Poll: Extended Warranties

[Anonymous]

A lot of retailers offer extended warranties on consumer electronics, and for some portable items, such as camcorders and ipods, and high-ticket items, such as plasma TVs, it seems to make sense. My question is, do you opt for the extended warranty? If so, on what items and have you ever ended up using it? If not, why not?

My answer: I usually stay away from them. Got one on a TV 12 years ago, never needed to use it.

[Anonymous]

Never used it. Don’t need it.

[Anonymous]

Never!

Pretty much ever time you go to a electronics or appliance store and you buy something, the sales man/woman will always ask you if you want to buy an extended warranty for usually a lot of money. I always reply, Why would I want to do that? Are you saying that what Im buying here is junk and will break? Maybe I should put it back and go somewhere else. That usually shuts them up.

IMO when you buy something and its defected, it will show up right away and thats usually covered under the factorys warranty. After a year or two if nothing has happened, chances are nothing will unless its from physical abuse. And even then if you had an extended warranty, it probably wouldn’t cover that anyway because it doesn’t cover physical abuse or mistreatment

The sales people are under pressure from management to try and sell extended warranties because thats just another way of making money. How do you think they pay for their Christmas parties? 😀

[Endeavor]

Video-maniac Wrote:

Never!

Pretty much ever time you go to a electronics or appliance store and you buy something, the sales man/woman will always ask you if you want to buy an extended warranty for usually a lot of money. I always reply, Why would I want to do that? Are you saying that what Im buying here is junk and will break? Maybe I should put it back and go somewhere else. That usually shuts them up.

Haha. Nice…

I figure every time you buy a product, take the money you would have spent on the extended warranty and set it aside. Soon you will have enough to replace anything that might break (if that even happens) and will probably end up with some extra dough to upgrade your equipment!

[alohrey]

It really depends on the warranty! I bought a 3 year plan for my sony FX1 that covers everything for three years. The plan cost me $160 which I think is well worth it. When I say it covers everything, I mean everything. If I drop my cam in a fountain, they will ship me a replacement/loaner the next day. If the tape heads go bad within 3 years, they will put new in. If the lcd screen gets jacked by some drunk dude at a reception, they will put a new one on. I do weddings, and the wear and tear the camera will take in 3 years warrents a $160 fee to cover my butt.

later
~Adam

[Anonymous]

Nobody is in business to lose money, that includes the warranty. Over the past 23 years in this business I have purchased about $300,000 in equipment, but only three items had extended warranties. I gauge the decision by how much the item will be used and under what conditions. If you are buying a camera that will get constant use under risky conditions, get the warranty. On gear that stays in the edit bay, a new piece of gear gets turned on, power cycled several times the first day, and then I let it run all day for a week. This is called “burn in”. If it lasts a week of these tests, it will last 10 years or more. Any moving part will wear out, espesially DVD drives/burners. Normal wear and tear ussually isn’t coverded unless you can wear it out in the first 90 days. If other people will be using the equipment, consider a warranty.

[Videoman]

I took out extended warranty on my video camera. It covered me for failure after the manufacturer warranty ran out and had a “lemon” clause. If it was repaired three times – including manufacturer warranty period it would be replaced with a new one.
I didn’t purchase a lemon, BUT 2 months after the manufacturer’s warranty has run out, the camera is faulty. Started off when I zoomed the lense the darn camera would take a photo. Now it won’t go into record mode, nor will it display an image in the view finder. Monday will see if the exteneded warranty is worth the paper it is written on

[Author]

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