Home audio & video forum: Extended Warranty.........are they worth it????

Extended Warranty is an insurance policy.
There are many factors to consider:
The cost of the HDTV, the cost of the warranty and the reputation of the the company providing the warranty.
With the cost of HDTVs coming down and reliability going up the need for them has gone down.
Extended warranties are a cash cow for retailers, they will sell you one on a $25 CD player.
But there are many at C-Net that have them and have had good results and some that have had bad results. John

Warranties only cover manufacturing mistakes, Service guarantees
cover in the field degradation from USAGE, including issues from heat dust humidity, and power surges.
Service guarantees cover accessories like rechargeable batteries and power supplies, warranties usually do not.
Add up up the cost on these and you'll see the benefits.

6 years ago i purchased a new panasonic rear projection Tv. Also bought a 3 year extended warranty
with a $1000.00 deductible. I did not know about the deductible. 2 years later my electricity
provider had a series of power surges which rendered the TV inoperable and as it turned out
unrepairable. The electric company picked up the $1000. deductible and the warranty company paid for the rest of a new TV. In this case it was worth it because the extended warranty was only $127.00 for 3 years thus the $1000.00 deductible.

Normally I don't buy an extended warranty because if an electric product is going to fail it will do so
in the first year.

I preach this all the time but the way people think is "well, if I don't get warranty, I get screwed. Let someone else fight the battle" but that someone else is YOU.

We should not subsidize anyone. The bottom line is price the product effectively, build it properly and people will buy it. The fact is out of all the extended warraties or insurance there are many "loopholes" so they won't pay anyway. Big ticket items are something you may want to deal with but nothing else. I laugh at "would you like the warranty against scrathes on that CD you are buying?" They have got to be kidding. Pure profit for companies. The same for rebates. Rebates are designed as revenue producers for the company not you. 65% of the people that try to get rebates never do on some "technicality". Again do not subsidize or give free money to manufacturers or the stores. DEMAND that they produce good products and do not buy them unless they do, and when they are bad tell all your friends. Tell everybody to hit them where it hurts-their pocketbook.

"Build it right and people will buy it" thats why all the good companies that made high quality electronics in the USA are either out of business or had to outsource labor. Cause you cheap ******** wont buy quality. People dont want quality. They want cheap **** thats going to break in a couple of years. Thats why Visio sells so many TV's.

I give manufacturers and retailers 1 chance to keep me. there are plenty of them so they should be begging for my business. I dont shop at walmart, blockbuster, lowe's kohl's and several other places that dont deserve my business. And I dont mind paying a little more to avoid their hassles.

I happen to agree with you 100%. We do need to stop buying certain brands or shopping at certain stores when we're not pleased. That would hurt the buisness's pockets where it counts.

I agree 100%. Years ago Circuit City screwed me on a printer return. They lots several years of business from me. I've just now started checking them when comparing prices but still have yet to buy anything from them. And, I still remember that jerk manager.

A consumer magazine once wrote that if you took all the money you would spend on extended warrantees and put it in the bank instead, you would have enough money to repair about any item that broke, or to replace it with the latest model.

In addition, purchasing that expensive electronic gizmo with your credit card usually doubles your warranty, up to an additional year, so many times you're actually buying nothing.

Finally, many of the computers and big ticket electronics at places such as Costco are covered by their "Concierge Service" which extends the manufacturers' one year warranty to two years. Just check Costco on line for details if you're a member. Sam's Club might have similar offers.

So, why pay for something you don't need just to line a store and salesman's pockets?

I worked at a major "neighborhood electronics retailer" and the stores actually make 58% profit on the service plans. I personally think they're a good idea in some circumstances. If the item you're buying comes with a rechargable battery, like a cell phone, get the service plan! By the time you replace your battery once, you've got your money. Replace it the second year, and you've got your money back twice. Headphones you use a lot are also a good thing to get them on. Less expensive items I would not worry about too much. Computers: absolutely. Especially laptops! Laptops and computers: get the longest warranty available. I've seen 5 year ones REALLY pay off! And, USE THE SERVICE PLAN! That's what you bought it for! It seems simple, but some forget about them or delay getting a problem solved and then the plan is expired. Once it's expired, there's basically no recourse. Hope this advice helps from a guy that worked 5 years in electronics retail!

well it depends on exactly what u do with that laptop. I have a 6 year old laptop that works great as a back up computer. I use it a few times a month (like sitting on the deck in the sun). I also used it a few times when I wanted to do a bunch of directions with my map program and I didnt want to waste paper because I wasnt sure where I was going and from which location (I was winging it-we waste enough trees at my work, I dont kill trees for no reason). worked great. I could change roads and everything. and the screen is bigger than a gps (plus, gps's were over $1000 then). so yeah, lots of things do become obsolete quickly. shoppers should be smart and not buy retail anyway for stuff like electronics. my ext warranty for my dvr came in handy and it was only $50.I bought it online and got it brand new for 1/2 the price of retail, so the $50 was worth it and only $22 shipping. I buy online way before retail with big ticket items (like my HDTV in april-$300 less than retail).

My visa with them does NOT buy me extended warranty and I spend a shi*load of money with them. This year alone I've spent over 40k on my card

Well in my case we have used the extended warranty several times. This is computer #5 and all have had at one time or another something go bad that the extended warranty covered. We travel and use 110v power inverters and run off battery's and the rv and truck are comfortable but can get jarred or sled around and things happen. The Sony had hard drives go bad and the motherboard.The Toshiba had motherboard and cd/dvd burners go bad. The Compaq had three motherboards and one battery and in the end it had a screen and hard drive. The HP my wife has had the power cord so far....My Dell so far has had a cd/dvd and the hard drive go bad and is currently starting to give me cd/dvd drive problems. I have saved just on all the motherboards alone enough to buy another computer! For us, I would say Yes, they are an important part of the buy. Laptops can catch all kinds of problems. If we had a home system it may have had less issues as in our case the hard drives and cd/dvd roms have vibration problems and the motherboards have overheating issues as we are in the south areas and inside temps can climb up over 100+ and even outside under the awning it can get that hot and then add the heat from the processors and "there it is". I'd say Yes, in our case!!

I encountered the current wisdom that lap tops are an exception to the rule that you should never buy extended warranties on electronics. You're definitely just adding to the retailer's revenue since electronic prices go down so quickly and it's just a way to cover really crappy products.
So I bought AppleCare when i bought an iBook a couple years ago. Just like the warranties on cars, when something broke, it wasn't covered. Not only was it not covered, but when my LCD cracked while opening the lid, I was informed that the LCD was considered a "Level 4" repair, which cost me $800. This was less than a year after purchase and Apple had released the new Intel versions and Power books, so that price then put me in the dilemma of deciding whether to buy a new one. They do this on purpose. Just like on cars. It sounds like you're covered, but they know way more than you do about the product and they know what will break first and what won't. They cover things that won't break, take your money for the warranty, then take your money again for the necessary repair.