Harbor Freight warranty?

[messmaker]

I was at my local store the other day and saw something that shocked me. A man was bringing in a welding mask for warranty. It was just out of the 90 days but he had bought the extended warranty for an additional 2 years. They replaced the product at no charge but then told him that he would need to buy a new warranty for the product as it would only be replaced 1 time although it had about 23 months remaining on the warranty.( What if the replacement happened to be defective) This is not how they have looked at the warranty in the past. I was confused. Has there been a change? I thought it was " no questions asked for the full term of the warranty" . What gives?

[cork58]

Hf

Extended warranties are mostly a ripoff. Now that I have I said that, do I get them? Sometimes. Depends on the underwriter. I have 2 Mustangs under an extended warranty but my shop tools, no. Am I right in my desion? Maybe not! What are you confortable with. If you think you are getting a good unit then why spend the money. If you think your investment may need some work then by all means take the warranty. The Mustangs get a real workout, the shop equipment gets weekend work. What does yours get?

[stormdog74]

For the most part extended warranties are not a good deal - from a purely mathematical view, you would be MUCH better off putting the money away in a savings account (or in your mattress!). Warranties, like insuarance policies, are only good for things that you would have a difficult time paying for - disability insurance would be a good thing to have because if you become disabled and can't work then you are not likely to be able to handle expensives.

Instead of buying warranties, just put the money away - and when something breaks use that money to get it fixed, or buy a new one.

[Uncle Cracker]

You get what you pay for. Cheap prices mean products that won't last as long, and warranties that you have to pay extra for. Pick your poison. Sometimes you get the bear, and other times, well...

[messmaker]

I guess my question conerns weather or not HF has changed it's policy. I know the pitfalls of extended warrranties but understood that HF was totally "no-sweat".

[Uncle Cracker]

Sometimes it's not the policies themselves, but the interpretations of the staff. I get answers there all the time that differ from others I've gotten. I think that sometimes the trick is to ask around until you hear the answer you want...

[mater]

That one time replacement is probably somewhere in the small print that people never read. Although I don't buy the warranties I would assume all companies do the same way. If they can fix the tool the warranty will continue and if they replace it then the warranty ends.