Do you guys get warranties for your products? Or just not worth the money.

[LaboonTheWhale]

Hey guys

 

so retailers everywhere offer these protection plans that cover anything that can happen to a product ranging from monitors/ systems to watches. Do you ever get them? 

 

It does trigger the thought of "What if ___ happens to it" in our heads and some see it as a reasonable choice. 

 

Best buy offers $70 on a Gear S3 smartwatch that replaces anything that can happen to it for 2 years. Would you get it? I keep rationalizing it as only $3 a month for 2 years. but will I have the product for 2 years? but what if something happens within the year. I'm out $350. 

 

But what are your thoughts? 

[EunSoo]

I get coverage plans for my phones but that's it. It's the only electronic coverage plan that I have ever used.

[The Sloth]

i do for a peace of mind. 

[Techicolors]

it's not a bad idea to pay for protection plans / warranties. it's for peace of mind, after all. though if you're the sort who upgrades pretty often, coverage isn't really needed, least not for long. 

[Guest]

Things can be broken easily: warranty

Things can not be broken easily: no warranty

[LaboonTheWhale]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Things can be broken easily: warranty

Things can not be broken easily: no warranty

Could you give me an example of something that couldn't be broken easily? I feel like nowadays with companies tries to cut corners, everything is nearly breakable if handled poorly. 

[ARikozuM]

I get warranties for anything that can and will get damaged. 

[Guest]

Just now, LaboonTheWhale said:

Could you give me an example of something that couldn't be broken easily? I feel like nowadays with companies tries to cut corners, everything is nearly breakable if handled poorly. 

So a TV is an example. For me at least. It stays in one place. 

Something else that does not move too much. 

[AnonymousGuy]

Phone it makes sense becasue they take abuse and AppleCare is awesome (for the iOS users amongst us)

 

Everything else usually no.  Motherboard I usually will throw on accidental damage protection because I fuck with that shit enough to break it sometimes.

 

EDIT: for a smart watch I wouldn't bother.  I've worn a watch for the last 15 years and none have broken.  At worst they get scuffed up.  Also don't trust water resistance on smart watches.  Consider them only accidental water tolerant.

[LaboonTheWhale]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

So a TV is an example. For me at least. It stays in one place. 

Something else that does not move too much. 

gotacha. didn't think about that. 

[Energycore]

9 minutes ago, LaboonTheWhale said:

Hey guys

 

so retailers everywhere offer these protection plans that cover anything that can happen to a product ranging from monitors/ systems to watches. Do you ever get them? 

 

It does trigger the thought of "What if ___ happens to it" in our heads and some see it as a reasonable choice. 

 

Best buy offers $70 on a Gear S3 smartwatch that replaces anything that can happen to it for 2 years. Would you get it? I keep rationalizing it as only $3 a month for 2 years. but will I have the product for 2 years? but what if something happens within the year. I'm out $350. 

 

But what are your thoughts? 

I would not pay money for a warranty. We're supposed to get that for free. You should ask how much I raged at WD when they made me pay for shipping on a warrantied drive that had failed

[LaboonTheWhale]

2 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I would not pay money for a warranty. We're supposed to get that for free. You should ask how much I raged at WD when they made me pay for shipping on a warrantied drive that had failed

there are warranties with products but its generally only defect reasons. im talking about things that may happen out of our control. not many companies provide assistance outside of defective reasons. 

[Energycore]

Just now, LaboonTheWhale said:

there are warranties with products but its generally only defect reasons. im talking about things that may happen out of our control. not many companies provide assistance outside of defective reasons. 

Ah I see what you mean. It really depends on how careful you are, but I do believe a phone that doesn't survive a bit of user carelessness is a bad phone.

[Drak3]

In my experience, tech warranties are seldom worth the price.

 

If a device is prone to breaking, the warranty is prone to having workarounds so that they don't have to cover it under most circumstances.

If a device isn't prone to breaking, the warranty is fairly rock solid and only a slimy employee will try to get out of it, and you'll often interact with one of those slime balls.

If it takes the will of God and an act of congress to break a device, the warranty is 100% rock solid.

 

I only get warranties from Harbor Freight, and only because it's a guaranteed straight exchange or refund, no questions asked, on the warrantied goods. It's nice to have for their shitty power tools that break after a handful of light uses.

[BLCT]

I mean it depends. If it is a product that I care for, then yes. If the product has a 2 year manufacturer warranty, and I feel like the product will only last for for 2 years before an upgrade, then why bother. IMO it really depends on the product and how I feel for it.

 

 

[SCHISCHKA]

retailers in NZ have junk extended warranties. not worth it as they are not the manufacturer, they just pull this scam coz their margins are so low. its called up selling and they encourage their staff to do it

[divito]

Depends on a few things; price of the product, price of the warranty, what kind of initial warranty is offered, and how are the reviews on quality, if any. About the only thing I will bother paying for some type of coverage is in regards to a phone. It's used daily, has higher odds of developing an issue or being dropped/broken etc... 

