My personal experience with warranties has been a bad one. I am one of those super careful people who fills out all the little forms, sends in the warranty, and files it away in a well-organized cabinet. However, not once has a warranty still been valid when the product failed. The last time I bought a laptop I finally said, “Forget it!” Am I alone in this experience?
Due to increasing complexity and mobility of any high-tech devices, manufacturer’s warranty periods have become shorter and shorter. Extended warranties can be pricey but often make sense. But do you get what you pay for?
What the Numbers Say
Finding out how companies actually fulfill their warranties is tricky. There isn’t any kind of standardization, regulation or reporting on any of this. However, here’s what a few recent surveys have shown. In 2005, consumers spent over $16 billion on warranties according to the website Warranty Week.
A PCWorld customer survey of about 2000 people showed that 63% purchased extended warranties. 90% said the warranty was honored by the company with either replacement or service. 80% said they were happy with the service they received. On the other side, the 37% who didn’t buy warranties said they are not regretting it. Only 23% of those who didn’t want warranties said they wished they had.
What Is The Secret?
How can the opinions be so fractured? Well, a big piece of the puzzle is where you get the warranty from. Here are some important factors to consider to help you decide if a warranty is worth it or not.
Retail companies make a killing off extended warranties. Usually more than they make off selling you the actual product. They pocket half the cost and turn it over to a third-party company to manage. If a warranty sounds great because Joe the sales guy told you it is, you might want to think twice.
Its important to understand exactly what is covered by the warranty. Sometimes only certain types of damage or wear and tear will be covered. A lot of extended warranties offer no service level agreement, meaning the company can take as long as they feel like to help you. Using deals like hp promo codes offers can help get the overall cost down and still make the warranty affordable.
Many high-end credit cards automatically extend manufacturers warranties by several months to a year. Companies like CostCo also extend warranties on many of their pricier items. Make sure you aren’t buying something you already have.
The internet certainly gives us lots of opinions. Using Angie’s List or Better Business Bureau can help you find out if the extended warranty provider has a good track record. This kind of investigation is well worth it.
6 Responses to “Are Warranties Really Worth It?”
I certainly feel your pain. I’ve had terrible warranty experiences with Xbox customer support and also BestBuy. However other companies (eg logitech and dell) have been great to deal with. You should post another article about the credit card protection. I’ve always heard about that, but never looked into it and honestly wouldn’t know where to start.
I simply say NO to this kind of offer. My experience suggest that defects will happen in the span of one year if there is any damage at all.
I do not usually buy extra warranties. I know they are the icing-on-the-cake money makers for retailers and I feel like the balance will be in my favor in the long run if I don’t pay the extra. The only time I’ve really considered it lately was with a work laptop I recently obtained. It gets a lot of abuse, being carried around and worked with, almost continually. The biggest reason though, is the time it would take to make sure the warranty was filled. I’d have to get another one anyhow, just during the waiting period. I’d still like to. I need to have several laptops at the ready for when one goes down.
that’s one good thing about buying online you don’t have the spotty sales assistant keeping on and on about buying a warrenty, iv’e been asked for nearly as much as the product to buy an extended warrenty and they don’t take no for an answer. if you have a problem and make a claim you then you will be glad you bought it but if you don’t claim you wish you hadn’t payed all that money out…your choice.
Even me i don’t get extra warranty if i buy something, the warranty that was given to me is enough. What I usually do is I use regularly and push it to the limit (based on the specification written on the manual). So if i found a problem i can grab the warranty
No one will accept these kind of offers. And yes we should read the whole detail of the product that we are willing to buy and then take any action.