Community weekly poll: Are extended warranties worth it?
- 12/5/07 2:21 PM
you win some, you lose some
by pbabida - 12/6/07 8:37 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I get extended warranties on products that I take 'on the go'--laptops, portable gaming devices, cellphones for the first few months. I guess to further clarify I would only get the warranty if it included accidental damage. I was able to take advantage of the warranty coverage for my laptop and cellphone in the past.
For items like LCD panels, desktop computers, etc. I think extended warranties are rather useless. The problem with those warranties are the fine print limitations and exclusions.
If all extended warranties come with accidental damage coverage they would definitely be appeal more to consumers.
-pbabida
It depends on what the product consists of
by Derek37 - 12/7/07 12:13 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You might consider buying the extended warranty if:
a) If the product has mechanically moving parts (e.g., hard/CD/DVD drives), and or, high voltage parts and battery packs it might be worth it, check the fine print to see if they are covered.
b) the unit has a very short factory warranty (less than 6 mo. or so)
c) you intend to operate the unit 24/7, or under environmentally stressful situations (hot, humid or dusty environment)
You might consider not buying the extended warranty if:
a) the unit has no mechanically moving parts, no high voltage parts and no battery packs. It can be statistcally shown shown that if such units survive the first month of operation, they will last for a long time, way beyond the expiration of a 1 or 2 year extended warranty if the units are operated in a normally controlled home or office environment.
It is precisely this fact that resellers count on. In other words the most reliable operating period for electronic low voltage devices is between roughly 100 hrs of operation and design life, which might be 10,000 hrs if operated within the specified environmental limits. If operated 5 hours a day, this translates into about 5.5 years after which time the reliability will decrease. Thus, you would be buying warranty for the most reliable period of operation for the unit.
Another consideration is, of course, the cost of the warranty. If the cost is more than say a hard drive or a battery pack for a lap top, then it's not worth it. If you consider the odds of a failure being 50/50 over the covered period, then the cost of the warranty should be one half of the cost of the most vulnerable part of that unit.
It depends
by jsheehy - 12/7/07 12:53 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It depends, not so much on the price, but whether or not I can support hardware failures myself. I always buy warranties on notebook computers (and renew them at the end of the warrenty period) because when something fails on the notebook, its usually something that I can't fix or even get at an affordable price. Over the years I've had lots of notebook keyboard failures (Acer will sell me one pretty cheaply, HP won't), mobo failures and LCD panel failures. All of these, except for maybe the keyboard, are failures that turn the notebook into a useless device. With a warrenty, it's someone else's problem.
Consider Manufacturer's warranty. Cost. Store.
by sliderule43 - 12/7/07 7:19 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1. Purchased $999 Magnavox HDTV from Sears. 90 day Mfg warranty. Yes, purchased extended warranty. Who wants to worry after 90 days? I considered total price before making the purchase.
2. Walmart extended warranties are great buys. Tough to pass up. Purchased on digital cameras.
3. Steam Vacs and Vacuum cleaners. These are trouble prone items. Best Buy warranties have saved us a lot of money on these items.
4. Purchased on Sears $1200 washing machine. Cost $250. Internet reviews on this item frightened me. Five years are almost up. No problems.
5. Tillers. I purchased an extended warranty from Sears. Stupid decision. How often do you use a tiller?
6. Lawnmowers. Too many exclusions. Cancelled my Home Depot extended warranty after reading contract terms.
Only for somethings
by Doug643 - 12/7/07 7:21 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I get them for laptops - I use my laptop every day, carry it around a lot, and know that at some point I am going to drop it, or one of my kids will do something bad to it. I purchased the full, "you can do almost anything to this and it will be replaced" warranties and feel a lot better that I have it. A number of minor things have gone wrong in the 2 years (I still have a year left on the warranty) and in a few days I am able to get things fixed. I know the cost was high (about 30% of the total cost of the machine), but it was less than even 2 of the minor repairs. On most other things I don't bother - for desktops I figure that what is going to go wrong will happen in the first few weeks, on other things, the cost of replacement makes the warranty not worth it.
Very Expensive Insurance
by ozarktroutfisher - 12/7/07 7:57 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The amount of money paid in claims versus the premiums paid is very small compared to typical life, health, auto, etc insurance which means the companies (and especially those PUSHING the warranties) profit greatly from them. I'm all for free market economy and am glad that many people chose to buy them because it keeps the prices down on the items themselves.
Maybe I've been lucky, but not buying extended warranties has saved me literally thousands of dollars in the past 20 or so years. You could fix a lot of items yourself if you just made an account and deposited the premium price into it after every purchase.
Ask yourself if they really care that much about you the next time the sales clerk is pushing the warranty so hard. No it's because of the nice commission they recieve from the sale.
Having said all of that, I'm sure my truck won't start now!!
Why would stores sell them?
by tnikodem - 12/7/07 9:14 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There is one MAJOR reason why stores sell extended warranties -- They are highly profitable.
Although it can happen any time, electronic equipment usually fails early in its life (while still covered by the original warranty) or it fails after an extended time (i.e. AFTER the extended warranty expires).
