Home audio & video: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it????
It depends
by Punktress - 12/5/07 5:03 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI don't usually buy the extended warranty unless I'm buying a really big ticket item. If it will be a burden to replace, then I consider it. Honestly though, I've never be in a position to put my extended warranties to good use.
as luck would have it....
by Barb/OH - 12/5/07 5:04 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieMost of the time when I have purchased an extended warranty I find when I try to use it for some reason the problem I am having with the product is excluded. OR as in the instance of a certain computer company that shall remain nameless FIRST you have to do your own trouble shooting THEN then send a tech with the replacement part.
I'm still ambivalent about them, but item cost is important.
by WalterAnonymous - 12/5/07 5:04 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI once bought an IBM Thinkpad A21E, which only came with a standard one year warrantee. After 18 months, the motherboard died, and the replacement cost was around 6 or 7 hundred bucks. Considering I paid about a grand for it, I went for a new T23 with a 3 year warranty. That damn thing is still running, albeit horribly slowly, after five years. When I bought my Macbook Pro, I wasn't about to take another chance, due to the significant cost of replacing it should it fail after a year. On the other hand, if it only cost about a grand or less, I might have felt differently, depending on my gambling instinct at the moment. Seems almost nobody gives three year warranties for free anymore, and I have the feeling it's not because the equipment is less reliable, but because it enables them to cut their costs a bit, and then make it back and more on the extension. Probably makes good business sense for them, since so many vendors do that now, but it sucks for the consumer. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in either their hardware reliability, or their integrity, but that's how the game seems to be played these days.
Computers
by moralityjustice - 12/5/07 5:48 PM In reply to: I'm still ambivalent about them, but item cost is important. by WalterAnonymousFor me, any computer priced 1200+ is worth the three year-Next Business Day service package. I'm a student, so I haven't owned too many computers. But for my Dell desktop, over the course of three yars, had a LCD monitor, fans, hard drive, dvd burner, and keyboard replaced. For my Gateway laptop, so far, over the course of 1.5 years, the hard drive, cooling fan and heat sink, and latches have been replaced. After talking with your tech support rep for an hour, they priority ship the parts, within 2-3 days, they come and replace it, which has been pretty handy and hassle free.
I too bought a warranty
by Dan Filice - 12/31/07 12:56 PM In reply to: I'm still ambivalent about them, but item cost is important. by WalterAnonymousI just ordered the Sony SXRD TV which Sony just stopped making. After reading many websites about the TV, it received stellar reviews but I found out that projection bulbs do burn out and worse, the light engine goes out. The warranty I purchased covers the bulbs and if the TV dies and there are no parts available, the warranty will give me a new TV or credit for the same. To me, this allows a little peace of mind.
Worth it for the seller, not so much for the buyer
by plugot - 12/5/07 5:04 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieMost electronics will fail in the first 100 hours of use which means its covered under the manufacturer's warranty. Beyond that, it's unlikely that the warranty will pay for itself. However, there are exceptions, notably Apple's extended warranty Apple Care. For computers it extends by 2 years the 1 year warranty and allows you full access to tech support. They actually do a very good job and though it's not cheap, it most certainly isn't a rip off. The other notable exception is for cars. A good extended warranty can be valuable if you plan on keeping you new car way past the basic warranty. Unfortunately, many of the after market insurers can be dicey. And, if you're in CA, make certain that whomever you buy from is licensed to sell in CA. You can check the California Insurance commission to find out.
Why??
by wsulek - 12/5/07 5:05 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieIf the salesman, as you say, blindsides me with the extended warranty speech, I ask him, "So, you're trying to sell me an unreliable product? Perhaps I should take my business elsewhere."
waste of money
by lchien - 12/5/07 5:06 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieFirst of all, isn't an extended warranty a version of insurance where you are insuring yourself against failure of your device.
First of all your manufacturer's warranty is free with the product and protects you during its most vulnerable period.
If your think there's a high liklihood that this item is going to break, surely you should choose another brand!
Insurance is a way of spreading risk among many when the loss is too great to bear individually - the insurance co. takes a cut. Is this device so expensive that you cannot afford to fix it if it breaks? Collectively 10 and $20 for extended warranties on 15 items you own would pay for the one that breaks without having to pay the middleman.
Finally - the ex warr is a cash cow for the sellers, an impulse item. More than likely when it comes to this item breaking in high-tech stuff, you'll want a newer, more up to date gizmo, or perhaps you'll have forgotten the paperwork or even just forgot.
I say just say NO! or as I do, look the guy in the eye and say, is this item going to break, because if it is I don't want it!
Extended Warranties
by Baer - 12/5/07 5:06 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI used to think they were not worth it but with the RoHS lead free solder causing reduced reliability I now would recommend it.
