extended warranty - yea or nay - what's your take/experience

[Rich Engelhardt]

Normally - I don't go for an extended warranty on anything.
One lone exception is the refrigerator (LG ~ $2k new in October of 2017). We were told at Lowes that if we bought hte extended warranty we'd get the water filters for 1/2 price.
We got the extended warranty - then found out the filters Lowes charges $79 for we can get online for $19..so much for that huh?

Anyhow - yesterday I noticed there was no ice in the ice maker. I tried and tried to figure out what was going on.
I noticed the temperature inside the fridge was sort of warm. It kept getting warmer and warmer as the evening went by.

Anyhow long story short - bad compressor.
Good news is - it's covered under warranty...
Bad news is - the repair guy said LG compressors go out on a regular basis. Be about 10 days to 2 weeks for the parts to come in :( .
He said LG and Samsung are just flat out horrible as far as quality goes.

I'm wondering now if those extended warranties aren't such a bad thing to get - seems everything these days comes from the same place.....

[George Bokros]

From I read parts and service for Samsung appliances are difficult to get and it is also difficult to get service techs to work on them.

We bought a Sears refridgerator early last year. It has an air filter that Sears wants something like $59, I buy 3 for less than $30. I have the bypass installed for the ice maker because we han a reverse osmosis drinking water system also feeding the ice maker.

As for extended warranties, the company selling them expects to make money. I say put the annual cost you were quoted in a savings account and when you need repairs you have the money to pay for them. I also look at the utilities "budget plan" the same way.

My question is what do you do for the next 10 days to two weeks to keep your food cold?

[Doug Garson]

We generally don't buy the extended warranty on anything now but when my wife worked for Best Buy we got the extended warranty for 1/2 price and so we got it on most purchases. It paid off for us on Sony TVs we bought there. We are on our third Sony TV in about 15 years, the second and third were warranty replacements. The first was a rear projection and when it died Sony had stop making rear projection so we got an upgrade to an LCD and since they didn't make a LCD in the same size we got the next size larger. It would have been free but we chose to upgrade further to the next level model and of course bought the extended warranty. When that one died we chose not to pay for an upgrade but again the only replacement available was an upgraded model so we got that for no charge and just paid for the insurance. By that time my wife was no longer an employee so we paid full price for the extended warranty. It's still going strong and I think the warranty has expired.

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

As already said, the extended warranties are a high profit product so on the aggregate they don't represent value for money - like any insurance. While they might end up worthwhile for specific people/product/circumstances, on average people will lose money. My philosophy has always been to only get insurance/warranty on things that would ruin me if i was unlucky - like home/contents or 3rd party auto. But for warranties on tools, home appliances, cars etc i figure i can wear a loss on the odd failure as it won't bankrupt me and statistically i will save money over my life not paying for warranty.

Cheers, Dom

[Mark Carlson]

Crap, the house I bought a year ago, has Samsung everything, washer, dryer, fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher. And I just got a Samsung 4k tv. I'm not sure there are any good appliance brands anymore. I always pass on extended warranties.

[Steve Eure]

I just replaced a fridge that was 4 1/2 years old because of a bad compressor. Was told it would be around $1100 to fix. I bought a new Samsung for $999. Had to consider all brands and they all have problems nowadays. Mostly ice makers and compressors go out. This particular fridge has a 10 year warranty on the compressor and we bought an extra 5 years protection for $154. Was told by several appliance repair techs to install a large appliance surge protector on each appliance because power surges, outages, low voltage, etc., will eat up the control boards in these appliances. It amazes me that the sells reps don't or won't mention that to you. Surge protectors can be bought for as little as $7 and can eliminate all manner of problems in today's appliances.
BTW, I generally don't buy extended warranties, but the last fridge that we replaced had been worked on 7 times in 4 1/2 years. The cost of the repair techs average $75 for a service call to come to your house on top of the repair cost. I think the 5 years extended warranty for $154 was a bargain.

[Wade Lippman]

They are high profit items, but can pay off. When I bought my house the furnace came with an extended warranty. When the heat exchanger leaked a month from the end of the extended warranty, they fixed it for free.

