with significant purchases such as cars and appliances.
Step-by-step explanation:
The terms guarantee and warranty are commonly used in business transactions to provide customers with assurance on their purchases. A warranty typically comes with a specific time period in which the seller promises to fix or replace the product should issues arise.
This timeframe can often be extended through additional purchases, such as a service contract, which requires the customer to pay an extra fee for extended warranty services. Examples of items that often come with the option for service contracts include cars, appliances, and houses.
On the other hand, a guarantee may not always be extendable and is more commonly used in British English. Guarantees can also refer to more abstract promises beyond just the fixing or replacing of goods.
In addition to explicit assurances like guarantees and warranties, sellers may also provide implicit or unstated guarantees, such as a movie theater refunding a customer's ticket if they are dissatisfied with the show, or a restaurant allowing a dish to be exchanged.