Comments on: Are All Warranties Warrented?

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:17:42 +0000

Haha, oh yeah – I literally spilled coffee all over my keyboard just this morning! Thank goodness it wasn’t the hard drive :) Pretty smart on the open-box stuff too. We picked up our new stove that way too a few years ago. The floor model got us an extra 25% off ;)

By: skrpune

skrpune — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:42:29 +0000

We bought an extended warranty on the new LCD TV we got last year…but only because it was a deeply discounted open box special, and the “real” warranty was pretty much voided by that. Even with the additional store warranty purchase, we saved hundreds of dollars over buying a “closed box” TV. (We did make them test it in-store before we bought it though!)

I’m in IT and have built my last couple desktops, so there’s no warranty to purchase there…but I have used the standard manufacturer’s warranty for the components I bought, specifically hard drives. Certain hard drive manufacturers have excellent warranties and return policies – just run a test to grab the failure code and they will send you the same (or bigger) storage capacity replacement. Nice! When it comes to laptops, I do recommend that many folks do purchase an extended and/or accidental protection warranty – I’ve seen too many people spill coffee/wine/tea on their laptops or drop them and be SOL. Unless you have the cash to replace that laptop if it meets its doom, or unless you’re tech-savvy and can fix it yourself, get the extra warranty!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:13:50 +0000

Nah, you didn’t do anything – it started breaking my site out of nowhere :( Every now and then these plugins get wonky and I have to deactivate them and look for new ones, sorry. Just tried it again now before posting this, and it was still broken :( We’ll see if I can find a better one soon!

By: Yana

Yana — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:15:59 +0000

PS – what happened to getting comment notifications by e-mail? Have I accidentally blocked the feature?

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:41:24 +0000

@Aloysa @ My Broken Coin – Haha, that’s all. My drinks are always spilling on something! ;) But I agree – I rarely get extra warranties on electronics either, except for major ones.
@WR – I like it! Great way to go for sure, I”m a huge fan of never buying the 1st year model too. Actually brand new cars to begin with. The closest I’ll come is buying one that’s 6 months old so all that depreciation is already gone ;)
@Bryan at Pinch that Penny! – Haha, nice and detailed, thank you sir :) Love hearing about all these stories, even the nasty ones cuz it reminds us to remember that not all people/companies are decent human beings. Which is sad, because you can be even MORE successful by merely being up front and honest with people – a lot of companies fail to realize that and/or don’t want to put in the hard work to make revenue that way. Much easier and faster to be shady about it. Same goes for theifs – I despise them. But that’s a whole other topic for another day, cant get fired up right now ;)
@KimmyQ – Well that’s nice of Costco! I agree – 2 years of working well is a-okay in my books, by then the technology is crazy old anyways ;)
@AverageJoe – Good to know! I’ve never gone the c/c route, but once I came close to having to use my own auto insurance to cover some broken mirors I ripped off of the rental van by accident ;) I think in the end I lucked out and was fine (can’t recall exactly- it’s been a good 10+ years), but I think that’s the way I’d go in a worst case scenario – using my own insurance over my credit card’s, but I’d still check to be sure.
@Mistress Susan – Hey! I was JUST thinking about that Platinum card because I have a Visa Black Card offer sitting on my desk here :) And was wondering what the main difference was between the two… haven’t Googled it yet (thx for the reminder!), but I know the Black Card is already $100 more expensive/year… glad the card is working well for ya! Queen bee ;)
@Kris @ SimpleIslandLiving – Woahhhh, really? That’s crazy! And if that’s all from the baby doing something funky, then I def. need to pay attention cuz there’s an equal chance I’d break or drop something too! Haha… though we’re hoping to get most things used for that reason (NOT the breast pump though, haha… freaky!)
@bax – HAH! I’m sure you’re not going to mention it anyways ;) Though they’l probably wonder what the hell kinda hair you have if they find dog stuff still in it! Haha…
@jefferson – Oh man, I’m so sorry to hear that :( That freaks me out about warranties too – they always seem soo much shadier than they do good, ya know? It’s frustrating for sure. What ended up happening? Did you have to pay for everything?? I hope things are better now man. Really really f’d up.
@Yana – Haha yup! In the end it’s always a smart business decision on the company’s end – but it still doesn’t mean it can’t come in handy at some point ;) You’re right that it feeds off of your fear though, that’s a great way to put it. Thanks for commenting, friend!
@Christa – That was the only thing we *didn’t* get our sellers to cover, but we were more than happy to do it ourselves since they put in $20,000+ in other areas, including paying for all closing costs, hehe…
@Julie @ Freedom 48 – Woah, yeah – that’s weird? Crazy how a brand new machine can break down TWICE like that so early on? Glad you got that warranty for sure!
@bobbi – Unfortunately I think you’re right on the money with that one :( I don’t know anyone either who has actually gotten anything covered in one of those outside warranty places… only those straight from the dealership. Which are a pretty penny in comparison!
@BusyExecutiveMoneyBlog – Ouch. Sorry to hear that, friend. Maybe it happened to save you from something BIGGER happening down the road!? Though I def. hope not, haha… thanks for sharing your story!
@The Frugallery – Yep! I think it’s best for those who need 100% piece of mind really. Even when I decline it, telling them I’ll just use my own auto insurance that covers rentals too (Yeah USAA!), it still freaks me out that I’ll get a “ding” on my report if I ever end up using it like that. When you use the rental car’s insurance it’s totally off record (at least to my knowledge). Still not worth the money adding up over time, but I can understand those who like paying for that extra peace of mind.
@Good Cents Savings – Haha, you’ve got good lucky my friend! Hope it continues on! :)