The best bargain was on my snow blower. My wife bought it with an extended warranty, so when it broke the second year, they came out and fixed it for free. A couple years later I found some paperwork that I had canceled the EW and gotten a refund. Doesn't get any better than that.

[Mike Henderson]

I normally don't take the extended warranties but on one car purchase I did. Worked out well for me because the car had a lot of problems. Either that or the dealer was "working" the warranty. When the I'd take the car in for service they always found something wrong that was fixed under warranty.

Mike

[Edwin Santos]

Crap, the house I bought a year ago, has Samsung everything, washer, dryer, fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher. And I just got a Samsung 4k tv. I'm not sure there are any good appliance brands anymore. I always pass on extended warranties.

I wouldn't worry about it.
What has been quoted here is one repair guy's opinion. Repair guys and service contractors always love to spout off opinions. Computer tech guys are no better. I have a few Samsung products and they've all been great.

[Jim Allen]

We retired and moved from SoCal to Oregon 13 years ago, bought a Craftsman Professional table saw and a 5 year extended warranty. 4 years into it, had a problem with the lock on the blade height adjuster, called in for a repair. They were unable to get the part (I think it was a spring assembly of some sort - not expensive), so I got a brand new hybrid table saw ("hybrid" was granite top).


We normally don't purchase extended warranties, but this one paid off.

[Doug Garson]

I normally don't take the extended warranties but on one car purchase I did. Worked out well for me because the car had a lot of problems. Either that or the dealer was "working" the warranty. When the I'd take the car in for service they always found something wrong that was fixed under warranty.

Mike
We had a similar experience with my wife's Mini Countryman. The dealer repaired several things we hadn't even noticed were a problem, we made sure to take it in a month before the warranty expired for a thorough inspection and again they found a few things to fix. I guess from their perspective it was win win. The factory paid for the repairs and they build a good rapport with their customer.

[Jim Becker]

Most things, I don't opt for the extended service contracts. (which is what they are legally...not "warranties") Refrigerators? Yup...ice makers brake and even one time covers the relatively inexpensive contract on the appliance. I have also purchased them on vehicles, but ONLY OEM manufacturer contracts, NEVER a third party, and only if my plan is to keep the vehicle for a long time or in the case of before I retired, to insure I had coverage when I ran out of warranty miles way before the normal 3 years of the OEM warranty would have lasted. (I was on the road and booking miles big time the last ten years of working)

Extended service contracts are essentially insurance. Some folks like to buy insurance for certain things and some folks do not, preferring to self-insure. When you do buy them, especially for vehicles, the price is ALWAY negotiable so don't assume that the dealer offer is actually something that you have to buy right then. You always have most if not all of the OEM warranty period to decide and you can shop around for substantially better pricing than that original offer that the finance person tries to shove down your, um...shirt.

[Dan Friedrichs]

It's insurance. Does a refrigerator need to be insured?

[Tom Stenzel]

When we moved into our house it "came" with a whole house warranty. The over the range GE microwave fizzled out. The stalwart craftsman repairing it found the magentron had burned up. My wife was home and asked him about a good brand to buy when the microwave finally died. He mentioned a couple of names but my wife recalled him clearly saying that Samsungs were junk. He threw the old magentron in the trash. I looked at it, said Samsung on the side of it.

We had a 1997 Saturn that we bought new and splurged for the extended warranty. It paid out nothing. The only failure it had that would have been covered is the water pump. It started leaking when the car was 15 years old. We had the car 18 years.

My 1989 F-150 on the other hand, Ford lost big time on the extended warranty. Steering box, front suspension twice, rear axle rebuild, the list goes on. I didn't buy another Ford for 25 years. And now have a Focus with, yes, the DCT transmission. Looks like ANOTHER 25 years before another Ford shows up. It has 165,000 miles, no warranty now. Shame, the DCT transmission works really nice when all is well.

