Home audio & video: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it????
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by woodygg - 12/5/07 5:11 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieAt my last company (a high-tech company), I was the one who did the accounting for warranties. With electronics, if it is going to break, it will most likely break sooner rather than later (I'm not discussing out beyond 5-7 years) - after that time - the failure rates begin to increase. Of course... if you offer me a warranty for cheap enough... depending upon the product, I might take it (that's why i'll buy my tv at costco since the throw a two year in for 'free'). However, outside of a very cheap warranty - I never purchase extended warranties. Heck, with all the money I've saved not purchasing them... I could afford quite a few new products to replace the old and/or broken ones.
In addition - any financial planner worth their weight will tell you never buy insurance riders for non-catastropic issues - and that's exactly what you're buying with an extended warranty - very expensive insurance.
Only if it is a Sony game console or a mobile phone
by ctoguy - 12/5/07 5:12 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieSony game consoles seem to have an average 18 - 24 month lifespan -
get the coverage. Similar for high end mobile phones with PDA functionality. For other items ( HDTV, any device under $300,
Large kitchen appliances is one exception I get the coverage because
of the large impact when there is an outage.
Alienware: Doesnt matter whether you have extended coverage or not - you are in for nothing but misery from a repair / fix endless cycle and the incredible amounts of time getting the product in/out of service.
Apple yes, Dell no
by don509 - 12/5/07 5:19 PM In reply to: Only if it is a Sony game console or a mobile phone by ctoguyWhen I buy an Apple computer, especially laptops, for my Son I always get the Apple Care plan because unfortunately it is always used. He had several logic board burnouts on his last laptop, and the MacBook I just got him in February was just totally wiped out, but repaired by Apple in just days. They gave him Leopard at the same time.
On the other hand, I have a Dell desktop. I did buy the extended warranty and I did need it. As a result I would never buy it again because I would never let another Dell repair subcontractor touch my computer. NEVER! I still like Dell allright, but I will take it in to an independant shop next time.
If its Mobile or moving YES if it sits on your shelf no
by johnjjfb - 12/5/07 5:13 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieFrom years of growing up the son of an electronic repairman, I've see lots of things broken go bad. Here is my suggestions,
First, if it moves or is mobile get the warranty. These devices, MP3 player's, Cell Phones, laptops get abused. They're dropped, see rain, and travel countless miles in our pocket (or purse) next to our keys and lip balm. They will break.
Second, if your buying a product on sale, and its a name brand you've not heard of before... get the warranty. These things are made cheaply and usually are the ones that end up in the repair shop.
PS think twice about that Best Buy warranty. I had one friend who never got his digital camera back from the store. I had another friend how took his computer to get fixed only 2 months later after being told the manufacture was fixing it, to be told it wasn't fixable. The store also spend 45 mins looking for it in the back of the store before he was told this. Another miss-placed object?
Finally DLP tvs. On top of the rainbow effect, (Google it) The lamps that are used to light all those mirrors, often burn out or get dim after a year. Its the nature of a light bulb. To replace them you don;t just buy a light bulb but the entire socket, heat sink, fan and module it sits on. Cost, parts alone $100-$150. Get the 4 year warranty. You'll be glad you did. If anything to get that light bulb replaced yearly.
EW's are like casino's, you may win but.....
by chf_2258 - 12/5/07 5:13 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieIf you like peace of mind, then buy an EW. But, financially, they are a losing proposition overall. You may or may not use it and probably won't. Something to consider; certain credit cards will double the manufacturer's warranty. Also, things with a lot of moving parts or that get jiggled a lot, (printer's & mp3 players, laptops) may be a justified EW purchase. I paid $20 for one with my MP3 player and it was replaced twice no questions asked. Whereas a TV doesn't get moved much and usually a "lemon" will break before the manufacturer's warranty is up.
Sometimes.....
by GarretMott - 12/5/07 5:15 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieLaptops - you bet. With my last 3 laptops, every one has been in under the extended warranty. An HP laptop even met Best Buy's "been in 4 times so you get your original price towards a new one". Bought a Toshiba with it 
Desktop computers - why? $300 warranty on a $500 machine? 'nuff said.
Headset for using Skype: OK - I'm cheap - I use a wired one. Headset was $22, 2 yr warranty $6. I got 3 "free" replacements during the first year (mostly due to tripping over the cord).
Appliances, that's tougher. No doubt that they "ain't what they used to be" quality-wise. If you've got 5 teenage boys - get a warranty on that refrigerator! Most of the time - no.