As for laptops or other such purchases, the warranties will usually last as long as I will probably own the product anyways, so getting a warranty is not really worth it. Now, if we're talking a higher-end model, and get away from the $500 and under, then a warranty shows a little more value. For any electronics under $200 or so, the price of the warranty usually isn't justified for the registration and redeeming hassle vs. just buying a new one.

[B16CXHatch]

It all depends on the item, the coverage, and the cost. I used to work in retail and had to sell these things. A lot, the plans were worthless. Certain items though, they were totally worth it. Tablets were usually worth it. The number of broken USB/charging ports and cracked screens I've seen on those, yeah. Usually they cost was fairly reasonable. Laptops, I wasn't as big on. Yes, they had the whole accidental damage coverage and replacement battery thing but man those plans were expensive where I worked (I compared ours to other retail businesses, ours were some of the most expensive). Towers, All-in-Ones, and monitors, no. Not unless you got rambunctious kids or an asshole of a cat.

 

The one thing that I ALWAYS recommended the plans on though was furniture. Especially chairs. People are frickin rough on the things. They tend to look at the box and say "oh, but it has a 5 year warranty already." Yeah, and all that covers is the wheels, lift and tilt mechanism pretty much. You wear out or break anything else, tough luck. The plans are much cheaper relative to the electronics so they are more worthwhile to me.

 

Oh, one more thing. A lot of places have a deal that associates tend to forget to tell customers about (or actually straight up don't know about due to crap training). Often times, if you do not make a claim during the coverage period of the plan, they'll refund the cost of the plan back to you.

[Suika]

Item/Coverage/Cost all come into play.

 

I got a 50" TV for $200 over Black Friday, and in that cast, if the warranty was more than $25, it wasn't worth the hassle and extra cost, considering it's only a 1080p display that I'd likely replace with a 4K panel if it went out. Still running fine a year later and will probably continue to run fine when I get my own apartment.

 

I got an ASUS Zenwatch 3, and it had coverage against accidents and scratches for $15. If you've ever owned a smart watch, or a watch, those things scratch. That was worth it to me because now I can turn in my Zenwatch, get a replacement, and sell it as new/refurbished.

[LAwLz]

Haven't bought an extra warranty for as long as I can remember. Whenever a product breaks I just contact the store and they help me out anyway. That might have to do with Sweden's consumer protection laws though.

All products are required to have a minimum of 2 year warranty, but often they have even longer. On the websites I usually buy things from they usually don't even ask any questions.

 

So to me, those extended warranties seems like a scam.

[AlwaysFSX]

Considering I abused a warranty on my headset to get it replaced seven times, yes. I do.

[colonel_mortis]

Extended warranties must make money for the people selling them, which means that on average you will lose money on them compared to just repairing/replacing the damaged item. For high value items, where replacing it would not be affordable, there is some merit to it, but if you can afford to pay for a replacement, a extended warranty doesn't make economic sense. 

[LogicalDrm]

When the normal warranties for many products is 1-3 years, I rarely see the point for extended warranty. Laptop was only thing I considered it, but thought I'd be fine with the normal 2 years. I don't buy stuff with less than 2 years of warranty. Not very often and definitely not stuff which isn't build to last.

 

Besides that, my home and travel insurance handles any sudden damage. With €150 on me and rest paid by insurance company.

[Sprawlie]

Depends on the terms of the warranty. I read them carefully before paying. Been burned a couple times before buying warranties that had "outs" from the manufacturers.

 

For Example: NEVER EVER, EVER, BUY a phone warranty plan from Best Buy. What I learned? 1: Non-Transferrable. 2: it wouldn't even cover incidental damage. 3: even if you don't have the device anymore, they will NOT let you out of the plan. I had to fight really hard with them to have them stop charging me for a plan I had on my Note II.

 

So when I bought my Note II, I foolishly bought the 2 year extended warranty for $14/mth for 2 years.

 

in 1 year. I cracked the screen. Didn't even drop it. i had it in my pocket. screen cracked. The phone was usable, but I figured hey, I had a warranty!

 

No. Best Buy Refused to accept the warranty claiming "accidental damage not covered"... which was not what i was promised in person... But I didn't read the full contract that

 

time, which apparently had a section that damage that wasn't caused by manufacturers defects weren't covered (so what the fudge is the point of the warranty >.<)

 

so anyways. they refused to honour it. So I sold it and tried to transfer the warranty to a new phone. best buy refused. Said it HAD to be on that note and that note II only. 

 

They then refused to let me transfer to the new owner (who was willing to take the warranty too)

 

So they attempted to stick me with a full year of payments on a warranty that couldn't be used.

 

I ended up fighting through my Credit Card company and they blocked best Buy from being able to charge my credit card. I then had a lawyer friend send Best buy a letter stating if they attemtped to collect, or go to collections for the remainder amount, we would sue. Only then did Best Buy stop charging.

 

 

[malon]

I never buy aditional warranty because i think it is a waist of money for me personaly, also i don't buy any expensive product with less than 36 months of warranty to begin with, (exept cars butt i always buy those secondhand anyways)