Extended Warranties

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Thanks for giving WinXPNews a plug, Chris — even if you did refer to me as “the editor” (nameless, faceless … at least you didn't spell my name incorrectly).
As for feeling guilty for not buying the extended warranty, that is exactly the result they're hoping for. Like social engineers, extended warranty salespeople will try charm, they'll try intimidation, and they'll certainly try to lay on the guilt. Don't let them get away with it. Just say no to extended warranties.
Deb Shinder
A.K.A. “The Editor,” WinXPNews

Hi Chris, I use them for items that could be dropped or things that may not live past their lifetime such as remote controls, cordless phones and sometimes tv's. Of the 5 extended warranties I have purchased, I have used 3. So even though the ones I haven't used..the $500 I got back from those certainly paid for the 2 I never used. So it depends on the item. Hope this helps. Old.CFH fan!! Wish you where still there!!

Since I have never uttered the words “I wish I would have bought that extended warranty” I never buy them. Apparently a lot of people do though, so if you're getting ripped off you're not alone.
There was “an incident” when we bought our HDTV in which the salesguy basically wouldn't let us check out until he badgered us over the extended warranty for a good 20 minutes. Tired of it I told him I could just buy the TV somewhere else if he wouldn't sell it without the warranty and his mood immediately changed. Had we bought the warrantly it would be expired now and we never needed it. $300.00 of my money in my pocket.
Now why is it I like buying things online so much?? Hmmm….creepy sales guys.

I used to do tech support for an extended warranty company called “Warrantech”. So, I have an insiders perspective.
For appliances? Yeah, sure! Get the warranty, which usually kicks in after the manufacturers warranty, hence the term “extended”.
For things like PC's? Pass on 'em. The OEM warranty is usually sufficient for computer componant lifespan. One term of the typical computer warranty that frustrated most of the callers I handled was that they're locked into the computers configuration AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE. In other words, people who were migrating from Win98 to XP would have to ditch their NTFS formatting, reinstall Win98 with their handy restore CD before we would process their claim.
That kind of news is very frustrating when you're already stressed about your evident PC failure anyway.
The best advice I can give anyone thinking of extending their coverage is read over the EXCLUSIONS FROM COVERAGE. The tiniest of tiny print on the tri-fold leaflet they hand you. Know your terms. The angriest people I had in my ear at work were people who assumed they were covered for something way outside of the terms.
And never take a salesperson's word for what's covered. Years back bought a new monitor and the guy at Best Buy was really pushing for the warranty. He said “Even if you drop it on the floor and stomp on it, it's covered.” I said, “let me talk to your manager, and if that's not actually the case, I'd like to file a formal complaint against you.”
Oh! Wait… Um, this is the 2-year basic plan… droppage is not covered under that one, sorry, my mistake.
Yuh-huh, thought so, I'll pass.

As a Best Buy employee, I think that the service plan or extended warranties from other places are a must, especially on PCs and Notebooks.
Most of the problems that that I see on a daily basis occur AFTER the one year manufacturer waranty. The biggest cause of these problems? Normal usage, wear and tear. The manufacturer won't even touch a problem if its caused by normal usage. I deal with no less than 2 people a day whos PC/Notebook has failed 2 1/2 years after purchase, and because the cost to repair the machine, they get a brand new unit. Also, at Best Buy, you notebook batteries are covered under that normal usage. Most users replace their batteries around the 18 month mark, depending on usage, and range upwards of $300.
Also, for televisions, especially larger units, I reccomend as well. DLP? That bulb that's going to cost you $400-500 2 years from now. It's covered. Plasmas? One repair – and check the AVG message boards for this one – will cost over $1000. Many users have boards in these units that go out WAY after the manufacturers warranty.
Just my two cents :)

Just to add my two cents (about US1.25c)…
I know that at least one extended warranty company that I deal with in my professional capacity *does* pay a rebate for each extended warranty sold, plus a $20 bonus to the salesperson.
I've sold exactly *one* extended warranty on a system I built, and it was to a customer whose grocery store back-end runs on the system, and he lives out in the boonies.
I've also sold an extended warranty on a HP laptop, and to be quite honest, I won't sell a laptop without one now. According to an inside source from one of the companies whose laptops I resell, quite often the replacement cost of the LCD is more than the replacement price of the laptop.
LCD screen damage happens more often than you'd think. Several years ago I was talking with the national service manager of the Australian branch of a large international manufacturer. We got onto the subject of laptops, and he pointed out a large pile of expensive laptops, all with broken screens. Almost all of them had the same story – “Belonged to management, they put their pen down on the keyboard, then shut the lid without thinking”
Then there's straight out failure. Just before Christmas I had a client who was on holidays bring a Compaq Presario laptop in to be serviced, claiming that it wouldn't start. As it turns out, it started OK, but the backlight in the LCD was dead. May be a faulty backlight, may be a faulty inverter, but whatever the fault, it was irrelevant. The backlight and inverter aren't available separately, the screen had to be purchased as a single unit – at close to what they'd paid for the laptop 18 months earlier.
They've decided to buy another laptop when they get home. They're also buying an extended warranty…

I usually by extended warranties on big ticket items. My laptop, bigscreen TV, Refrig. things like those. I have only had to use the warranty a few times, and did so without any issues. things I dont understand are ones that cost almost as much a the product themselves. I bought a DVD player once that cost like $50 and they wanted to sell me a ext. plan that cost like $40. Um, no thanks.