TV's - why? If it works for the first year, unless you abuse it, what's to break?
Cars - NO! First, the salesman gets a tidy little commission. Second, 99% of 'em only cover stuff that never breaks. Put the money aside for regular maintenance (& use it for that!) - you'll be better off.
It all comes down to the ratio and how likely the unit is to break. If you buy a quality brand, it'll (generally) last longer. If it's a fragile item (or you're a klutz like me) - it may make sense.
My 2 cents...
Poor salesmen...
by betheloise - 12/5/07 5:16 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieLast time I bought an extended warranty was for my digital voice recorder. It was $5 for the warranty policy, so I felt like it was a good decision. Who knows what may happen to a voice recorder in my backpack?! Textbooks get thrown into it, chairs get set on it, it gets dropped on concrete occasionally, not to mention I have a rock hammer and a bottle of acid in there most days (I'm a geology major, these items are pretty standard). However, I did not purchase one for my laptop.
I always feel bad for the salesmen though. When I bought my laptop I was looking for the best cost to quality ratio. The salesman started telling me how few customer complaints each model had, how dependable and reliable and long-lived they are. After several minutes explaining how each of the Wonder Computers would never ever ever ever break, hard drives would not fail for millenia, etc, he pulls out the extended warranty plan. You know, just in case. I almost laughed out loud. The same guy who just spent 30 minutes telling me how reliable the laptops were was now trying to convince me how completely undependable they could be. And it's not his fault; his boss probably told him if he doesn't offer the warranty he a) gets no commission on it, and b)will eventually be fired because of it. I just went with the 1-year plan it came with. And so far, the only "problem" is that I may need a new battery in another year or so (not exactly earth-shattering, eh?). I say generally they are not worth the money.
2 examples
by spellfinder - 12/5/07 5:56 PM In reply to: Poor salesmen... by betheloise1) Purchase: an unlocked, refurbished "smart" cell phone from my favorite on-line computer store for $75. Warranty, 18 mo for $14. Phone outlasted the 30 day manufacturer's warranty. Then it failed. Reported it and received, not a replacement, but gift card for the online computer store. Called Motorola to describe issue and was told to try a new battery. Purchased a battery from favorite cut rate online batt store for $5. Phone's still working 8 months later, I got my $75 gift card. Total cost of phone about $20. Came out ahead, wouldn't you say?
2) 42 inch projection HDTV w/ ATSC and NTSC tuners, HDMI ports x 2, et al. @ $899.99 last Christmas with 30 day warranty and no other warranties. Extended Service x 3 years = $389, which I didn't take. Was told by sales people that a replacement projection bulb would be approximately $300 installed. Perhaps that's true, with labor rates. Owner's manual (when I got the TV home) has a one page instruction on OWNER replacement of the bulb. The bulb itself I've found for $179 - $200 online. Returned TV for replacement due to VCR/DVD capture problem before 30 days. Now at 11 months 2 weeks, everything's fine. Accidently came out ahead on this one, I think, at least for now. I didn't spend the $389, which if I add to it another $500 I could buy the whole Unit and we've already used it for almost a year without replacing the bulb yet.
Can't manage these good outcomes everytime, unfortunately. Warm Regards to all...
If you buy a VCR/ DVD recorder combo get the warranty!
by Darrell Wright - 12/5/07 5:17 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI discovered this problem the hard way. Two years ago I purchased a Panasonic VCR/DVD recorder combo. It worked great for 6 months then started failing. The company claimed that I needed to download their DVD support upgrade and the product would perform better. WRONG!!!!
The product continued to cause problems until it eventually refused to record DVD's 11 months later. I had no where to turn, the warranty on this product was only good for 90 days. So that was just $300 wasted. I never had a problem with computer dvd burners and decided I would get another VCR/DVD recorder combo equipped with a hard drive. Only problem is none came with an HDTV reciever. I purchased another Panasonic VCR/DVD Recorder combo that included this type of receiver but I made sure I paid the extra $30 for a 3 year warranty. I can already see problems ahead with this recorder also, but this time PANASONIC can eat the bill of fixing it.
Depends where you are
by davyburns - 12/5/07 5:17 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieHere in the UK, we have a law called the sale of goods act, which says any purchase must be fit for purpose. If a £20 dvd player lasts 12 months, that could be seen to be reasonaple, but if a £3000 plasma only lasts for 18 months, it would be covered under this act, even if there was only a 1 year manufacturers warranty on it. the courts seem to take the position of "was it reasonable to assume, given the cost of the appliance, that it should fail in x months?"