-Tom

[Ted Calver]

Daughter bought a car from a well known national chain and an extended warranty along with it. Engine just crapped out on it and the warranty company wants all her maintenance records before they will replace the engine. Of course she did not keep a thing and the national chain, where she had it maintained refuses to release any records. Hyundai wants more than the car is worth for a new engine. Bummer.

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

Sorry, I'm going to have another go now that I'm at a keyboard.

There will always be examples of where an extended warranty was extremely worthwhile in that instance. However here is how I see it -

- Most products either fail quickly, during the burn-in period, or have defects that got through quality control and are immediately apparent. These failures are picked up or occur in the statutory or regular 'free' warranty period. After that, they follow a bathtub curve of failure rate where there is a steady and low rate of failure for a long period before things start to wear out in the medium to long-term. That medium to long term is typically later than the extended warranty period. So effectively you are buying warranty for the period that has the lowest rate of failure.

- manufacturers know their failure rates so will price the extended warranty such that overall they will always make a profit. And not only will they make a profit, but the retailer of the warranty will get a huge cut (from what I've been told by people who sell extended warranties on white-goods and electronics the extended warranties provide in excess of 50% profit/commission).

- what this means is that if the manufacturer sells an extended warranty for say $50- they might make $10- for each one. These are then sold to the customer for $100-, providing the retailer $50- of commission. This means that you are paying $100- for something that will statistically return you $40- of value. Now of course sometimes you get lucky and it ends up being really good value, or you lose if you didn't get the warranty, but over the course of your life and the many items you buy, hopefully the distribution of failure will be fairly gaussian and average out such that not getting warranty on anything you win. It's like playing roulette at the casino - you might win, you might lose, but the odds are in the houses favor and with sufficient spins and bets the laws of probability will ensure that the house wins and the players lose. The difference here is that the odds are far worse with extended warranty than roulette for the customer IMO. My thinking is that over a lifetime and many goods the distribution of failure on items you buy should hopefully approximate a standard distribution and you should come out on top vs buying extended warranty on everything. Even if it doesn't you are still on the right side of the odds - you might just be unlucky.

- I can actually only recall one time in my life when I had to use warranty - and that was for replacement of some capacitors on a Jet Planer-thicknesser combo that was still in its standard warranty period. All of my failed TV's, laptops, whitegoods etc occurred outside even a 5-7 year extended warranty period (that I have never bought in any case).

Also, if you feel that something is likely to fail and needs an extended warranty - don't buy that junk - look for something that you don't think will be unreliable!

I would actually be more inclined to give up my standard warranty for a discount than to pay more to extend it.

Last point - I hate that 'durable' white-goods are not made to last. There should be a minimum statutory warranty of minimum 10-15 years on these goods or the cost of disposal, carbon emissions, environmental impact, etc etc should be charged to the producer. This would make the cheap stuff that fails quickly and wastes resources cost substantially more and make quality products more competitive - why pay $2000 for a fridge that will only last 2 years when you can buy a high quality one that lasts for 20 for $3000-. As it is, the incentive, by not factoring in the negative externalities (costs to the world that are not directly borne by manufacturers or customers) of junk goods in their price is in favour of cheap crap for $500- that many buy and replace every couple of years.

Sorry, long one. Rant over.

Cheers,

Dom

[Rich Engelhardt]

why pay $2000 for a fridge that will only last 2 years when you can buy a high quality one that lasts for 20 for $3000-.Biggest problem I see there is - - how do you know the $3000 item is going to last ten times as long as the $2000 item? Is it made ten times better or is it going to be more profitable for the manufacturer and be built just as cheaply?
It's been my experience in life that, you very seldom get what you pay for anymore.
There are exceptions to that but - with the way "brand names" are bought and sold anymore, most of the time you just pay for the name.



My question is what do you do for the next 10 days to two weeks to keep your food cold?LOL! That caused a huge argument! I wanted to pick up one of those small $100 bar fridges. Wife blew a gasket over me wanting to stick it in the dining room for the next two weeks....something about it looking bad for the holidays.......like anyone but me, her and the dogs would see it...
We do have a 2nd refrigerator in the basement & the back enclosed porch is a few steps away from the kitchen - so we stuck a cooler out there.

