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.