computer insurance was worth it

[Blue Collar Guy]

So i spilled something on my HP 17 inch keyboard more than a week ago, for 149 dollars plus tax (163), i took the 3 year extended insurance with accidents, they gave me a new battery, new keyboard, new charger and reinstalled windows 10, and said they reinstalled some drives. im happy with their service, they paid for shipping both ways. My Toshiba was garbage from the time i got it. the hinges squeaked and eventually broke before a year they told me it was due to neglect. yeah i open and close it 10 times a day thats not neglect. HP e from now on ,this company stood by their product, finally an honest warranty.

 

[Car-Guy]

Sounds like you got lucky with that extended warranty. Personally, I consider PC's "throwaways" these days. I just keep good backups of my personal files and buy a new PC every year or two. (I like the latest and greatest) I haven't counted them recently but I'll bet I have at least 10 old PC's (2 desktops and 7 or 8 laptops) in storage, and they all work. I think I had one HD failure some years ago (but I had my personal files backed up so all turned out ok)

BTW, I've got a high end HP laptop now for my primary PC and it's been great, so far!

 

[grasshopper]

One of the reasons I like Chromebooks , just give them the old heave hoe every 2 years, and it is all there on the cloud waiting for you. I have not paid over $150 each for the two 15.6 Acers we own.

 

[euro]

Sounds like you got lucky with that extended warranty. Personally, I consider PC's "throwaways" these days. I just keep good backups of my personal files and buy a new PC every year or two. (I like the latest and greatest) I haven't counted them recently but I'll bet I have at least 10 old PC's (2 desktops and 7 or 8 laptops) in storage, and they all work. I think I had one HD failure some years ago (but I had my personal files backed up so all turned out ok)

BTW, I've got a high end HP laptop now for my primary PC and it's been great, so far!

Oh man, and I thought I was bad! Still have a fully functional Mac Plus (mid-80-ies) in storage with a 20 megabyte hard drive (yep, 20!)

also have some misc imacs, emacs, and mac minis....


To the original post though, GOOD FOR YOU, OP! I have thoroughly convinced myself that over MY lifetime, it is a bad deal to buy ANY extended warranties - that said, in some specific cases, it does pay off

 

[Car-Guy]

Oh man, and I thought I was bad! Still have a fully functional Mac Plus (mid-80-ies) in storage with a 20 megabyte hard drive (yep, 20!)

also have some misc imacs, emacs, and mac minis....

My first "real PC" didn't even have a HD (initially). It ran off of two 5.25 inch floppy disks and had a monochrome (green) monitor and had a full 640k of RAM. Upgraded it after about a year to a 20meg hardcard and a CGA (color) monitor and that was top of the line at the time. I don't have that one anymore. Actually had a VIC 20 before that but I never considered that a real PC.

 

[CardsFan]

To the original post though, GOOD FOR YOU, OP! I have thoroughly convinced myself that over MY lifetime, it is a bad deal to buy ANY extended warranties - that said, in some specific cases, it does pay off

I don't think I have ever bought an extended warrantee. They are commonly 10% to 20 % of the purchase price. I figure if the product lasts through manufacturer's warrantee (usually a year, but sometimes less) it will last long enough for me to feel I got my money's worth. Occasionally I've been burned, but I am certain I am WAY ahead.

 

[Ready]

When I was still using windows based computers I also considered them disposable and figured I was lucky if I got two years out of them. They just seem to slow down or constantly crash after about two years, and they suddenly feel obsolete.

I switched to a MacBook Pro five years ago and am still using that model. I did buy the AppleCare 3 year warranty which was helpful when I needed extensive phone support. But the hardware has been going strong for five years with no issues and it still feels like a new computer. I bet I could get another three years out of it if I wanted to.

 

[Fedup]

I don't think I bought any insurance. My PC is going on 4 years now. It's either cheap Dell or HP. I have my kid Macbook Pro that she bought in 2008, freshman year in college. It's a bit slow but 10 years and no problem so far.

 

[Souschef]

My first "real PC" didn't even have a HD (initially). It ran off of two 5.25 inch floppy disks and had a monochrome (green) monitor and had a full 640k of RAM. Upgraded it after about a year to a 20meg hardcard and a CGA (color) monitor and that was top of the line at the time. I don't have that one anymore. Actually had a VIC 20 before that but I never considered that a real PC.

Gee that brings back memories. I bought a Corona PC with a blazing 4.77MHz processor. Upgraded to 640K of RAM and a 20 MB hardcard, then bought a color monitor.

 

[Sunset]

At home, I use desktops, if a keyboard gets spilled on, I unplug it and wash it in the shower. If that somehow breaks it, then I replace it with another $12 keyboard.

That is what I like about desktops, you can replace any part in it very easily, or expand it easily.

I'm typing on the one I built from parts and it's been going fine for years, I did recently add a SSD harddrive, which makes it lightening fast.