[Curt Harms]

One 'extended warranty' I've read that can pay off is for cell phones - all hazards. Especially if the primary user is a klutz.

[Doug Dawson]

Sorry, I'm going to have another go now that I'm at a keyboard.

There will always be examples of where an extended warranty was extremely worthwhile in that instance. However here is how I see it -

- Most products either fail quickly, during the burn-in period, or have defects that got through quality control and are immediately apparent. These failures are picked up or occur in the statutory or regular 'free' warranty period. After that, they follow a bathtub curve of failure rate where there is a steady and low rate of failure for a long period before things start to wear out in the medium to long-term. That medium to long term is typically later than the extended warranty period. So effectively you are buying warranty for the period that has the lowest rate of failure.

- manufacturers know their failure rates so will price the extended warranty such that overall they will always make a profit. And not only will they make a profit, but the retailer of the warranty will get a huge cut (from what I've been told by people who sell extended warranties on white-goods and electronics the extended warranties provide in excess of 50% profit/commission).

- what this means is that if the manufacturer sells an extended warranty for say $50- they might make $10- for each one. These are then sold to the customer for $100-, providing the retailer $50- of commission. This means that you are paying $100- for something that will statistically return you $40- of value. Now of course sometimes you get lucky and it ends up being really good value, or you lose if you didn't get the warranty, but over the course of your life and the many items you buy, hopefully the distribution of failure will be fairly gaussian and average out such that not getting warranty on anything you win. It's like playing roulette at the casino - you might win, you might lose, but the odds are in the houses favor and with sufficient spins and bets the laws of probability will ensure that the house wins and the players lose. The difference here is that the odds are far worse with extended warranty than roulette for the customer IMO. My thinking is that over a lifetime and many goods the distribution of failure on items you buy should hopefully approximate a standard distribution and you should come out on top vs buying extended warranty on everything. Even if it doesn't you are still on the right side of the odds - you might just be unlucky.

- I can actually only recall one time in my life when I had to use warranty - and that was for replacement of some capacitors on a Jet Planer-thicknesser combo that was still in its standard warranty period. All of my failed TV's, laptops, whitegoods etc occurred outside even a 5-7 year extended warranty period (that I have never bought in any case).

Also, if you feel that something is likely to fail and needs an extended warranty - don't buy that junk - look for something that you don't think will be unreliable!

I would actually be more inclined to give up my standard warranty for a discount than to pay more to extend it.

Last point - I hate that 'durable' white-goods are not made to last. There should be a minimum statutory warranty of minimum 10-15 years on these goods or the cost of disposal, carbon emissions, environmental impact, etc etc should be charged to the producer. This would make the cheap stuff that fails quickly and wastes resources cost substantially more and make quality products more competitive - why pay $2000 for a fridge that will only last 2 years when you can buy a high quality one that lasts for 20 for $3000-. As it is, the incentive, by not factoring in the negative externalities (costs to the world that are not directly borne by manufacturers or customers) of junk goods in their price is in favour of cheap crap for $500- that many buy and replace every couple of years.


That's fine logic except it doesn't apply to refrigerators. On these things, vendors seem to be using the extended warranty as a _loss_leader_, because if you knew how much they actually cost, you'd never buy the product in the first place. :^) They have a constant line of failure, no matter what the brand, across the board, just a matter of degree. Maybe SubZero could be an exception, but who wants to spend US$10k on a freakin' refrigerator.

[Stan Calow]

I will always get it for the HVAC system. One time, I had a leaking freon regulator. The repair guy told me that it would cost more to fix than upgrade to a new current system. When I reminded him we had an extended warranty through his shop, suddenly they found a way to fix it. So I look at as rip-off insurance. Other appliances, I gamble on.

[Charlie Velasquez]

One 'extended warranty' I've read that can pay off is for cell phones - all hazards. Especially if the primary user is a klutz.

An often overlooked extended “warranty/service plan” is via your credit card. As a benefit of my Visa card I get extended warranty protection that may actually exceed what the company would have provided.