I'm gonna post an email I sent to the editor of WinXPNews
Hi. I read your article about extended warranties. I happen to be a TV service repairman, in Argentina. I represent Philips, JVC, Aiwa, Sanyo and others. I also do repairs for AON Warranty Services (extended warranty). And I can tell you how much people use those warranties: not much.
That's because most electronic stuff fails within the warranty period (unlike most people think, that it fails JUST AFTER the warranty expired).
We've serviced over 3000 Philips products in the last 5 years (not counting the other brands, that make up for over 9000 in total –warranties alone. About 3 times that for products out-of warranty). Most of the products don't come back. Curiously all those products repeat the same failure for most of them. As an example, all of the TVs from Sanyo in this year come in for PSU Transistor replacement. None of these has come back yet. And it's like that for most brands. But it's like that. TVs fail (and I thank god for it! because I repair these for a living). People think “they don't make things like they used to”. True, but they don't charge for things like they used to either. 20 years ago you couldn't buy a $200 TV, but today you can.
About extended warranties? Since 2000 we've just done 160 repairs. That's 1,6% of our work.
There is only one case in which extended warranties make sense, and most americans don't fall in this category: dirt. As many houses in the US are tight-shut and HVAC-filtered, air is rather clean. But here we don't use that kind of stuff and there's lots of dirt. That dirt deposits in your CD player's laser pick-up and makes it emmit more light, and make it last way less. Added that they “don't make them as they used to”, because most of these don't last more than 3 years (and if you buy an extended warranty, it'll cost you less than a new laser pick-up! Or two, depending on the period of your warranty).
well, just to let you know

Hi My name is Lee,
Ok, So here is the other side of the extended warrenties.
I work as a Tech salesman. I'm the one that asks you it want the extended warrenty. Please dont shoot me I'm just the messenger. We are required by our employers to ask if costomer would like the warrenty.
I personally buy extended warenties on items that I can not afford to replace. At this moment I'm exchanging a PDA that I have owned for a year and a half. Somthing has gone wrong with the sound and I can no longer hear music and such without head phones. Fortunatly for me I won't have to shell out $400.00 to replace it.
In another case I am currently replaceing a $600.00 treadmill that refuses to to start. I got the extended purchase protection for 3 years on this one and I have had the tredmill for almost 3 years. I have had no problems with them honoring the warrenties.
I say if you have plenty of money and you dont mind paying full price to replace what you bought great! But for a poor schmuck like me they come in handy.
As I tell my costomers at the end of my speal about our warranty ,(of course the choice is yours) and then I dont menton it again……….Unless they ask.

Chris, long time no type. I used to repair laptops as part of my living and that is one arena where I think extended warranties are pretty much a must. Other big ticket items I have less problems with evaluating personally as I've been known to practically disassemble something on the showroom floor before making a purchase, which unnerves salespeople no end. Being a systems engineer can be so much fun!
For the average person, I'd agree with one of the earlier comments. If you can afford to replace it out of pocket, avoid them unless it is a high breakage item. If not, then it's insurance like any other insurance and you make your decision accordingly.
One more piece of advice, if you don't know what you are looking at/for in something, grab a friendly geek or engineeer and take them with you to the store. I do that a lot for people these days. It'll save a lot of grief down the road.
Brian J. Bartlett

Yes the salepeople do make either a commission or a bonus on extended warranties. I gues I'm lucky, my Toshiba laptop is three years old now and been to hell and back and still works like a champ! I did replace the battery once but I got a really good deal on one at laptopsforless.com. I used to be in the car business and unless you are going to keep a car longer than the factory warranty or go ove the miles, it's not a good buy. If you are going to keep the car, definately buy one! I saw so many people use the extended on their out of warranty cars that it was a little scary. I never buy extended warranties on appliances or electronics and have never needed one, but, I suppose I'll take a hit one of these days. I guess though, I'll pay for the repair with all the money I saved by not buying warranties!

I just want to say that not all sales people get kick backs when they sell extended warrenties. I know that one company gives nothing to the employee for selling extended warrenties, it is a way to offer the customer a service. If the unit breaks or fails during the extended warrenty then it is replaced or refunded at full retail price in store credit. I know many contractors that constantly drop or break tools like drills etc… When this happens the $19.99 it cost for the warrenty is worth a $200.00 drill.