The first time I heard about the changes coming with Quebec's Bill 29, I thought I was glad I was no longer a reseller.

On October 5, 2025, a first phase took effect. A simple sign could free merchants from the "warranty of availability" requirement (replacement parts, repair services and repair information). This year, as the last phase approached, the warranty of good working order, I figured our customers would ask us to adapt our solution.

Nobody asked. I was the one who started the conversations, so I wouldn't end up with a last-minute request.

Merchants left on their own

Several merchants told me they felt left on their own, with no word from the manufacturers. Others told me everything would be fine because the manufacturers would help them. Yet these are the same manufacturers who, just weeks before October 5, 2026, either hadn't heard of the law or didn't yet know how to apply it.

A decision made with limited resources

As a small SaaS company, our resources are limited. Before building anything, I surveyed our customers and prospects who deal with individual consumers. I also published about ten short videos on social media to raise merchants' awareness.

Ten merchants showed interest in us building something, and possibly a training program for them and their teams. Ten is a small number to recoup a development cost. I knew they wouldn't all sign, but I expected five.

I decided to go ahead anyway. Disruption in the market is an opportunity to stand out, and our value is being professional. A professional solution has to comply with the laws in force.

I should also say that I had started some groundwork in May. But an unplanned project, switching our content provider, was more urgent and pushed us back to August. When I picked the file up again, there was little time left. I couldn't call customers one by one to ask how they planned to act, or to check whether they understood the law. That short timeline is my mistake.

What it cost

I retained a specialized lawyer to answer our questions while we built the training. The invoice came to more than $11,000. I moved up our online training platform so we could offer paid training on it. I built it in one weekend. I spent three more weekends preparing and reviewing the training content, and another one building a proof of concept to generate the videos automatically. Producing the videos for this training will cost us about another $1,000.

When the lawyer's invoice arrived, I was discouraged. When only one reseller confirmed, I was discouraged again.

The result

I was wrong. One customer signed up for the new features, and one training license was sold, for one employee. Not the executive version of the training, which is more complete.

Since October 5, I have visited several e-commerce sites and a few merchants. Some made an effort, but it isn't what Quebec's consumer protection office (the Office de la protection du consommateur, or OPC) gives as an example. Others display nothing, even though I know they are service centers for a manufacturer. In my observation, none has put in place what the OPC gives as an example. If you know one that has, tell me in the comments and I'll go see it.

I find it ironic. Small resellers tell me their difference is service. They want to become service centers. The law gives them a chance to show everyone, and many display "repair services not available."

Bill 29 is clearly not a priority for merchants.

What it left me with

First, a lesson I forget too often: just because you send a customer one or two emails doesn't mean they know. You have to repeat the same message in different ways. And sometimes you first have to help the customer realize they don't know the law.

Second, we now have a working proof of concept for automatically producing our training videos.

Finally, I now know that building a training program (research, writing, review, splitting into chapters, review questions) is far heavier than I thought, even with workflows and the help of LLMs.

Was it really a mistake?

I can't promise I'd do exactly the same thing again. $11,000 in a SaaS company's budget is a significant expense. With more time, I would have called my customers one by one before committing.

But we are known for an innovative solution, for giving our customers accurate information, and for doing things right. Innovating means accepting that sometimes you'll be wrong or arrive too early. Doing things right has a cost.

Only one customer agreed to pay for these new features. Still, I don't believe I made a mistake.

What do you think: can doing the right thing be a mistake?

At EStaff Plus, we are ready to do what it takes when it's the right thing to do.