As an example, I bought my daughter a new smart phone with no additional warranty/service plan, and paid with my credit card. She chose not to get the Otterbox case as it “made the phone look klutzy”. Thirty minutes after walking out of the store she dropped it and cracked the screen. Visa replaced it immediately. No fuss, no muss (mmm... that is the first time I have written that phrase, looks strange).

As far as purchased warranty/service plans, I purchased one for a Craftsman lawn tractor as it included spark plugs, belts, and air filters. Turned out very fortunate as two years after the purchase the engine failed. Free replacement.
We also purchased a service plan for my wife’s new Sonata. It included touch up of nicks & dings, and my wife thinks the greatest advantage of a compact is to fit in tight spaces at shopping center parking lots. Door dings are a constant issue. It has already paid for itself as my wife lost her key; a new one costs $300-$400, and a rock from a dump truck cracked her windshield. Our auto insure would have covered the windshield, also, but that has a $1000 deductible. Unlike Ted’s experience, after contacting our salesperson, she made all the arrangements and called a couple of times to make sure we were taken care of.

I tend not to purchase them, though, unless I see at least some certain return as the door dings or such.

[Mike Henderson]

Sorry, I'm going to have another go now that I'm at a keyboard.

There will always be examples of where an extended warranty was extremely worthwhile in that instance. However here is how I see it -

- Most products either fail quickly, during the burn-in period, or have defects that got through quality control and are immediately apparent. These failures are picked up or occur in the statutory or regular 'free' warranty period. After that, they follow a bathtub curve of failure rate where there is a steady and low rate of failure for a long period before things start to wear out in the medium to long-term. That medium to long term is typically later than the extended warranty period. So effectively you are buying warranty for the period that has the lowest rate of failure.

- manufacturers know their failure rates so will price the extended warranty such that overall they will always make a profit. And not only will they make a profit, but the retailer of the warranty will get a huge cut (from what I've been told by people who sell extended warranties on white-goods and electronics the extended warranties provide in excess of 50% profit/commission).

- what this means is that if the manufacturer sells an extended warranty for say $50- they might make $10- for each one. These are then sold to the customer for $100-, providing the retailer $50- of commission. This means that you are paying $100- for something that will statistically return you $40- of value. Now of course sometimes you get lucky and it ends up being really good value, or you lose if you didn't get the warranty, but over the course of your life and the many items you buy, hopefully the distribution of failure will be fairly gaussian and average out such that not getting warranty on anything you win. It's like playing roulette at the casino - you might win, you might lose, but the odds are in the houses favor and with sufficient spins and bets the laws of probability will ensure that the house wins and the players lose. The difference here is that the odds are far worse with extended warranty than roulette for the customer IMO. My thinking is that over a lifetime and many goods the distribution of failure on items you buy should hopefully approximate a standard distribution and you should come out on top vs buying extended warranty on everything. Even if it doesn't you are still on the right side of the odds - you might just be unlucky.

- I can actually only recall one time in my life when I had to use warranty - and that was for replacement of some capacitors on a Jet Planer-thicknesser combo that was still in its standard warranty period. All of my failed TV's, laptops, whitegoods etc occurred outside even a 5-7 year extended warranty period (that I have never bought in any case).

Also, if you feel that something is likely to fail and needs an extended warranty - don't buy that junk - look for something that you don't think will be unreliable!

I would actually be more inclined to give up my standard warranty for a discount than to pay more to extend it.

Last point - I hate that 'durable' white-goods are not made to last. There should be a minimum statutory warranty of minimum 10-15 years on these goods or the cost of disposal, carbon emissions, environmental impact, etc etc should be charged to the producer. This would make the cheap stuff that fails quickly and wastes resources cost substantially more and make quality products more competitive - why pay $2000 for a fridge that will only last 2 years when you can buy a high quality one that lasts for 20 for $3000-. As it is, the incentive, by not factoring in the negative externalities (costs to the world that are not directly borne by manufacturers or customers) of junk goods in their price is in favour of cheap crap for $500- that many buy and replace every couple of years.

Sorry, long one. Rant over.