By: Good Cents Savings

Good Cents Savings — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:11:50 +0000

Many many years ago (whenever I was just getting nerdy enough to start caring about this stuff) I heard Clark Howard say not to buy the warranties and if you have to replace a thing or two here and there you’ll still most likely come out ahead. I took it to heart and in the decade and a half or so since then I have had to replace one (bigish) tv that got fried long before it’s time, and had one smartphone have an early demise on a boat ride (but a friend gave me her old blackberry so that replacement was free!)

SO – I figure if I had been insuring everything all that time I would have spent WAY more than the $600 for that new tv. Knocking on wood that all my stuff doesn’t break tomorrow!

By: The Frugallery

The Frugallery — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:27:32 +0000

I’m surprised how many people don’t know about not needing extra rental car insurance. The rental agents do such a good job of selling it that it’s hard to turn down. Meanwhile it’s completely unnecessary for most people!

By: BusyExecutiveMoneyBlog

BusyExecutiveMoneyBlog — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:40:01 +0000

I used to never buy warranties…that is until my flat screen died right after the manf’s warranty ended. It was a significant chunck of change to replace that I said…why didn’t I just get the warranty?” So, now anything over a few hundred bucks, I get the warranty.

By: bobbi

bobbi — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:36:05 +0000

Extra warranties on cars are a total rip off. I’ve had one in the past, my brother has had one and people I’ve known have had one and the warranty has NEVER paid for anything and found every excuse to get out of paying for it. The times when they do pay are the exception instead of the rule as far as my personal experience goes. I have never met a person IRL where the warranty has actually paid for anything. Honestly… paying 2-3K for a warranty might as well be put in the bank and used for any future repairs… you are way ahead by doing that in my book.

By: Julie @ Freedom 48

Julie @ Freedom 48 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:08:52 +0000

We’re generally not a big fan of warranties, but when our first front-loader washer died after just a few years, we decided to get the extended warranty on the new washer. We’ve had the new one for less than 2 years and have had 2 service calls on it (both fixed, free of charge), so in that case it’s been worth it. But I don’t think that’s the norm.