Extended Warranty

[Moemg]

I never buy extended warranties but after the problems I have had with my LG refrigerator I am considering one for my new refrigerator . It seems the quality of appliances has really gone down . I live in Florida were lightening does in a lot of our appliances . Would you buy one & from the manufacture or a third party ?

 

[aja8888]

I never buy extended warranties but after the problems I have had with my LG refrigerator I am considering one for my new refrigerator . It seems the quality of appliances has really gone down . I live in Florida were lightening does in a lot of our appliances . Would you buy one & from the manufacture or a third party ?

I don't buy them but IF I did, I would look at third party policies. We have an appliance policy that was bought for us when we bought our newer house in November. The microwave quit shortly after moving in and it was covered except for $100 deductible.

Manufacturer's generally don't sell "extended warranties" as they usually provide the one that comes with the purchase. It's not their main business model. None of these are really warranties, per se, but insurance contracts.

If the appliance retailer is selling the insurance, you can bet it will cost a lot more than if you bought that policy directly from a provider.

 

[REWahoo]

I rarely buy extended warranties but have done so a couple of times for high risk items (DW is hell on phones and cameras). I never buy from the seller for the reasons aja8888 mentions above. This third party company has a good reputation and paid off in full when DW dropped her Nikon into a Big Gulp: Square Trade Extended Warranty Insurance

 

[frayne]

Never bought one and never will.

 

[jimbee]

I self insure my appliances.

 

[Moemg]

I self insure my appliances.

I normally do also but I have just went through a few expensive repairs & death of a four and a half year old LG french door refrigerator .

 

[Moemg]

I rarely buy extended warranties but have done so a couple of times for high risk items (DW is hell on phones and cameras). I never buy from the seller for the reasons aja8888 mentions above. This third party company has a good reputation and paid off in full when DW dropped her Nikon into a Big Gulp: Square Trade Extended Warranty Insurance

I am seriously considering them if only for peace of mind .

 

[ajs56]

I never buy extended warranties but after the problems I have had with my LG refrigerator I am considering one for my new refrigerator . It seems the quality of appliances has really gone down . I live in Florida were lightening does in a lot of our appliances . Would you buy one & from the manufacture or a third party ?

As someone stated, I prefer to self insure and am not a believer in extended service contracts. Generally they are NOT extended warranties, and often the price is a significant portion of the appliance initial cost it seems hard to justify to me. Now if one is not in a position to be able to pay for repairs or replacement should problems arise, then perhaps one has value as an insurance, but expensive insurance it is generally. In the automotive world, aftermarket or third party service contracts are notorius for trying to avoid paying claims. Not sure if this extends to the appliance/electronics world or not.

 

[braumeister]

AppleCare for iPhones and laptops.

This has saved me a number of times, and way, way more than the cost of the coverage.

Otherwise, I never buy extended warranties for anything.

 

[Chuckanut]

I have bought several extended warranties in the past and never, ever, ever, ever collected anywhere near what I paid for them - individually or as a group. I have long since stopped buying the things. If my last appliance was a lemon, I would simply not buy anymore of that brand. A subscription to Consumer Reports is far cheaper than these plans.

 

[pb4uski]

I've only done one that I can recall. Our first 4WD vehicle and we never had a problem with it so it was $800 down the toilet.

I do buy all major appliances with a credit card that doubles the manufacturer's warranty period which is like free extended warranty coverage. I got $600 back from Discover last year on some refrigerator repairs that were just after the warranty period.

I just don't think that extended warranties are a good value. I had a client that issued them and made lots of money on them.

 

[RunningBum]

I bought an extended warranty with a car once and it was a pain to use. I forget if the mechanic was resistant to accepting it, but I do remember that he said they required using knock-off parts rather than OEM parts.

For some of those high risk electronics, technology improves so much that I'd rather just replace than repair.

If I'd have been smarter I'd have bought more stuff at REI before they changed their lifetime return policy. GPS running watches, for example, tend to last me 2-3 years. I've had a few friends tell me they just take them back to REI and at most have to pay the difference to a new model if theirs was no longer available for a straight out swap.

 

[photoguy]

Some credit cards have extended warranties and it might be worth purchasing an item with that.

I'm hesitant to buy extended warranties because generally it's a losing proposition on average (unless somehow the company's modelers made a big mistake).

 

[Animorph]

If I think of all the money I could have spent buying extended warrantees for everything, the occasional repair bill is not too bad. One of those things that looks OK on an individual basis, but not globally.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have come out ahead on extended warranties, mainly due to the pair of lemon PCs I got from Gateway. The first one I bought from them was so bad that I had a 4-page letter I sent them titled, "My Gateway Nightmare." They ended up replacing it with a better model for free. But that replacement, which I also had an extended warranty, had its share of problems which required several replacement hard drives and motherboards in the extended warranty period. This was back in 2003 when Gateway still had their local "country stores" so they recognized me coming in all the time. Eventually, the problems disappeared and the PC lasted until early 2012. I estimated I incurred about $800 in repairs while paying $175 for the extended warranty.