Cheers,

Dom

I agree with you. Whoever is offering the warrantee is doing it to make money. If you buy it, you're betting that your product will fail and the seller is betting that it won't.

A purchased warrantee is essentially insurance and sometimes insurance is useful if you can't stand the loss. Life insurance is a type of "product warrantee" where the loss could be catastrophic to the survivors.

But if you can stand the loss, you're probably better off to not purchase a product warrantee. Spread over all your purchases you'll most likely come out ahead.

Mike

[Dan Friedrichs]

An often overlooked extended “warranty/service plan” is via your credit card. As a benefit of my Visa card I get extended warranty protection that may actually exceed what the company would have provided.

+1. Underappreciated and underutilized benefit. It's a totally free extended warranty.

I had a color laser printer stop working a few days out of the normal warranty. Amex told me to throw it away and gave me a full credit for its original cost. No hassle at all. Took seconds to fill out the online form and a ~day for them to resolve it.

[Jerome Stanek]

I bought a extended plan from Best Buy for my first laptop and after 3 years it could not be fixed they ended up crediting me with the price I paid for it and used that to get a new one plus a new extended plan that one was in the shop 4 times when they were going to fix it but the plan said 3 repairs and they would replace. Again I used the credit for a new laptop and new extended plan this went on for a total of 5 laptops when the credit was not enough to cover a laptop and plan so the last one was just a laptop. My first laptop was bought in 93

[Doug Garson]

One 'extended warranty' I've read that can pay off is for cell phones - all hazards. Especially if the primary user is a klutz.
That sounds more like insurance than warranty. If a cell phone breaks when you drop it that's not a warranty issue unless you bought a military grade indestructible model.

[Jim Becker]

That sounds more like insurance than warranty. If a cell phone breaks when you drop it that's not a warranty issue unless you bought a military grade indestructible model.

None of these contracts are "warranties" as I noted previously...they are extended service contracts/insurance, despite the fact that many people, including the folks selling them, call them "warranties".

[Art Mann]

The way I see it, buying insurance on consumer items that I can replace myself if necessary is the same as buying a lottery ticket as an insurance policy against poverty. It works for a small minority but is a terrible investment for most people. The only extended warranty or insurance I buy is for things I can't easily afford to fix or replace. One example is a house. Another is liability insurance.

Statistically speaking, no manufacturer or insurance company will ever sell a policy that isn't overwhelmingly slanted in their favor. Anecdotes like you see in this thread are worthless. Everybody who got more from an insurance policy than they put in wants to brag about it. Nobody wants to admit to themselves, much less admit to other people, that they wasted money on an extended warranty.

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

The way I see it, buying insurance on consumer items that I can replace myself if necessary is the same as buying a lottery ticket as an insurance policy against poverty. It works for a small minority but is a terrible investment for most people. The only extended warranty or insurance I buy is for things I can't easily afford to fix or replace. One example is a house. Another is liability insurance.

Statistically speaking, no manufacturer or insurance company will ever sell a policy that isn't overwhelmingly slanted in their favor. Anecdotes like you see in this thread are worthless. Everybody who got more from an insurance policy than they put in wants to brag about it. Nobody wants to admit to themselves, much less admit to other people, that they wasted money on an extended warranty.

Yes exactly. 100% agree. The odds are not in your favour so only insure against events that will really cripple you / wipe you out (eg. House, unlimited personal liability or total contents etc). Don't insure for things you can cope with / insure yourself - eg. most products - statistically you will come out ahead.

With regard to the examples of when extended warranty was worthwhile of course there will be many - but imagine the number of examples given if everyone wrote down every single item they didn't need to put a warranty claim in on throughout their lives.

