extended warranties

[ukcatfan]

I bought it from Ritz. At my house,between the dog and the boys, everything breaks eventually. Supposedly, I'm covered against anything (including water) except fire and lost/stolen. The guy at the counter said I could bring in a bag of broken pieces and as long as the serial # is in there somewhere, it would be replaced.

That is a good point. Be sure to read the fine details. Some are complete coverage and others are simply extending the same coverage the manufacturer provides.

 

[klmall]

I bought one for my XSi with kit lens in late July sort of thinking it was a waste of money. Not three weeks later, I fell hiking on Mt. Rainier with it. Even though I slid down 30 feet of loose scree and broke my ankle etc. with the camera lens open it survived fine. But, it could have been far worse for the camera (and me!). Amazingly only the plastic LCD cover got nicked in the fall. I am so glad though for the insurance and the peace of mind it gives me! That camera may be tough but my retired person's budget isn't!

 

[Golf4food]

I can guarantee it is overpriced at Ritz... like everything else they do... (except prints - I do use them for the few prints we get!) In general all extended warranties are a bad choice for the consumer i.e. the vast majority of people never use them and therefor just wasted all the money while lining the pockets of the retailer with a high profit item that they have to do nothing for - it's a win-win for the retailer, and usually a lose-lose for the consumer. Then again, if you can't afford to replace it and you'll feel better having it, peace of mind certainly has a value all its own.

 

[saturndb]

Step one would be to get a price to see how it will cost you. If the cost is to high, then it does not matter.


Dave

 

[GrillMouster]

My general rule is not to buy the extended warranty if its cost exceeds 10% of the value of the item it would cover.

 

[saturndb]

My general rule is not to buy the extended warranty if its cost exceeds 10% of the value of the item it would cover.

GrillMouster is right, 10% is the max cost in terms of the purchase price


Dave

 

[sallysue66]

GrillMouster is right, ten % is the max cost in terms of the purchase price


Dave

I think you're both right. 10% is a good rule of thumb. And the more I think about it, it really doesn't make sense. I'd rather save that money and put it toward my next lens. Now here's hoping & praying I don't break my new toy!

 

[MICKEY88]

I can guarantee it is overpriced at Ritz... like everything else they do... (except prints - I do use them for the few prints we get!) In general all extended warranties are a bad choice for the consumer i.e. the vast majority of people never use them and therefor just wasted all the money while lining the pockets of the retailer with a high profit item that they have to do nothing for - it's a win-win for the retailer, and usually a lose-lose for the consumer. Then again, if you can't afford to replace it and you'll feel better having it, peace of mind certainly has a value all its own.

overpriced if you don't use it, not so much if you do use it, just like any insurance/car/house/medical...etc...

when I worked at Ritz I saw a fair number of instances where people were very happy they had bougt the ESP.

everysummer we would have at least one, usually several people that bought camcorders for their trip to WDW, I pushed the ESP hard on those people if they had small children...

it was quite common to have people come in after their trip with a broken camcorder.. too many people would place the camcorder on the back of a lightweight stroller, they would stop at a ride, remove the child and the weight of the camcorder would tip the stroller, camcorder meets ground camcorder breaks..

ESP replaced camcorder...


my favorite was the guy who bought a Nikon 6006 from me, he called and told me he had gone to his camp to cut firewood, had the camera on the tailgate of his truck in case he saw any wildlife,, need to move the truck, pulled forward, backed up and heard a horrible sound...camera had fallen when he pulled forward and yep, he ran over it in reverse,,

I asked if he had purchased the ESP, his answer was yes, so I told him to put all parts in a big plastic bag and bring to store with his copy of the ESP, he walked out 15-20 minutes later with a new 6006...

 

[DisneyGrampa]

I don't buy extended warranties on electronics. I do, selectively, on mechanical things. I bought my Nikon D5000 after the shutter button on my Sony superzoom popped off about a week before the three year warranty, I didn't buy, would have been up. This reminded me that these cameras have significant mechanical content. I bought the extended warranty from Nikon, directly. It was about 10%. I also added it to my homeowner's policy-$11 a year.

 

[WDWFigment]

overpriced if you don't use it, not so much if you do use it, just like any insurance/car/house/medical...etc...

when I worked at Ritz I saw a fair number of instances where people were very happy they had bougt the ESP.

everysummer we would have at least one, usually several people that bought camcorders for their trip to WDW, I pushed the ESP hard on those people if they had small children...

it was quite common to have people come in after their trip with a broken camcorder.. too many people would place the camcorder on the back of a lightweight stroller, they would stop at a ride, remove the child and the weight of the camcorder would tip the stroller, camcorder meets ground camcorder breaks..