Another time in the 1990s, I bought a color TV which needed repairs under the extended warranty so I came out slightly ahead on that one.

So when I buy an extneded warranty on a costly item and I don't end up needing any repairs under it, I don't feel too bad.

 

[REWahoo]

If I think of all the money I could have spent buying extended warrantees for everything...

+1

With few exceptions, extended warranties/insurance are a losing proposition - other than for the seller. I don't buy extended warranties for any of my electronics, appliances, autos, etc. However I do purchase them for what I've learned are high risk situations involving my DW.

She has a dexterity problem with her hands resulting in frequently dropping items such as her phone and camera. The Square Trade warranies I purchased for her paid to replace her camera when she dropped it into a soft drink cup and it also paid for a replacement phone when she dropped it from her car window in a parking lot.

 

[Walt34]

No extended warranties for me either, the number just don't work.

The only time it would makes sense is if there is a higher-risk factor like REWahoo describes.

 

[MichaelB]

We haven't purchased any extended warranties, but I did consider them for the iPhones. Still too pricey.

No doubt in my mind the total cost of our repairs so far has been less than the cost of all the warranties, and I use the AmEx card that gives us some additional coverage.

 

[Telly]

I never buy extended warranties but after the problems I have had with my LG refrigerator I am considering one for my new refrigerator . It seems the quality of appliances has really gone down . I live in Florida were lightening does in a lot of our appliances . Would you buy one & from the manufacture or a third party ?

LG has not distinguished themselves in refrig reliability.

I have experienced poor reliability on LG electronics, and had an awful time trying to get an LG cellphone repaired under original warranty by their US repair depot. And not satisfied with what I finally ended up with... someone else's scratched-up display and front face. And a phone that was programmed with someone else's service. What a mess.
LG is on my "no how, no way will I buy their products" list.

About lightning - So many major appliances today have processor boards in them, and a lightning-induced power pulse can do some real damage if you have overhead power distribution. When we got our new Whirlpool refrig a few years ago, I bought a well-rated surge-suppressor outlet power strip, and mounted it next to the wall outlet behind the frig. The frig plugs into that. I have it mounted far enough behind, that any little kids fingers can't reach the On/Off switch on the power strip. Yet I can see the green LED that shows it still has protection.

The strip's own AC plug is a flat plug, the cord goes out sideways at a 45 degree angle, so it is low-profile, and doesn't block the second receptacle in the wall outlet if you want to have something else plugged in there.

 

[frank]

Pb4uski: which credit cards double the manufacturers warranties as mentioned before in this thread?

 

[REWahoo]

I'm not PB4, but almost all credit cards offer the warranty extension. See this link for more details and a comparison of the fine print:

Compare credit card extended warranties

 

[Totoro]

As a rule of thumb to decide whether to get any insurance (which a warranty is).

Insurance companies on average charge you at least twice the amount of your actual risk.

So, only take insurance if one of two conditions are true

• You cannot afford the financial impact if something happens.
• OR you are reasonably sure that you have a higher risk than 75% of other insurees.

Examples of type I: catastrophical healthcare, fire insurance, liability, flood, kidnap & ransom ..

Examples of type II: living in a bad neighborhood with recent plague of car thefts (auto insurance), a pyromaniac is roaming the area (fire insurance). Or what REWahoo gives as an example.

Warranties for household appliances are a waste of money. I've seen profit margins of 80% and higher on them.

 

[Moemg]

LG has not distinguished themselves in refrig reliability.

I have experienced poor reliability on LG electronics, and had an awful time trying to get an LG cellphone repaired under original warranty by their US repair depot. And not satisfied with what I finally ended up with... someone else's scratched-up display and front face. And a phone that was programmed with someone else's service. What a mess.
LG is on my "no how, no way will I buy their products" list.

.

LG is also now on my no buy list besides the fact that their refrigerator died at 4 1/2 years their customer service is truly awful .They were rated highly by consumer reports . What a joke !

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

LG is also now on my no buy list besides the fact that their refrigerator died at 4 1/2 years their customer service is truly awful .They were rated highly by consumer reports . What a joke !

That's pretty much for most appliances. There are few manufacturers but lots of labels. The only name I do tend to trust is Samsung, but even that's a crap shoot.

It's all about consumerism...if you build a product that lasts 30 years, then no need to buy new. I firmly believe that 'planned obsolescence' is a real deal.

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[Totoro]

It's all about consumerism...if you build a product that lasts 30 years, then no need to buy new. I firmly believe that 'planned obsolescence' is a real deal.

Somehow though Miele seems to be the one exception.