Do you buy extended warranties?

[Disney-Kim]

I am buying a new refridgerator this week and have asked advice on it...now I have a curious question....

do you buy the extended warranties and on what? would you buy it on a fridge???

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I used to.
I don't anymore. I just buy brands that I trust... because I've wasted about 15yrs of paying for extended warranties and NEVER not once had to use them... for anything. From vehicles to fridge, stoves, washer/dryer, dishwasher, you name it. I don't even want to think about how much money I've wasted......

 

[tiggerlover]

Originally posted by BibbidyBobbidyBoo
I used to. I don't anymore. I just buy brands that I trust.

Ditto.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I do for certain electronic products. I just got a new camcorder and I got the longest warrenty they had. Electronics just seem to break on me for no reason, so I want to be ready!

<img src="http://home.att.net/~disneysue/hugsmall3.gif">

 

[Nutsy]

I've never done it with White Goods, but we did do it with our new car & in some ways are now wishing we hadn't.

 

[Geezer]

I buy it on long term appliances, but not on electronics. Those things get outdated so fast, you might as well replace them if they break.

 

[Az Pirates]

I wouldn't buy one on a refrigerator.
Of course the only extended warranty we own is on our van and thats only because the dealership includes them with all used vehicle sales.

DH used to work in the electronics dept. of a retail store. They wanted the salespeople to push ex. warranties big time. The return for the store was as much as 80 percent.

Most people never use them. A lot of times the terms and conditions are so restrictive - that even if something goes wrong, it's very hard to get it covered under the warranty.

 

[cinmell]

No, I don't buy the extended warranties.

 

[janette]

Originally posted by Geezer
I buy it on long term appliances, but not on electronics. Those things get outdated so fast, you might as well replace them if they break.

Most of the time if they have to replace an electronic item that is outdated you'll get a newer model.

I rarely buy them but in some cases it can work to your advantage. One of my aunts sells on ebay and her digital cameras don't seem to last very long. She bought an extended warranty once and they replaced it with a newer / better model. She's only had to buy the warranty again each time.

 

[powellrj]

I use to never buy extended warranties, but the last few items I have bought, If I bought the extended warranties, they would throw in delievery for free, so now I will always ask "If I buy the warranties will you deliver it for free.?" Can't hurt to ask.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

We got one when we bought our appliances. I would definitely suggest getting one for your refrigerator if it includes an icemaker.

The repair man has been here three times - all for the icemaker. He said the extended warranty has paid for itself a couple of times already.

We also have one on our washer and dryer.

Now as for electronics - they made us believe it was a walk in repair - when it was actually a send it out in a box repair. Never again!!!

 

[Beth76]

We bought one on our used car, but NEVER on anything else.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We bought them on our Neptune washer and dryer, but never on anything else. In retrospect, I probably would on a dishwasher too.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

The only thing we bought it for was our son's laptop computer for college. My DH thinks the rest are a waste of money.

 

[Razor Roman]

It's a toss-up for me. If the thing breaks down once, the cost of the repair usually more than makes up for the cost of the warranty. If it doesn't, then you feel like you wasted the money.

I came across a unique idea a few months ago reading hometheaterforum.com, where some people advocated "Self-insuring" themselves for repairs. They have a special bank account, and the put whatever the costs of extended warranties would have been for everything they buy, and use that to pay for repairs if they are needed. If they're not needed, they use the money for upgrades!

 

[SC Minnie]

We don't usually buy them either but did on our treadmill. It covers routine maintenance once a year and any other problems. It has already paid for itself because they had to reaplace a part that would have been around $400. We bought a new frig last year and didn't get the extended warranty. We try to do like the others and buy quality brands.

 

[tinatark]

Best Buy's Extended warranty is a good one - it is replacement coverage - if your item breaks, you get a refund of your purchase price, then get whatever you want. Staples is the same way.

The best "extended warranty" we use is to buy anything we can from Sams' Club. Their return policy is - forever, if it breaks, tears up, whatever, bring it back with your receipt for a refund. The only exception is for computers - they're either 15 or 30 days. We have a special file for Sams' receipts, write at the top if the receipt is for an item we may have to return later.

We also bought extended warranties on our big screen tv and camcorder - both also covered routine maintenance.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I just say no.

 

[Towncrier]

The only extended warranty that I've ever purchased is for a projection (big screen) TV. And I have gotten my money's worth out of that deal. For some reason, the high voltage section of my set kept failing, so the $10 a month that the warranty cost was chump change compared to the repair costs. Unfortunately, I guess I used my warranty too much as Best Buy didn't offer to let me extend the original contract a second time. My seven year old projection set is showing signs of failure. I guess that it's a good thing that I work for a subsidiary of Philips Electronics.

 

[tar heel]

We like to buy very low mileage used cars and we do the get the warranty. We have had five car extended warranties and four of them more than paid for themselves in the repairs. Otherwise, we don't buy them unless there is an unusual situation. For example, my dh got the warranties on both a camcorder and camera b/c he was taking them to India where it would be hot and dusty.

If you decide you do want to buy the warranty, you might offer a lower price -- certainly works with car ones.