Warranty for DVD Player

[digamma]

So, last night I went to the local electronics stor to pick up a dvd player for the wife's Valentine's gift. I just wanted a basic single disc dvd player. I found one I liked, no problem. It set me back about $130.

I get to the check-out line and the clerk starts pressuring me about a 3-year warranty for $35. I refuse.

I'm almost finished with the transaction, and he starts in again, asking me why I won't consider the warranty. I tell him I don't consider paying a full quarter of the price of the product for a warranty I probably won't use a sound purchase. He seems to accept this explanation, but the person in line behind me then jumps in, with something like, "You never know when those DVD players are going to screw up, you should probably think about it."

So, of course, the salesman sees this as an opportunity to jump back in with a 2 year warranty for $24.

I almost walked out of the store then.

On a product barely over $100, why don't they understand I am more than happy to take a risk that it breaks in the next three years, and that I am not interested in giving them a free 20 or 30 bucks? Persistent sales people, I guess, but enough to leave a sour taste in my mouth about shopping there again.

[Ksyrup]

I write extended warranties for a living (well, as a large part of what I do for a living). For the most part, I agree with you. However, there are some decent warranties out there, depending on the type of equipment you buy, the price (of both the warranty and the equipment), and what is covered.

As for the Best Buy's, Circuit City's, etc., keep in mind that they barely make a profit off of the merchandise they sell. The pure profit is from warranty sales. That's why they are so important to these places. I can give you a real-world example of how profitable these things can be:

I have a client that sells non-electronic consumer products (that's as specific as I'm going to get). In the past 12 months in 1 state, they collected $2.1 Million in warranty "premiums" (or essentially, the total amount collected on warranty sales), and paid $50K in claims.

That's not a bad profit margin, eh?

Also, either completely disregard, or challenge, as I do, any ridiculous claims about what is covered. For example, I had a guy at CompUSA tell me that I could take a baseball bat to the laptop I was about to purchase and they would give me a new one...if I had their warranty, of course! So, I took the warranty pamphlet, handed it to him, and asked him to show me where in the terms and conditions that would be covered. His final response was, "Well, it might not say it, but I promise you that if you bring it back in, we'll give you a new one." Riiiiiiiight...

[digamma]

I hear you Ksyrup.

I realize that this is where they make a good bit of profit. And, I would consider buying one for a larger expense.

My only point was for the relatively small expense, I wasn't going to consider spending a relatively large percentage of the purchase price on a warranty. I appreciate the salesman asking me about it once, but I don't need the 3x hard sell with the customer jumping in.

[Hammer755]

Originally posted by digamma
My only point was for the relatively small expense, I wasn't going to consider spending a relatively large percentage of the purchase price on a warranty. I appreciate the salesman asking me about it once, but I don't need the 3x hard sell with the customer jumping in.

I have also had some friends who have worked in the Best Buy/Circuit City environment and they actually got paid a commission for every warranty that they sold. That would go a long ways in explaining why the clerks push them so hard.

[Tarkus]

Ksyrup hit the nail on the head. As one who has done quality assurance and reliability for electronics as a living I can back up what he says. The time to failure curve of electronics products usually look like a bathtub. Most of the failures early on, a few in the middle, and the rest at the end of product (usually long after the warranty has expired). I have bought many electronics products over the years and I never get the extended warranty. Now there will always be exceptions to the rule, and you may be the one with the failed product in the middle of its life, but most of the time that's not the case. Trust me, like Ksyrup said, many of these companies make a fortune off the warranty sales.

Tarkus

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Hammer755
I have also had some friends who have worked in the Best Buy/Circuit City environment and they actually got paid a commission for every warranty that they sold. That would go a long ways in explaining why the clerks push them so hard.

Best Buy doesn't (or no longer) has a commission-based sales force, and Circuit City just (as in last week) stopped doing this. I know from my time as an attorney with the state that one or both of them have been under investigation by Florida's Attorney General for misrepresentation and coersion (basically, consumer fraud). There have been a number of 20/20 type reports about the tactics these companies use to sell extended warranties. And if you do some searching on the net, you'll find former employee/disgruntled consumer sites that get into these issues as well. The most popular ones, although I'm not sure they exist for BB or CC, are the [name of company]sucks.com sites.

[sabotai]

I don't buy warrenties for electronic devices or most other things. I find that there is a very small possibility of something happening to the product. THe money you save from not buying warrenties on everything else more than covers the cost of replacing one product that died in the first year.

THe only exception is jewelry. I usually do get the warrenty. Mainly because there is a good chance (depending on what kind of jewelry) or something happening. Since the warrenty covers broken locks (which happen a lot on braclets), chipped or loose/lost stones (which happen with braclets and rings), and other things like that.

But I've never been pressed to buy a warrenty.

[Ksyrup]

I bought a 3-year warranty on a $700 TV at Best Buy for $70, which I thought was a decent deal, even though I don't usually buy them on TVs because TVs usually last 10+ years without a problem. I think the fact that it was included in the 24-month no interest financing was the only reason I did it.

I also recently bought a 4-year warranty for $60 on a portable DVD player that cost $800. I did that because I figured pportable DVD players are relatively new and might be more prone to technical issues. Plus, if mine dies and I get a new one in a couple of years, it's likely to be leaps and bounds better than the one I currently have. I also bought it because I was interested in trying to get the company issuing the warranty as a client!

[ice4277]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Also, either completely disregard, or challenge, as I do, any ridiculous claims about what is covered. For example, I had a guy at CompUSA tell me that I could take a baseball bat to the laptop I was about to purchase and they would give me a new one...if I had their warranty, of course! So, I took the warranty pamphlet, handed it to him, and asked him to show me where in the terms and conditions that would be covered. His final response was, "Well, it might not say it, but I promise you that if you bring it back in, we'll give you a new one." Riiiiiiiight...

Actually, the salesperson was right (sort of) on his claim. CompUSA offers a laptop screen warranty that covers any sort of damage to the screen of the laptop. However, it covers only the screen itself, not the screen casing, and it is an extra charge on top of the regular laptop warranty.

[Ksyrup]

Intentional damage is not covered.

[ice4277]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Intentional damage is not covered.

In the time I have been there I have seen laptops come back that looked like somebody put scissors or a screwdriver through the screen, and they got the screen replaced. Maybe intentional, maybe not, but they got it replaced.