Cheers, Dom

[Bruce Wrenn]

My brother worked for an auto extended warranty company for years. Some companies are much better than others. One of their customers leased Toyotas for business, then after lease was up, auctioned them off. Auction yard calls him to come get hazmat materials form inside one vehicle. He goes down to yard, and finds three sealed R-12 thirty pound cylinders in back seat, which he sold for around a grand each. Not bad for a couple hours work.They sold an extended warranty on a fancy bicycle. Purchaser was a lawyer. Front wheel came off, injuring him. Sues warranty company. Brother has to represent company in court action. He asks lawyer if he had the manual for bike, which he did. Upon questioning him, he admitted he never read manual. It was still sealed, with in bold letters across the front "Read complete instructions before riding bike." Instructions told buyer to check all nuts and bolts before riding. Case dismissed! Another car, Car Fax showed it to have been in an accident. On the day of accident, car was in for servicing almost 100 miles from accident site. Car Fax showed several body parts replaced. Almost all body parts now have a UPC sticker on them, which when removed becomes unreadable. Supposedly replaced parts had correct UPC labels attached, that matched vehicle's VIN number. Another case dismissed. Car warranty company went after Car Fax, and won their case

[Rich Engelhardt]

None of these contracts are "warranties" as I noted previously...they are extended service contracts/insurance, despite the fact that many people, including the folks selling them, call them "warranties".LOL! So did the guy that started this thread! :D :D

[Art Mann]

I am curious to know what practical difference there is between the phrase "extended warranty" and "extended service contract/insurance". Calling it one thing or another may have some legal ramifications in a court of law but to people I have talked to, there is no difference. Why go to so much trouble to make a distinction?

[Jim Becker]

I am curious to know what practical difference there is between the phrase "extended warranty" and "extended service contract/insurance". Calling it one thing or another may have some legal ramifications in a court of law but to people I have talked to, there is no difference. Why go to so much trouble to make a distinction?
It's in the contractual language...kinda a legal thing. They somewhat feel the same to the end consumer, but the original warranty comes with the product and it ends after a certain period of time, etc. You don't pay extra for it. An extended service contract/"extended warranty" that one purchases separately is insurance at the heart (and in many states is actually managed by the state's insurance regulations) and is in essence, pre-paid repair, with or without a deductible. I guess the answer to your last question is that some of us are anal... :D

[Rollie Meyers]

When people buy extended "protection" plans, the buyer hopes they never need it, the seller knows that in must cases they won't, which makes it a big profit center. Those that have the misfortune of having Samsung, or LG, products, they do have the reputation of having problems with their ice makers, and parts availability, due to Samsung having problems with a couple of their products exploding (1 model of cellphone,& top loading washer) I call their products exploding products. :D

[Darcy Warner]

Stuff is not built to last, if it was lots of companies would be out of business because they couldn't sell enough.
Computers in appliances is stupid.

[Mike Kees]

Interesting thread. I could have read most of it in my living room sitting on the couch on my 6.5 year old Samsung smart phone. No I did not get the "insurance",I am a carpenter,my phone was not even touched by myself until it was in the "otterbox" at the counter in Costco. At least 15 falls of 10' or more feet and no issues yet. I never buy the warranties or insurance on anything either, Agree with Dom and Art that they are a waste of money . My F.I.L used to buy all his power equipment at Sears,he once had a lawn tractor that had to be hauled in to the service center for "free maintenance" it was only 60 miles. On the way the grass catcher bag blew of,so my B.I.L had to retrace the route trying to find it. They never found the bag. Good thing he bought that extended warranty !:D

[Roger Feeley]

We moved into our new house 3 years ago. We bought extended warranties on the stove and refrigerator. We declined on the microwave. The repairs on the frig have paid for both warranties.

We also bought the extended warranty on our minivan which has paid for itself a couple of times. We got a transmission gasket (part was cheap. labor was $1400) and some AC stuff (over $2K).

Stuff is just too complicated now and repairs are expensive. I used to assume that the warranties were a rip-off but no more.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I used to assume that the warranties were a rip-off but no more.

So you think the companies are selling them at a loss?

[Doug Dawson]

So you think the companies are selling them at a loss?

Never assume supreme intelligence of corporate culture. ;^)

[Jim Becker]

I used to assume that the warranties were a rip-off but no more.
Some of them really are a rip-off, especially those hawked by all kinds of third parties, particularly in the automobile world. But some are very good and for folks who want the insurance aspect for a complex vehicle they intend to hold for 5-10 years (OEM contract only!!!) or an appliance like a refrigerator with an ice maker that's virtually guaranteed to fail, they can be good piece of mind. Yes, the odds are still in favor of the insurer making money...that's how underwriting works...but certain things do have a higher odds of failure these days, too. One has to choose carefully for both the product and the coverage if they want it.

