extended warranties?

#16
MandM ~ It's Funny You Mentioned Circuit City (I Know It Was Just An Example & They Are Good Store)......But, In My Experience....Always Buy The Warranty From Them. We Have Had Things Go Wrong (Only A Couple Times) & They Wouldn't Have Helped Us Without.

One Of My Computers In My Office.....We Bought On A Good Deal From Staples. We Got The Warranty Through The Company & Guess Who Went Out Of Business? ~ The Computer Company! & Guess Who's Computer Crashed....That One. We Ended Up With More Repairs Than The Computer Was Worth. Remember, That Was A Very Rare Situation.

For Our Home(s), & Offices We Check Out Everything......Backwards & Forwards. Especially After All That! :smile:
 
#17
amanda said:
actually, my experience is the opposite. i promise, i've seen the ins and outs of both at work many times, and normally the manufacturer charges basically the same price and covers far less than a store will. service plans get SUCH an undeservedly bad reputation - at my store, it is very rare for an employee to purchase anything without the service plan. sometimes i even feel bad for customers that don't get them, depending on the product, because they have no idea the problems we see with some things every day (particularly on things like computers, flat panel televisions, and high-end appliances). but people are set in their ways and sure that we get some sort of kickback for selling them (we definately, absolutely do not, but i can only speak for Best Buy), so they ignore us and screw themselves in the process.

that's the honest-to-god truth, i never bought one (or even considered it - i'm an extremely hard sell) before i started working there and saw the other side of things.
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In laptops, Best buy and the other places don't cover much and they may charge you for it. I have had a horrible experience with them when my computer doesn't respond, when a harddrive died, and so on.

When you get the extended warranty for the manufacturer, they will help regardless of what is going on. Then the question is what brand of laptop you have! Dell's help sucks because it is very slow. Compaqs is also bad. Gateway is the BEST. Apple's is very good too. Soooo that depends on what computer you have.
 
#19
fr2nc1z said:
In laptops, Best buy and the other places don't cover much and they may charge you for it. I have had a horrible experience with them when my computer doesn't respond, when a harddrive died, and so on.

When you get the extended warranty for the manufacturer, they will help regardless of what is going on. Then the question is what brand of laptop you have! Dell's help sucks because it is very slow. Compaqs is also bad. Gateway is the BEST. Apple's is very good too. Soooo that depends on what computer you have.
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we don't charge people for anything. period. as long as it's not misuse or abuse of the product or a software issue (for instance, we're not taking responsibility if spyware slows down your computer - if we did that, it would cost us so much that we couldn't turn a profit as a company, let alone make the service plans reasonable for us to provide at the price that we do), we'll take care of it. the terms of the service plans have changed over the years, and they've only gotten more customer-friendly, so if this was several years ago, i doubt it would happen again. i'll even speak up for circuit city - they fixed my laptop without so much as a shipping charge.

honestly, people are ridiculously rude to us about service plans. we'll always respect your choice if you don't want to buy it (with very few exceptions - there's always going to be a bad SA here and there), but in most cases, you've already trusted us to recommend a product to you that may cost thousands of dollars, so why are we untrustworthy all of a sudden? it's a sore spot, because people that think they know more about this than i do make my job less pleasant every single day.
 
#20
Thanks for the input! AMANDA, it's especially good to get the inside scoop. I've had great experiences w/ all the SA's at both Bestbuy and CC. I espcially like that those stores don't work on commission, so everyone is GENUINELY helpful since they have nothing to gain or lose (unlike, say, they chanel lady at the perfume counter pulling the hard sell!)

I mentioned circuit city b/c they have this: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Tosh...sem/rpsm/oid/153968/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Only 4 lbs and I love that it's supposedly "ultra-durable."

They have a "regular" 2 year extended warrenty for around $200...but that does not cover "misuse" -- like dropping it (or your baby ripping the keyboard, etc:smile: The $500 deal is for 4 years to cover everything. They will literally get you a new computer if they can't fix yours -- even if you threw it on the ground and broke it.

Hmmm, I hate decisions like this! I really WANT to just save the money...but I have the lurking fear that the minute I pass on the warrently I will drop my brand new laptop on the concrete. Maybe a two year plan...

Anyway, thanks everyone!! any more opinions?
 
#21
MandM said:
Thanks for the input! AMANDA, it's especially good to get the inside scoop. I've had great experiences w/ all the SA's at both Bestbuy and CC. I espcially like that those stores don't work on commission, so everyone is GENUINELY helpful since they have nothing to gain or lose (unlike, say, they chanel lady at the perfume counter pulling the hard sell!)

I mentioned circuit city b/c they have this: http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Toshiba-Satellite-Notebook-PC-U205-S5002-/sem/rpsm/oid/153968/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Only 4 lbs and I love that it's supposedly "ultra-durable."

They have a "regular" 2 year extended warrenty for around $200...but that does not cover "misuse" -- like dropping it (or your baby ripping the keyboard, etc:smile: The $500 deal is for 4 years to cover everything. They will literally get you a new computer if they can't fix yours -- even if you threw it on the ground and broke it.

Hmmm, I hate decisions like this! I really WANT to just save the money...but I have the lurking fear that the minute I pass on the warrently I will drop my brand new laptop on the concrete. Maybe a two year plan...

Anyway, thanks everyone!! any more opinions?
Click to expand...

one thing i really like about working at best buy is that i'm not on any form of commission. i don't get bonuses or anything. i help people because i enjoy it and because i'd be bored if i didn't!

like i said before, i was impressed with the service i got from circuit city (they're on comission, though) and would definately recommend their service plan. i think we also offer a service plan that covers things like dropping your laptop or ripping up the keyboard, but i'm not sure on its specifics since that's not my department. $500 does seem steep, so if you're not completely accident prone (or if the laptop won't be used in a particularly rough way), i'd say the 2-year for $200 is probably all you need.
 
#22
I usually don't, but did for the following:

1) My DLP TV....it's a newer technology, so I bought the 4 year plan...it covers the bulb burning out, etc.
2) My laptop....I bought the 3 year extended...and lo and behold 2 years later my screen is starting to go out (original factory warranty wouldn't have covered it)
3) A DVD player several years ago when they were new to the market...sure enough it broke after 1 1/2 years (got a new one)
4) Ipod....first one I had battery died (I"m part of the lawsuit thing)...so I'm not taking chances on my most recent one.
 
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