DISQUS

KC · 2 months ago

I think the best service plan on electronics is to do your research, buy a good model, and take care of your stuff. I've never had any electronics items that were lemons. But I always researched my purchases - I wanted to make sure I was getting the product that best suited me and I wanted to make sure it was a quality, reliable item. Then I took care of it - cleaning and dusting regularly and keeping it away from pet hair and excessive temperatures. I've never had anything break that wasn't due to time (after 5 years anything can break) or my fault (I dropped a DVD player). If something is so expensive I have to take out a warranty (think insurance policy) I probably don't need it right now.

PK · 2 months ago

Ha! I know where you worked since I only know of one store that sold "TSPs" ;)

Flexo · 2 months ago

The "Transistor Hut" didn't give it away? :-)

Customers Revenge · 2 months ago

I wouldn't create an account just for self-insuring, it would be fine if you just paid to fix or replace broken things out of "general revenue". The more important thing is deciding if the extended warranty is worth it for you.

I don't buy expensive TV's or stereos. My TV was $400 and I'll take care of it, so on the off chance that it breaks I can afford to replace it. When it breaks I can take the opportunity to buy a better TV because the equivalent $400 TV will be much better by then.

Same thing with desktop computers. I am good at fixing computers so if something gets fried I can replace the individual component for a good price without much effort.

Laptops, on the other hand, you usually have to replace big expensive pieces when they break like the screen or motherboard. Laptops are also harder to take care of. They are lugged around in a backpack or briefcase, could be dropped, are more likely to get something spilled on them, have an expensive battery that wears out, have power cords that are often used and can break, etc. In this case there is a good chance that I'll need a repair within a couple or three years and that the price will be close to the price of a new laptop (like say more than 50%). Therefore if I can get an all-inclusive service plan for 20% of the price of the laptop then that's worth it to me.

Usually I don't like the sales tactics. The salespeople pretty much say "This thing is going to break so you should get the plan." Pretty lame sales job. If there is no chance that the thing will last then why do I buy it in the first place? Why don't they just sell it for cheaper and say it will only last one year?

Julio · 2 months ago

I’ve never bought a warranty on anything I own and thankfully the need for one has never come up. At this point I’m so far ahead of the game, that I can’t justify the cost of a warranty for anything. For the few times when items needed repair, I was able to either do the work myself or have the item repaired for less than the cost of the warranty in the first place.

david M · 2 months ago

I never had and never will buy an extended warrenty. 2 reason:

1) I have heard to many "fraud stories" regarding extended warranty.

2) Even with all the fraud the stores make a LOT of profit on extended warranties.

Thus, extended warranties are clearly not a good deal.

Additionally, the price of electronic items is constantly DECREASING, thus, you are buying a warranty based upon what you PAID but if your product breaks during the extended warranty period, the same product will be much less than what you originally paid. Thus, the cost to replace will probably not be much higher than the warranty amount and most likely, the product will not break.

Always self insure unless the cost of not insuring is very high. For example, get a high deductible on you car. Were I used to live (moved) the savings by going from a $500 deductible to a $1,000 deductible was over $200!!!!!!

Steve O. · 2 months ago

While I've purchased extended warranties for my desktops years (over 10, probably) ago and no longer do, I know some people will still want some sort of that protection. For them I suggest SquareTrade, which supposedly offers warranties at significant savings. I've never dealt with them so your experience may vary, but the website seems straightforward.

Like someone else mentioned, I'm not sure that I would create an entirely separate account for this purpose, but I think it's been mentioned here before that ING's sub-accounts are fairly easy to create.

(Hope this isn't considered spam.)

Terry · 2 months ago

I lioke to think of this store as the electronics equivalent of Toys "R" Us. With the R in a circle rather than quotes.

Flexo · 2 months ago

Quite right, Terry, though when I was there, it was before the Circle-R.

Robert · 2 months ago

I had no idea credit cards would extend a computer's warranty. Great post!

Matt Jabs · 2 months ago

It's crazy that you just wrote about this... I JUST created my own Extended Warranty Fund via our ING Direct account too.

I showed it to my wife & explained the concept to her & she was like, "Hmmm, that makes a ton of sense. Why doesn't everybody do that?" And I was like... exactly! :-)

Good stuff!

Lake Forest John · 2 months ago

Most likely your light isn't on because of a "glitch." The vehicle monitoring system is extremely reliable and stable. Before your vehicle's Engine Control Module (ECM a.k.a. primary computer) triggers the light, it monitors the suspect circuit for a set number of vehicle starts and stops to protect against false alarms.

Mike · 2 months ago

Extended warranties are just fine for expensive items from reputable companies that are likely to be broken. High end laptops come to mind here, but this is the rare exception.