Thoughts on 'installation protection'/accidental damage protection?

[CentreMetre]

Was buying a motherboard from Scan.co.uk and had this protection offer popup:

I say installation protection since i think most of these would happen during installation, like static damage, banding the pins, cross threading the screws (Im not even sure I know what that means) etc, some can happen after installation however like overclocking and water cooling damage.

Is it worth it to get what is essentially installation protection?

FYI I didn't get it, just so people dont comment to me specifically saying 'dont get it its a waste of money'. I was tempted as it will be my first time putting in a motherboard, CPU, and CPU cooler, but i think i can just be careful enough. This was specifically when buying a motherboard, but i imagine it would appear for any other internal PC component.

Does the normal warranty cover these things anyway? Or is that just for manufacturing defects?

[Erioch]

I mean, have you ever had any of those things happen to you before?  I haven't but it's cheap so it's up to you.

[BiotechBen]

I have bought "accidental damage protection" many times over the years, the only times I used it were for for a pair of Skullcandy earbuds 9 years ago, and when HP pushed a bad BIOS file.

 

I'll put it to you the way my father did:

Take your hourly rate, then the cost of the service, divide them and you have how long you are allowed to worry before you are paying the universe in your time. (This coming from a man who would shoot awake at 4am with anxiety/panic attacks)

[Godlygamer23]

Seems like most of it is a waste of money. Not too expensive, but the big ones are included(and should be). I also wonder how much of a hassle they would give you if you destroyed the VRM on your motherboard from pushing the CPU too hard, for example. Without knowing the exact terms, hard to say if it's really worth the money in the first place.

[LogicalDrm]

Can you link to terms? Also, if that's one-time payment for X time, it could be worth it. But it must have timeframe and other limitations, otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

 

Of those, connectors and bent pins are most likely to occur. And depending on value of the item, it wouldn't be covered by insurance.

[TetraSky]

Could be worth it solely for the bent pins one. It's cheap while affording your a peace of mind.

 

Though it looks like you're in the UK. There's much better consumer protection laws there. I don't know if retailers can refuse a return due to bent pins or not in your part of the world like they do in NA.

[CentreMetre]

6 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Can you link to terms? Also, if that's one-time payment for X time, it could be worth it. But it must have timeframe and other limitations, otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

 

Of those, connectors and bent pins are most likely to occur. And depending on value of the item, it wouldn't be covered by insurance.

Scan protect page: https://www.scan.co.uk/info/scanprotect

PDF (that is linked on the page aswell): https://www.scan.co.uk/downloads/scanprotect.pdf

[CentreMetre]

4 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Could be worth it solely for the bent pins one. It's cheap while affording your a peace of mind.

 

Though it looks like you're in the UK. There's much better consumer protection laws there. I don't know if retailers can refuse a return due to bent pins or not in your part of the world like they do in NA.

Yea im in UK. We do have better consumer laws, but i think this is more for consumer damage, e.g. when installing, and im not sure if consumer laws protect for that (i'd assume not), and if not if brand warranties do, since the damage was done by the person who bought it.

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, CentreMetre said:

Scan protect page: https://www.scan.co.uk/info/scanprotect

PDF (that is linked on the page aswell): https://www.scan.co.uk/downloads/scanprotect.pdf

Thanks. Already found the points which make this easy to answer:

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Cover starts from date of purchase and will cover the component for 30 days allowing you time to unpack, install and fully bed the component in.

So I would only get this if A) I was new builder, B) total cost would be €2k, C) Watercooling. Otherwise hit from single things I can only blame myself is easy. And something I've done at least once with bent pins.

 

As more often the damage would be something not covered:

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Cosmetic damage such as damage to paintwork, dents or scratches.

"Dropped item" is interesting though. If I were to drop glass side panel which subsequently shatters or cracks, is that dropped item or cosmetic? Another interesting point is this:

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REASONABLE PRECAUTIONS

You are required to take all reasonable precautions at all times to protect the Component against mishaps.

Yet they advertise this as:

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Peace of mind, no query over whether the failure is breakdown or mishap, simply return the component to us and we will replace it free of charge.

Also 48h timeframe is on first glance quite tight, but least of the things to consider.