Do you buy the extended warranty at Best Buy or your favorite electronics store?

[MRTOOSE]

i never do .. by the time it wears out im ready for something different

 

[Westside]

ok as a former best buy employee and knowing the scheme. here is my advice.

1) never buy it on anything except laptop computers.
2) only buy it on laptops if you plan on keeping it for several years.
3) after purchasing the plan for your laptop wait 6 months then call and get a new battery for your laptop. You will now have two batteries for your laptop. This excludes apple products which they didn't sell when I worked there.


Read carefully as your mileage may very and rules may have changed in the last year or two.

 

[t_star]

Never. The ONLY time I've ever seen anyone buy the "extended warranty" on anything, the store (wal-mart, I know, I know!) did not honor it when something had happened that should have been covered. We were forced to buy a new camera at that point. Needless to say we didn't buy the new camera there.

I will say, even though it's not an electronic, the only time I've ever purchased and extended warranty was when I bought my car from carmax. It was absolutely the best money I'd spent as I got MUCH more out of it than the $3,000 I paid for it.

 

[williamsburg]

Take a lesson from Dave Ramsey here guys. It's already got a warranty from the manufacturer and if it doesn't, I'm not buying it!

exactly...and how often do you use the warranty you purchased

i fell into this trap a few times but it expired and it was just wasted money

 

[kyotekilr]

I wouldn't buy anything from best buy. I won't get into details but its the only company I have ever called the B.B.B. on.

 

[rbrthenderson]

ok as a former best buy employee and knowing the scheme. here is my advice.

1) never buy it on anything except laptop computers.
2) only buy it on laptops if you plan on keeping it for several years.
3) after purchasing the plan for your laptop wait 6 months then call and get a new battery for your laptop. You will now have two batteries for your laptop. This excludes apple products which they didn't sell when I worked there.


Read carefully as your mileage may very and rules may have changed in the last year or two.

Exactly. Things haven't changed at all.

If they aren't able to repair the unit, they'll replace it. So if you have the laptop for two years and then it slips out of your hands while you're walking down the stairs and smashes into 20 pieces, they replace it for you.

This has happened to 2 laptops of mine. (I'm super clumsy on the stairs around the 2 year mark...) The service plans only cost me about $150.

 

[Harry2110]

I get it on headphones which even if I buy heavy duty ones they only last 1 maybe 1.5 years as they are sweated, froze, baked, and pulled around. Im also going to get it on a swim mp3 player as they have said that they will replace the unit if the battery give out plus most people say the unit only last if your lucky 1 year and cost $160 plus the manufacturer doesnt do anything after 90days and i only paid 130 as it was marked wrong in their system. so for me $20 for a replacement or for money towards a new ipod nano unless i get the good one that doesnt fry within 2 years.

 

[sgreen3]

They are nothing more than a marketing tactic to get more money

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I never do. I don't move my laptops around much, just use them because they're small. There's something called the "bathtub curve" that's well documented. Failures occur early due to defects, and toward end of life due to wear and such. The graph of failures vs time starts high, settles near zero, then takes off again. Your manufacturer warranty should take you past the early failures, and nothing will cover as long as end of life. That leaves catastrophe. This is extremely expensive "insurance" for the expectation of payout. I take the risk; my last laptop wasn't $500. The "extended warranty" is so much I'll just eat the $500 if a meteor crashes through the roof and obliviates it. Tell you what, I had one go dead on me; I bought one like it with a broken LCD on ebay and swapped motherboards. I think it was $50.

 

[Naptown]

once on a $5K tv. Yes, that's how much plasmas cost 8 years ago. It did me nothing other than make the total experience suck.

 

[GlockFox]

I do if it is over 500. It also depends on how long it is and what it is. Sometimes I just need the peace of mind when buying something expensive. If only everything was made like a gun I'd have no problem buying it. Glock should make TVs, video games, and tools.

 

[Panama]

HELL no, I never buy them.
I always ask the salesman, "do I REALLY need this" and if he says I do, then I tell him/her I don't want it then.

Glock does make TV's

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIfK_-_uddI[/ame]

 

[Mike H]

Voted no, I've never needed one. [knock on wood]