My laptop is pretty disposable, those things are so expensive to repair, I just hope it works for some years.

 

[frank]

I buy hp with no extended warranty ever. I have some that I used and then gave to the grandkids to play with and they have been working great some for 10 years or more. extended warranties are a scam, If it was good for the consumer, they would not sell them. I bought a tv a 10 years ago and bit the bullet on the extended warranty, the hdmi input went out after about a month, I called the warranty people, they told me they would order the parts and send out a tech when it came in. never a word in ten years, so much for extended warranty

 

[Ian S]

One of the perks of VISA/MC credit cards is the extended warranty protection they provide of up to an additional year on the standard 1 year warranty.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I buy hp with no extended warranty ever. I have some that I used and then gave to the grandkids to play with and they have been working great some for 10 years or more. extended warranties are a scam, If it was good for the consumer, they would not sell them. I bought a tv a 10 years ago and bit the bullet on the extended warranty, the hdmi input went out after about a month, I called the warranty people, they told me they would order the parts and send out a tech when it came in. never a word in ten years, so much for extended warranty

we got as a house warming gift a tv. we had it mounted over one of the fireplaces. It dropped dead after 18 months. Ran to Electronics store, got the same one and added a 5 year warranty, i know this one will last 61 months now

 

[Fedup]

I would never hang my tv over the fireplace. I know some of the new models have them like that.

 

[REWahoo]

Extended warranties are always an excellent buy - if you are the company selling them. Rarely are they an excellent buy for the consumer.

 

[CRLLS]

Let me think, I think I have purchased the Extended Warranty on 3 items in my lifetime. Something in the back of my mind told me I just had to. A Component Stereo system, which BB decided was too costly to repair so they gave me full credit on a new one; an HP laptop which was repaired at Office Depot, and a Ford Aerostar that the closer just had to sell so the price was really low. That one paid off a few times. I (almost) never buy an extended warranty as I prefer to self insure for such things. No matter the choice, 99+% of the time I make the right decision. Must be dumb luck.

 

[jimbee]

Extended warranties are always an excellent buy - if you are the company selling them. Rarely are they an excellent buy for the consumer.

Yep, if the majority of them paid out for consumers, the companies selling them couldn't make money. The math doesn't work.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Yep, if the majority of them paid out for consumers, the companies selling them couldn't make money. The math doesn't work.

But im a loser, Murphy's law follows me around. i bought 12000 worth of appliances when we moved into our new house. it cost another 1400 for the extended warranties. I got a washing machine thats a huge lemon. They have come 14 different times to repair it, they offered me a full credit to get a new machine. I refused as i still have 4.5 years left on the warranty. the warranty dies if i take a new machine.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I bought a very nice HP laptop at Costco recently for cheap. Costco doubles the manufacturers warrantee. No extra charge.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Oh yeah, I have and use an external hard drive for backup. Has not been necessary yet but once burned....

 

[easysurfer]

Last time I moved, I [-]fell for[/-] bought extended warranties on all my appliances (stove, washer/dryer, fridge, microwave, dishwasher).

Shortly, I got a phone call from my credit card saying they noticed a charge for about $1000 and wondering if the charge was from me or someone unrecognized. Guess that was a hint on how much of a sales gimmick the warranties can be.

At least the $1000 wasn't totally lost as before expiration, the dishwasher for a total for whatever reason wouldn't turn on that needed a call. So the net cost of the warranty probably was about $800 .

This isn't to say all warranties and insurance on products are bad. You might need a claim that ends up saving. But overall, I bet tilted in favor for the insurers.

 

[Blueskies123]

Apple IIe

I also had had an Apple II with 64K (not 64Meg) of memory with Visicalc. I have never been so astonished at technology as when I first started using Visicalc for my work.
Anyway, back on thread now, every computer I ever had had some kind of failure. I always get the extended warranty and back up my hard drive to external drive every month.
Thinking about it, the only computer that did not have a failure was my Dell laptop at work. My last two Dell home desktops had hard drive crashes.

I find it funny that the spell check on this site does not recognize "Visicalc", I must be old.

 

[brett]

We never buy extended warranties. I like the Costco two year warranty. From my perspective, if an electronic device does not malfunction in the first 90 days there is a very good chance that it is solid.

Having said that, my Hp monitor came with a three year warranty (commercial version). Failed in month 32. Hp immediately sent me a replacement unit by UPS air. Sent the old one back in their prepaid box. Very good warranty service from Hp. No questions asked.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

We never buy extended warranties. I like the Costco two year warranty. From my perspective, if an electronic device does not malfunction in the first 90 days there is a very good chance that it is solid.

Having said that, my Hp monitor came with a three year warranty (commercial version). Failed in month 32. Hp immediately sent me a replacement unit by UPS air. Sent the old one back in their prepaid box. Very good warranty service from Hp. No questions asked.

Yeah , same, no questions. just top shelf service.