ESP replaced camcorder...


my favorite was the guy who bought a Nikon 6006 from me, he called and told me he had gone to his camp to cut firewood, had the camera on the tailgate of his truck in case he saw any wildlife,, need to move the truck, pulled forward, backed up and heard a horrible sound...camera had fallen when he pulled forward and yep, he ran over it in reverse,,

I asked if he had purchased the ESP, his answer was yes, so I told him to put all parts in a big plastic bag and bring to store with his copy of the ESP, he walked out 15-20 minutes later with a new 6006...

I think when it comes to their particular industry, or an area in which people have worked, people sometimes have the "burden of knowledge."

For instance, I think someone who works at Ritz or Best Buy may think the extended warranties are a 'good buy' because they have extensive anecdotal experiences with claims. Same with someone who works in insurance. My fiancee works in healthcare, and it certainly seems to me that she is overly cautious about health and safety. The list goes on and on. Each job exposes a person to a great deal of anecdotal experiences that often are not representative of the general population.

However, when confronted with decisions like this, I think it is important to take calculated risks based upon costs. Certainly, it's not overpriced if you use it. By that rationale, it costing $1 less than the purchase price would make it appropriately priced. I don't think anyone, yourself included, is suggesting the extended warranty would be a wise purchase at that price. So from there, you must determine at what price the warranty has value to you. This is necessarily a subjective determination, given that much of the value of insurance is the inherent value individuals place in being risk averse (peace of mind). For each person, this is different.

An important guidepost in this evaluation is what a reasonable alternative will cost. What does Best Buy/Ritz/etc. charge versus what it would cost to insure the device for the same period of time? Comparatively, what is the value in the warranty versus insurance (will an insurance claim be more difficult to receive? types of coverage? etc.?).

Personally, I try to self insure or self "warrant" whenever possible. Insurance and extended warranties alike are profitable businesses that also hemorrhage money on transaction costs. Given those considerations, I've always found it better to not insure or purchase the extended warranty on property you can replace without incurring a substantial financial burden. That is, I guess, unless you're either especially clumsy or will worry incessantly about breaking and having to replace the object.

 

[GrillMouster]

I think when it comes to their particular industry, or an area in which people have worked, people sometimes have the "burden of knowledge."

For instance, I think someone who works at Ritz or Best Buy may think the extended warranties are a 'good buy' because they have extensive anecdotal experiences with claims. Same with someone who works in insurance. My fiancee works in healthcare, and it certainly seems to me that she is overly cautious about health and safety. The list goes on and on. Each job exposes a person to a great deal of anecdotal experiences that often are not representative of the general population.

However, when confronted with decisions like this, I think it is important to take calculated risks based upon costs. Certainly, it's not overpriced if you use it. By that rationale, it costing $1 less than the purchase price would make it appropriately priced. I don't think anyone, yourself included, is suggesting the extended warranty would be a wise purchase at that price. So from there, you must determine at what price the warranty has value to you. This is necessarily a subjective determination, given that much of the value of insurance is the inherent value individuals place in being risk averse (peace of mind). For each person, this is different.

An important guidepost in this evaluation is what a reasonable alternative will cost. What does Best Buy/Ritz/etc. charge versus what it would cost to insure the device for the same period of time? Comparatively, what is the value in the warranty versus insurance (will an insurance claim be more difficult to receive? types of coverage? etc.?).

Personally, I try to self insure or self "warrant" whenever possible. Insurance and extended warranties alike are profitable businesses that also hemorrhage money on transaction costs. Given those considerations, I've always found it better to not insure or purchase the extended warranty on property you can replace without incurring a substantial financial burden. That is, I guess, unless you're either especially clumsy or will worry incessantly about breaking and having to replace the object.

Ditto.

It's extraordinarily RARE for one of my purchases to die within a period that would have been covered by an extended warranty. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, but it's rare. Overall, I still come out ahead by sticking with my rule of thumb of not buying extended warranties that exceed 10% of the item's purchase price. If an item would cost up to a couple hundred dollars to replace, I probably wouldn't get an extended warranty. If it's something that I feel confident I could easily repair myself (like a computer), I don't get an extended warranty. A large ticket item costing thousands of dollars...I'll consider an extended warranty if it's not too much money.

I'll also do research on how often the item breaks down. For example, I checked out Consumer Reports last year and found an article on extended warranties for HDTVs. They examined the reliability of different types (LCD, plasma, DLP) and brands. While some brands were more reliable than others (I think Samsung ranked highest), reliability of LCD HDTVs were so high across all brands reviewed that they found extended warranties to be a waste of money.

 

[fletchers5]

besides buying the extended warranty at the place you purchased you camera...is there anywhere else that you can purchase these? Best Buy's extended warranty is sky high.

I did find a place called Compuplus that has Mack 3 year Diamond extended warranties that covers impact damage, accidental abuse, unintentional abuse for a decent price.

Has anyone heard of Mack?

 

[GrillMouster]

BuyDig & BeachCamera (same company) usually have great prices on Mack warranties.

