Whenever you go to make a big purchase it's inevitable the salesperson will pitch you an extended warranty, care package, or other add-on. Skip their hard sale technique and enjoy extended consumer protection the easy way. (more after the break)
When you purchase an expensive new gadget, appliance, or other big ticket purchase, it's tempting to go along with the salesperson's suggestion to get an extended warranty and other add-ons that they assure you will protect your investment. Extended warranties, in all but the once-in-a-blue-moon exceptions, are nothing more than profit for the retailer in question. Why should you skip the extended warranty? Consider the following:
Products have a low failure rate. When talking about failure rates people often recall the one thing that burned them badly like a TV that smoked and popped a few months after buying it or a hard drive that died and left them without family photos. The reality, however, is that the vast majority of products work fine and the failure rate for the most of consumer electronics is in the single digits. If it's going to fail it will likely either fail shortly after you get it (and within the store's return window) or long after it would be out of even the best extended warranty program.
Consider the store's return policy. Most stores have a basic 30 day return policy but other stores have significantly more generous return policies. Costco, for example, has a lifetime return policy on everything but consumer electronics (even then you get 90 days). Check with the store before purchasing or peruse this list of the 20 best store return policies for US-based chains.
Use a good credit card and extend your warranty for free. This is the big one: a good credit card company will extend your warranty for free as part of their consumer protection package. Most major credit card companies offer extended warranties (although not on all the cards they offer, so call and check with your card company).
- American Express has one of the most generous plans. Anything purchased with an American Express card (any card they offer) automatically receives an additional year extension beyond the manufacturer's warranty.
- Visa Signature cards also come with a year extension beyond the manufacturer's warranty.
- Mastercard has a stingier policy, they'll extend a warranty up to a year but only if the manufacturer doesn't offer a year long warranty already. Unlike with American Express and Visa they won't double it to 2 years.
- Discover doesn't offer any form of extended warranties but they do have a partnership with Square Trade for inexpensive warranty extension.
The next time a salesperson tries to get you to put down $100+ of your hard earned cash on an extended warranty program purchase the item with a reputable credit card that offers free extended warranties. Rest easy knowing that if your camera breaks in the first year or two you're covered and if it lives to a ripe old age of 11 there's no extended warranty around that could save it from the Electro-Reaper.
No comments:
Post a Comment