For me NO!
by kfengler - 12/5/07 5:08 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieThe reason I say that is that of all the high ticket items I've been asked to buy the "insurance" and haven't, I feel I've easily saved enough money by NOT buying it, to buy a new item should one crap out on me.
I would have spent a fortune to buy extended warranties on all these items.
Things on my list over 25 years are that haven't required work:
Refrigerator 2X
Dishwasher
Oven/Range
Microwave 2x
Washing machine 2x
Dryer 2x
Sony TV
Mitsubishi TV
NEC TV
Cameras - several (35mm & Digi Cams, point & shoot and SLR for both)
HP Desktop PC
HP LapTop
Items out of warranty needing repair:
Water softener 6 years old: spent $125.00 to repair (2004)
Dishwasher: $98.00 to fix (1992)
Do you Buy Quality?
by quicksilver3184 - 12/5/07 5:08 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI do my homework and spend a few extra bucks for higher quality, in any product. This tilts the insurance risk in my favor, and the munfacturer usually has a better warranty anyway (because they know their return rate is low).
If you buy purely on price, then add in the cost of insurance, you could have bought the higher quality product in the first place.
This is what I do, and how I turn that "blind side" question off.
"depending on where" is the perfect statement here
by SOTX - 12/5/07 5:09 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggiedepending on where might seems logical but also... depending on what... I am currently working in retail and also is a consumer, therefore i always put this in mind when i am talking to my clients.
from my experience, i will leave out where i work so not to advertise, i see different types of warranty. there is the replacement warranty and the reparation warranty, in which the first is worthwhile.
replacement warranty lets you exchange (and even recredit the amount of the purchase) when a product fails. therefore, you wont have to wait for the product to be sent somewhere to be repair, you would actually get a new one.
in most cases, the reparation warranty are for products that are above a certain price range. but in some cases, they might make an exception and exchange the defective product... but that is only based on the product itself.
if you are planning on purchasing something expensive... well over the 200$ range... look around for the warranty option also... prices tend to vary a great deal (personal case: 150$ warranty on laptop and 500$ warranty on same product from 2 different store)
Save your money
by HiF|yer - 12/5/07 5:10 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieMany years ago I decided to put the cost of the extended warranty into a savings account to self-insure myself against problems. I have saved thousands of dollars in premiums and only needed to pay out one time for a repair and shipping charges.
It works best when you do it yourself!
Get extended warranty for FREE! Just do this...
by DZLDOC59 - 12/5/07 5:10 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggiePay for the entire purchase with your credit card, that's right check your credit card terms for extra benefits. I purchased a 42" Toshiba plasma hdtv and at month 14 it went out. So I checked my credit card benefits section and low and behold anything purchased entirely with the card had a one year extended warranty. I called the benefits enhancement department, they gave me a claim # and used an authorized service center to make the repair in my home and was reimbursed the total bill. My $2500.00 plasma set was repaired at a cost of $1898.00. They paid for the entire bill and I didn't even have to bring the set in. In case anyone was wondering no there was no balance on the card I had paid for it with the card and just paid the card balance off when I got the set home. Check your card benefits section to see if there is this benefit included at no charge. Mine was a Buy.com visa
Is an extended warranty worth?
by riflemanss - 12/5/07 5:10 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieIt is an insurance program. How do you view insurance programs? If you never need to use them, then you can rationalize that you could have invested the money and made gain. However, if you have ever had to use it, it was very valuable.
My daughter had a 3yr warranty on a HP laptop and 2 months before the last year was up, she had major problems with the computer. Having put in a motherboard, keyboard, HD and CD drive, BestBuy decided the best thing was a new comparable computer, so she ended up with a 2008 Toshiba laptop. Was the $199.95 worth. Darn tooting?
You decide how the warranty (insurance) program works for you. I hope never to use the insurance on my 2008 vehicle, but I know that if I do need it, it is there and is an asset.
With laptop, the low-profile adds a heat element not found in desktops and one MAY highly benefit from an extended warranty for that purpose. Laptops are portable, subject to shocks and bumps making the extended warranty an asset. Parts for a laptop are more expensive because of technological problems of making small parts with large properties - 120G HD 1/3 as thick as in a desktop, making the extended warranty an asset.
You decide - use it once and you pat yourself on the back. Never you use it, you can say it was still a good investment against chance. Whatever - the stores know that what they save from customers never using the warranty can and will be used on things like what happened to my daughter. It cost them a motherboard, HD and CD drive, keyboard and then, finally, a new 2008 laptop computer. It is a risk for the stores also, possibly in their favor, yes, but - there is always a BUT to the equation.
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