Extended Warranties

According to a recent local consumer news report, you need not buy an extended warranty when offered by a sales person, in particular for electronic, or appliances.

The item already comes with a warranty of a set amount of time (check it) and then the extended warranty kicks in after that time has expired. It may or may not cover everything the original one covered so beware of the terms.

The extended warranty business is a major money maker for most business that sell them.
They profit more than 50% in most instances selling you that piece of paper.
Around the time a warranty or extended warranty expires, you may get a phone call to purchase one or renew it. For the price of all you paid out, if your item breaks, you may have spent more on these warranties than a new product may cost.

I find Sears annoying. I got a huge humidifier and got an extended warranty. The humidifier eventually had a motor problem and when I took it in, they told me that that part was not covered under the warranty. It was a major component and it was better to buy a new product but not from Sears. Later on, when the warranty expired and I had no humidifier, they called to ask me if I wanted to renew and extend. Obviously the answer was NO and told them never to call again.

When I got a used Ford Winstar van, I did get the 3 year extended warranty on the vehicle for a few hundred dollars more. It was worth every penny as there was a costly issue with the engine that would have cost me several thousand dollars but the warranty kicked in and covered it. After it expired, the company never called again figuring I was a risk and cost them money in parts and mostly labor.

Tires -- yes they wore out before their miles were up and were replaced by the company.

The Sepco water heater (stone lined, energy efficient, highly recommend) came with a 10 year warranty. A few months before the 10 years were up, there was a intake pipe corrosion problem. After a phone call and problem description, they sent us a new one free of charge. That was a savings of $600! Just another comment about this water heater, it on a timer, a few hours on in the morning and the evening and the water was hot all the time, even in a power outage! The stone lining kept the water hot for hours after it got off the timer. It was a bit more expensive than the others but was a better product and had the best warranty of all water heaters. You get this at a plumbing supply store verses Home Depot or Lowes.

Two TVs ended up on the blink. One warranty covered everything. The other warranty covered the 35 cent part but the labor bill was our cost at $80..
On the verge of a purchase of another TV, the sales person (at Circuit City) was extremely pushy and harassing, I told him I said NO and I mean NO what part of that did he not understand and that if he kept it up, there would be NO SALE at all. He kept quiet after that and I walked away anyways only to return when he was not working and got it through another nicer sales person.

I also got an Emerson portable CD player and radio for a gift for my Mom at KMart (yes, I am a KMartian!). I paid the $2.00 extended warranty. It turned out that the item did not come with the proper cord, you had to buy that separately. My Mom changed her mind (too many batteries) so I had to return it. I got back the money paid for the item but not for the warranty. I was told if I held on to the paper work (you filled it all in), I could use it on another Emerson product purchased in the future. So I have a $2.00 piece of paper and nothing to use it on.

Another issue is shipping the item which may cost you lots if you have to pay for it both ways, from your home to the business and then back again.

So if you get something, remember to read the fine print of the warranty very carefully and decide whether it is worth it or not in the long run or if it would be cheaper to replace the item when it dies on you after a set amount of time.

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