Usually, i find it better to save the money. Instead of buying multiple warranties, I consolidate the money saved to replace or repair items that fail after the original warranty. Usually the replacement item costs less or has more features or both when compared to the original.
Why buy a 5 year warranty on a computer? You will probably replace it before then anyway!
It has worked out for me.
by Laceyjane - 12/7/07 9:47 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My hard drive went out just two weeks before the extended warranty from Staples went out. It was replaced and has worked perfectly ever since. Sometimes life is good. 
can you afford to replace it?
by riddle823 - 12/7/07 5:26 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i sell everything from the big ticket tvs to the entry level dvd players. if its a major purchase to you, buy the warranty. if its not a big deal for you to replace it, just replace it if it breaks. if your paying for your complete home theater with your Black card then the warranty probobly isnt a big deal to u. if you've saved and waited and kicked it around for a year for this once every 10 years purchase, drop an extra couple bills to protect it for the next 5 years. but dont say never buy them. the people that say never buy them are the first ones to cry on the phone to a manager and yell at them when six months down the road the "manufacturer defect" warranty wont cover their broken tv and now they want the store to just give them a new one. my favorite question from a customer is "you dont stand behind your product?" and all of them say it and then they realized it wasnt just some used car salesman tryin to make an extra buck by selling them the warranty and that in fact they the customer did not know everything like they thought they did. and the answer to the guy thats yelling at the 17 year old girl at customer service or that over the phone hard ass thats questioning how we stand behind our product: stores dont actually make the product bub, they just offer a service to protect you and when they offerd it to you u probobly said something like "nah, i'll gamble"
for laptops
by jennesy - 12/7/07 5:49 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Always get an extended warranty for laptops - I've had SO many things replaced on my laptop, the warranty has definitely paid off. It's not worth it for most other things.
Warranties have paid off for me
by archer.ac - 12/10/07 10:21 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I teach high school yearbook and computer graphics. Because our camera equipment is used extensively by students, the warranties have paid off both in actual dollars and my peace of mid. I can lend out the equipment and not worry about accidents. Also, the camera warranties include a yearly cleaning and calibration. The warranties cost only a little more than this service would cost on its own.
Its Gambling
by mike_mad_2010 - 12/11/07 10:46 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There is something unnerving to me to have a cashier say "I bet your new gizmo is going to break." I have had a couple of times I simply said, "If you that certain, I better not buy it at all!" I just leave the cashier with an item to reshelve.
Mikey
Warranty is mandatory, but afterweards ?
by varun8 - 12/15/07 5:07 AM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Every new product you buy comes with a warranty of usually 1 year. A lot of electronics products either fail immediately due to a production error which will be covered under your warranty.
The issue is that electronics prices tend to fall quite fast. So you paid €699 for your newest gadget and it breaks down after e.g. 15 Months (you 1 year warranty has only just expired). Your extended warranty only covers you for the product you bought. it will be repaired or replaced. I am sure your extednded warranty cost at least 10% of the purchase price€69. probably the product you bought for 699 can now be bought for 299 or newer much more attractive products have replaced it. You probably would prefer to ahve the vew one.
Just get a piggybank and every time you buy an item put the money for the extended warranty in the piggy bank. I am sure that when a device fails you will have enough in your piggy bank to buy the latest and greatest. Remember these insurance policies in many cases offer as mcuh as 60% commissions to stores and agents.
I would only recommend a warranty when you buy a very expensive item, that you know will not reduce in price and if it failed you would be unable to replace it, but I doubt any electronics product qualifies.
Yes and No
by meliss1140 - 12/17/07 2:00 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I always buy the extended warranty for products such as cameras, TVs, game systems, big items like these. If you buy a warranty from Best Buy and something goes wrong they usually replace it from the store's inventory on the spot. Whenever I buy from Best Buy I always buy one of their warranties. I bought my laptop two years ago and from the first day I bought it gave me trouble. After two months of having it the hard drive crashed and the manufacturer had to replace it. Then I continued to have problems with programs shutting down and the system getting over heated. I brought it in Three time for the same problems and just when they were about to replace it at the end of the manufacturer's warranty they told me that they could not duplicate the problem. Funny because I can duplicate it about ten times a day. Anyway the warranties transferred over to the store that I bought it from and they tried working on it. After not having my computer for about 6 months out of the 2 years that I have had it because of being in the shop, it is still not fixed.
In conclusion, warranties are worth it for big items because some companies do stand by their products and repair them. On the other hand some companies screw around with your product (and wipe out your entire system every time you send it in for repair). Thanks a lot HP. Thanks for listening to me let off steam.
It depends...on the product (not so much on the price)
by arminfields - 12/20/07 8:58 PM In reply to: Are extended warranties worth it? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a SONY Vaio laptop totally fry after 16 months, but the manufacturer's warranty was only for 12 months.
However, I was protected because I had bought it on our American Express card which provided an additional year of coverage.
I would NEVER buy any laptop without some sort of extended warranty.
The replacement I bought was from Costco which added one year to the manufacturer's one year warranty, and I used my American Express card again to get a third year of protection.
Armin
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