[Doug Dawson]

Some of them really are a rip-off, especially those hawked by all kinds of third parties, particularly in the automobile world. But some are very good and for folks who want the insurance aspect for a complex vehicle they intend to hold for 5-10 years (OEM contract only!!!) or an appliance like a refrigerator with an ice maker that's virtually guaranteed to fail, they can be good piece of mind. Yes, the odds are still in favor of the insurer making money...that's how underwriting works...but certain things do have a higher odds of failure these days, too. One has to choose carefully for both the product and the coverage if they want it.

AppleCare for Apple devices, laptops etc is an example of an "extended warranty" (or insurance, as it would be called in the State of Florida, etc.) that is worthwhile. And it is used as a _sales_ tool, because of the high failure rates. No matter what anyone tells you, they don't make a profit on it, compared to what the return would be if they didn't offer it.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, AppleCare is decent coverage that also extends technical support.

[Doug Dawson]

Yes, AppleCare is decent coverage that also extends technical support.

It's funny that after they realized the extent of the MacBook Pro keyboard fiasco, they changed the terms so that you couldn't buy AppleCare much after the fact. I guess _somebody_ there smartened up. A class-action lawsuit straightened things out a bit. If I have extra spaces between words, it's because I haven't sent mine in yet. :^) Not because I'm old.

[Art Mann]

Why would anyone in their right mind buy a refrigerator with an ice maker they expect too fail? Why not just buy a different brand? Does anyone really believe that all refrigerator brands have ice makers that will fail?


. . . or an appliance like a refrigerator with an ice maker that's virtually guaranteed to fail . . .

[Doug Dawson]

Why would anyone in their right mind buy a refrigerator with an ice maker they expect too fail?

Because they all do. Particularly with a through-the-door water/ice dispenser. It's just a matter of time. Do you feel lucky? And good luck finding a "higher-end" refrigerator that doesn't have this.

There's actually a physical explanation for it, relating to what some might call an "unnatural act" (of physics, that is.) These things barely work.

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

Because they all do. Particularly with a through-the-door water/ice dispenser. It's just a matter of time. Do you feel lucky? And good luck finding a "higher-end" refrigerator that doesn't have this.

There's actually a physical explanation for it, relating to what some might call an "unnatural act" (of physics, that is.) These things barely work.

I've had two fridges with ice dispensors and neither one had any issues. The first fridge sprung a fatal refrigerant leak after 8 years though. I swore off buying any appliances from brands that make TV's.

Cheers, Dom

[Myk Rian]

We're beginning to swap our kitchen appliances to Bosch. We started with the dishwasher.
No nonsense design and function.

[Jim Becker]

Why would anyone in their right mind buy a refrigerator with an ice maker they expect too fail? Why not just buy a different brand? Does anyone really believe that all refrigerator brands have ice makers that will fail?
Anecdotal evidence is that yes, the ice makers in pretty much every refrigerator are prone to failure. And remember, there are only a few actual manufacturers, no matter what brand is displayed on the front of the unit. There's been so much industry consolidation that there are only something like three major corporations behind the scenes. (don't quote me on that number, but it's close I believe)

[Doug Dawson]

We're beginning to swap our kitchen appliances to Bosch. We started with the dishwasher.
No nonsense design and function.

Our Bosch (gas) cooktop is, according to my wife, a right royal PITA to clean, and the valving is very sensitive to moisture intrusion, and the silkscreening is coming off after barely more than 2 years. I would avoid that. The dishwashers, OTOH, are awesome, particularly the late-model 800 series. It even dries plastic.

[James Waldron]

[snip ... the national chain, where she had it maintained refuses to release any records.[snip]

Maybe time to consult an attorney or look up the limits on a small claims court action. A subpoena is hard to ignore...