Unfortunately, very few british people are even aware of this, and dont try to claim, consequently manufacturers still give us the same warrant as they were giving us 50 years ago, (with the exception of some car makers)
davy
Sometimes
by bbdec1 - 12/5/07 5:17 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI never buy the extended warranty unless the manufacturer's warranty is weak and the item is costly. For most cases, the warranty will cost you more than replacing the item by the time the manufacturer's warranty expires.
I would buy it for a big purchase as an HDTV plasma, not for a camera or even a computer.
Absolutely Not
by applejl - 12/5/07 5:18 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieAn extended warranty is a bet with an insurance company as to if your product is going to fail. If it does, you win and they have to pay. If it doesn't then you lose and are out the premium you paid for the warranty. Let's face it, these things are sold by insurance companies who are in busness to make money and do indeed make a lot of it. They couldn't make these huge profits if they paid off too much. They bank on the fact that the biggest percentage of products don't fail or if they do, that it costs very little to repair. So it only makes sense that over the long run, they are not a good value for you unless you happen to be one of the few who has a major failure and a big payoff - that's the gamble you take.
Risk-benefit analysis
by wellheck - 12/5/07 5:18 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieI would like to offer an approach that considers two factors primarily: the cost of the product and the likelihood that one will transport it on a regular basis. First, with regards to cost a person should reflect on the absolute need of the product and if he/she could afford to replace it immediately if forced by need. Consider the situation of a laptop that a family uses to check email and surf the internet versus the striving young businessman who uses the laptop to conduct business. If the laptop is broken in the family, ostensibly one may assume deeper pockets with the family given a more stable economic base as well as less pressing need to replace it a.s.a.p. However, the businessman may miss out on significant opportunities if left without the computer and would need to replace it quickly. Second, with regards to the likelihood of transport, I believe that's an important consideration because transportation exposes one's electronic device to many more factors (i.e. coffee, gravity, theft) than otherwise if it were sitting in the house. Even beyond obvious misuse or theft, which is often not covered under these extended warranties anyway, the simple act of moving expensive electronics makes it more likely that the component parts will come under stress sooner. Consider now the situation of the HDTV which, with a lower price and greater reliability now, will sit at home and likely not come into contact with the outside world. Yes, it was significantly expensive; however, the investment is at relative low risk to the aforementioned situation of the active laptop user. That laptop user will transport that relatively fragile electronic system to multiple jarring events that may, after time, overwhelm the build quality of the system. In summary, if the system is particularly expensive and an integral tool in one's life (that's a question that the reader has to answer him/herself), then all one has to ask is, "am I going to move this electronic device more than once a day?" (arbitrary number, there, but implies that it's moved often and regularly). Finally, here are some examples for fun:
Examples:
HDTV: expensive but doesn't move
PC tower: expensive but doesn't move
Laptop: more expensive than PC tower and moves often
iPhone: as expensive as some low-end PC towers and moves often
Car: expensive and moves by nature
Home: expensive, doesn't move generally, but in serious trouble without one
Hope that this has been helpful/fun.
Warranty Scam
by Josrosson - 12/5/07 5:19 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieYou get a one year warranty with most products. The extended warranty starts from purchase of the product. If there are any problems with in the first year it is turned over to the manufactures warranty not the extended warranty of the store. If you bought a two year extended warranty, shouldn't that give you three years of coverage? You already have the one year coverage from the manufacture with the purchase. Your two year extended warranty only gives you one year coverage after the one year manufacturers warranty ends instead of the full three years of coverage that you paid for. All the major companies that I have dealt with do this.
depends...is it made in China?
by tbird635 - 12/5/07 5:20 PM In reply to: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it???? by jraggieIf the item is made in China, **by all means** buy the warranty. I do a LOT of repairs on "rebranded" Chinese large screen HDTV's that are sold at all the big box stores. You know the ones...$400 or more below the name brand sets. They cut corners in places they shouldn't, such as substandard capacitors, untested firmware, skimping on component counts, no tolerances, etc... the list goes on. My Chinese dvd recorder died due to faulty capacitors and a bad design that allowed the voltage to spike upon failure, wiping out all hope of a repair. Most name brand stuff is designed taking such potential failures into account with the addition of a few cents worth of extra components with protection in mind. The addition of a few $.05 diodes could have saved it from the trash. But if you have no reputation to protect, only shooting for a low price point, expect the unexpected.
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