I just got a camera back from Mack that I sent in a few months ago. It took that long because they sent it to Nikon to have the sensor replaced & some other stuff.

 

[NYY2SMP]

Do any of you have your camera(Dslr) under warranty. I have heard about putting it on your insurance. How can you do that?

 

[photo_chick]

I've got a rider on my homeowners insurance that covers some of my electronics. My camera included. It covers more than normal, like if I drop my camera in a lake I'm covered. And the deductible is only $100, as opposed to the $1000 I've got my general policy. And it's replacement value, so I get what I need to buy a new one not what the old one was worth. I had the same type of thing with my renters insurance before we bought our house as well. What it does not cover is repairs.

Ask your insurance agent. If nothing else you can bring your coverage up to date. Most people are under insured anyway.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't keep anything in my house under extended warranty, except my DSLR.

I bought my first CANON DSLR back in 2004 at Sears. It was around $900 for that 6 MP camera (not much difference in price anywhere)........ and I really wanted to buy from a store with a generous return policy (i.e. no restocking fee) in case I got it home and wasn't happy with the photos. At the time, that investment scared me, especially with 3 little kids in the house. Since their extended warranty would cover it even if I dropped it or one of the kids knocked it off the table, I bought the warranty.

Right before the 2 years was up, the hot shoe stopped working. It wouldn't fire the flash. They put a brand new one in my hands. After that experience, I renewed. Over the years, I have had minor things go wrong several times (usually related to the flash) and one major thing (the shutter assembly). Each time they put a brand new camera in my hands. (I think they just don't know how to fix anything.) The last 2 times I had to pay a minor upcharge to the newer model.

Maybe the way prices have come down I should let that warranty go, but my track record hasn't been good.... so I'll probably renew when it comes time again.

 

[klmall]

I have my Canon XSi under an extended warranty because I do tend to break things and now that we're retired we really don't want to claim things under our home insurance (plan to sell our home within 2 years hopefully and claims do hurt in sales) etc. or add a rider. I've often quoted the accident I had right after I bought my XSi. Though I didn't damage my camera in my bad fall on Mt. Rainier last summer I felt much better traveling and hiking (and still do) with my camera insured.

We never buy the extended warranties on anything but for this, we did! FYI - We didn't buy one for my first real SLR back in the late 70s and it was barely two months old when I dropped it hard on the sidewalk at Gettysburg - never worked again!!! Hence, the lesson learned!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Warranties and insurance are similar but different. The former protects you from things going wrong with your camera and, in some cases, accidents. The latter protects you from things like theft and, in some cases, accidents.

In both cases, the odds favor the warranty/insurance company. That's how they stay in business. My understanding of the industries tells me that warranties offer much worse odds than insurance companies.

Deciding to buy either isn't strictly a question of the cost x the chance of collecting compared with the replacement cost. Like I said, that virtually always favors replacement cost. It's more of a question of your tolerance for risk. If having your camera stolen would be an annoyance but not a financial hardship, don't bother to insure it. If having your camera stolen would be a serious hardship, pay for the insurance. The same goes with warranties. If having the device fail would not be a major problem, skip the warranty.

One exception that philosophy is when you know more than the warranter or insurer. Odds are good that those companies have much greater statistical knowledge than you do about the likelihood of theft or malfunction. On the other hand, if you are unusually careless, you may be at greater risk of theft than the insurer estimates. If you shoot in really harsh conditions, your gear may be at greater risk of failure than the warranter assumes. In those cases, the odds may actually be in your favor. Insurers deal with that by jacking up your rates after you've demonstrated greater than normal risk. Warranty companies just suck it up.

For me personally, I never buy the extended warranty. The cost relative to the risk is outrageous in my mind. I do buy insurance, however, because I often travel with enough camera gear that it would make me quite upset if it were lost or stolen.

Keep in mind that your homeowners and auto insurance will already cover you for some camera losses. If you have sufficiently low deductibles on those, it may not make sense to get a special rider. In most cases, I think it makes more sense to have higher deductibles on your homeowners and auto insurance and a special rider on your specific at-risk valuables (camera gear, jewelry, etc), but your mileage may vary.

I agree with photo_chick's assertion that most people are underinsured...especially for auto insurance. My wife was in an accident about a decade ago. She totaled an old and inexpensive car. When I looked at our coverage and thought about what would have happened if she'd smacked a new Mercedes and perhaps a new BMW (don't laugh, a high school kid rammed my boss's 7 series BMW into a S-class Mercedes a couple of years ago), I realized that I'd be personally on the hook for a LOT of money. I upped my liability considerably and added an umbrella policy to boot.

 

[NYY2SMP]

do any of you have a insurance rider on your camera? How did you go about getting it?

 

[Raindown]

do any of you have a insurance rider on your camera? How did you go about getting it?

I would just call your insurance agent. Even if it is your auto insurance agent. They usually will insurance anything your willing to pay for.