Secret Christmas Present For Wife

[cabinetman]

Now this is a secret, so don't tell anyone. You all know how you have to finagle and drop hints to find out what the lovely lady really wants. Well, this year this one is definitely a surprise. It's a Singer sewing machine with all the electronics and doo dads. So, Sears carries Singer, and I call the stores to see if it's in stock.

Find out it's on sale and there's only one store that has one in the box, out of 4 local stores. I'm imagining getting there and they are out, which will send me into a frenzy. So to prevent my already high blood pressure from peaking, I talked with a sales woman (Diane) who agreed to hold it for me, as I was already half out the door. Get to the store and the sewing machine area, and of course Diane is out to lunch.

The woman now there looked like a librarian from my school days. Anyway, she knew nothing about it, but checked her computer and it showed one in stock. I get ready to pay and she starts on this "extended warranty" crap. We never buy into that game. I'm fully prepared to say no. She starts in on how advantageous it is and how there is a maintenance clause, etc. It was for just two years, but renewable.

So my discussion went to the fact that isn't the first year covered by warranty anyway? "Well yes", was her answer. So I said, the money is actually only for one year. Now that's the way it is. She got very indignant that I wouldn't buy the policy and kept on and on, like it was more important than the machine. She finally copped an attitude and charged up the sale.

A couple of years ago, when we bought our last computer, the same dang thing happened with a guy who wouldn't take no for an answer. This was in one of those big appliance places like Best Buy, or Circuit City. He actually insulted my intelligence to the point of my asking him to step outside. He ran to his supervisor and refused to wait on me anymore. So the super wrote up the computer, no extended warranty.

Is it just me, or does this happen a lot?



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[eddy merckx]

I'm with you. I think extended warranties are right up there with the "undercoating package" that gets pushed on you when you buy a new car. It is very, very profitable for the retailer because most products don't fail within 2 years. I'm sure that there are exceptions where buyers are really glad they have it, particularly with electronics which are fragile, like big screen TVs. I personally never buy the extended warranty and have not yet regretted it.

I think that the reason the Sears salesperson was so pushy is probably there was a sale incentive, where she got a bonus from selling the warranty. I think that's pretty common. An experienced, professional salesperson knows when to lay off, though. Better to lose a sale than lose a customer forever.

Eddy

[JBCrooks]

The extended warranties are almost 100% profit. For the big chain stores, their buisness model pulls in most of the store profit from sale of extended warranties. I have even heard of several places that will fire a salesman that doesn't sell many EWs even if his sales for real merchandise is high.

[twistsol]

Just say no.

Extended warranties are hugely profitable for the store and some salespeople just don't know when to give up. I've gotten to the point that when we bought our new truck this spring, the first thing out of my mouth when we went into the "closer's" office was "I don't want an extended warranty and if you mention it we're leaving." It worked... this time.

The worst car I've ever owned never cost as much in repairs as the extended warranty would have.

Also, many of credit cards have a little pulicised benefit that they'll double the warranty or add a year to the warranty of anything you buy on their card. The compressor with a one year warranty that my wife bought me for Christmas two years ago just died and Amex is fixing it for free.

[LCHIEN]

The extended warranty sales are gravy for the retailers.
People buy them but like you said, it really just covers year 2 because the product warranty is for 1 year. People get thm and don't use them because the products for the most part don't fail and they forget they have the warranty or the product is obsolete and they'd rather get a new one by that time.

I try not to argue with the sales guy who probably does get a bonus if he can sell it to you. When he starts to push him I ask do you think this is going to fail? Because if you do I'm just not going to buy it. That usually shuts them up.

As for the warranty, it can cost 10% of the product's cost. Not more than 10% of my purchases fail in the first two years. You buy "insurance" because you want to spread risk around for expensive items like your house and car. For a small to medium item, you can take the risk of not buying that insurance because the risk of total failure won't caue you serious financial problems.

[Ed62]

I don't buy into the extended warranty either. Another one that gets me is when they ask me if I want to use (their) credit card. I say no, I only keep one credit card. Then without fail, it's "Would you like to apply for one? You'll get a 10% discount."

Ed

[JSCOOK]

I think with extended warranties, you have to look at what the cost is verses the time covered and the cost of the product and weigh it out ... large dollar items can really pay back if there is a problem, it just did for me:

I bought a 53" Hitachi Ultravision Digital HDTV just about 4 yrs ago, which was worth $4300 new ... factory warranty was 2 yrs, and for an additional $300 they would add an additional 4 yrs total coverage, so my warranty would be a total of 6 yrs along with a lemon clause ... so I went for it.

This past fall, one night the "reds" just went crazy and it looked like those 3D movies from years ago ... anyway call and they came and picked it up and fixed it and returned it back to the house (home theatre room in the basement) so I asked the guy out of curiousity what this repair would have cost if I didn't have the extended warranty? ... I was told $800 + tax!!! ... turns out one of the major image driver chips burnt out, so the circuit board was replaced (or something like that) ... and I still have 2 years coverage and glad cause if it goes again, I'm apparently going to get a new current model WS.

So sometimes they do pay off ...

[cgallery]

I agree w/ everything said about extended warranties w/ one exception: Notebook computers. Especially if they are pricier models purchased by you for use by someone else. If you are sending a kid to school w/ one, and need it to last four years, try to get at least a three year warranty with accidental damage protection on it and do a lot of praying during the fourth year.

You'd be amazed by the # of these that we get in for repair. Reasons: (1) Spilled beer on it. (2) Drove over it (YES). (3) Dropped it. (4) Tripped over power cord. On and on and on...

I know the big box stores don't do a great job servicing these warranties. But push come to shove, they will fix it and can save you from having to lay out another $1500 time and time again.

[TheRic]

I agree sometimes they do pay for themselves, sometime they don't I get them about 20% of the time. Overall I would say that I'm slightly better than even on what it would have cost me without the extended warranty. It depends on the item, and how well I think I can fix it myself if I buy the warranty.

I normally ask if I have to buy the extended warranty now, or anytime while the warranty is still valid. Most of the time you can buy an extended warranty as long as it's still under warranty. Then as I use it I can get a good ideal on how much I use it, and if I think it will fail during the extended warranty. Also since I'm buying it at the end of the original warranty I make sure it's for an ADDITIONAL # of years. Sometimes they are sometime they are not. You have to ask, like anything else you need to know what you are buying. Whether it's a power tool or a warranty on a refrigerator you need to know what you are buying.

[Ed62]

Another thing that might be worth consideration is what the replacement cost will be 2 or 3 years down the road. I heard the price on large screen TVs is expected to drop by 30% during the next year. Digital cameras, scanners, and other like items drop in price pretty fast because newer and better stuff comes out all the time. So it might be easy to think you've saved $xxx.xx to get it fixed, when you could upgrade for considerably less. This is not to say the extended warranty is never a good thing, only that you need to weigh all the possibilities.

Ed