Are Extended Warranties Worth It?
- Thread starter Psyclone Brian
- Start date
Verizon's insurance is through Asurion (as are most of the cell phone companies, including Sprint). "Advanced devices" have a 90 dollar deductible according to VZW's website, and costs between 4.50 and 8 dollars a month.
Calling Features: Total Equipment Coverage
A few gotchas too. They aren't required to send you the same type of phone you have insured. So if you had a Droid X, they can send you a refurb Incredible and call it good, since those phones are roughly equivalent.
Just gotta clear the ESN with the carrier first (for CDMA carriers..for GSM you don't have much to worry about for the most part). I've bought a phone or two off of Ebay and had no problems with them on both VZW and Sprint.
But yup, it's all about what's comfortable to you
That may be what's published, but it isn't necessarily how they do business. I just had to get a replacement Blackberry four months ago, and it was only $50. The phone I broke before that, they tried to send me an "equivilant," but I called and talked to them when it got here, and they sent me the correct model. Like with any insurance carrier (health, car, etc.), you have to be willing to fight a little bit for what you are owed (which only involved a single call for me).
I've gotten enough stuff that wasn't as advertised or that was busted off of eBay that I personally prefer to go the "official" route. I also have the "safe to moderate" plan on my 401K, so there you go.
That may be what's published, but it isn't necessarily how they do business. I just had to get a replacement Blackberry four months ago, and it was only $50. The phone I broke before that, they tried to send me an "equivilant," but I called and talked to them when it got here, and they sent me the correct model. Like with any insurance carrier (health, car, etc.), you have to be willing to fight a little bit for what you are owed (which only involved a single call for me).
I've gotten enough stuff that wasn't as advertised or that was busted off of eBay that I personally prefer to go the "official" route. I also have the "safe to moderate" plan on my 401K, so there you go.
Last two phones:
Pre power button quit working (after I dropped it on it ....whoops ). Free replacement under warranty (1 year).
Treo 755p - out of warranty, no insurance. Some keys weren't working right. Sprint CSR got me a brand new one for $75, and was here in two days.
Last three phones I replaced before that, on Verizon, cost me nothing. In fact, I got a Treo 650 for free as a replacement for my Kyocera 7035 that broke (for the second time - the first one I bought on e-bay, and verizon replaced it for free when it broke!). I paid a grand total of 0$ for 3 replacements on VZW. Never had insurance.
Of course this was back in the days when smartphones were pretty rare, and the business folks handled all the support for smartphone users. Nowadays, I'd imagine it's a bit different.
The phone companies generally lose money or break even on the handsets. They make all their money on the plans. They don't even really have much skin in the insurance game. They will work with you too, if you talk to the right people and treat them nicely.
I've had VERY good luck with the Sprint store in WDM (near Rock Bottom).
I hope to never use my health insurance either.
It's another form of insurance, obviously they all make money off of it. I try to buy from Costco to get the free extra year of warranty at worst.
We got an extended warranty worked in with our car when we bought it... and then needed a fairly major repair three days after the warranty wore out.
Ain't that the truth! I'm thinkin' some serious conspiracy here. :wink:
With sprint the insurance is either $4 or $7. I get the more expensive one because I am rough on my phones.
Also since Cedar Rapids didn't have a corporate store if I didn't have insurance I would not of been able to get replacements locally.
For some reason I am yet to figure out I am really rough on my smartphones. I know it isn't from dropping them, besides once. But since I got my first smartphone the HTC mogul. I have gone through them about every 6 months. mogul replaced twice, third time they replaced it with a touch pro. That phone replaced twice, third time I dropped it and broke the screen, and I got a touch pro 2. About 5 weeks later that broke and I just upgraded to the EVO on launch day. Now my EVO is having problems and I will have a replacement one on Monday. Sprint had to ship me one since they are still not in stores.
I am not sure what it is I am doing to these phones but I don't think HTC's products can be that bad.
Also since Cedar Rapids didn't have a corporate store if I didn't have insurance I would not of been able to get replacements locally.
For some reason I am yet to figure out I am really rough on my smartphones. I know it isn't from dropping them, besides once. But since I got my first smartphone the HTC mogul. I have gone through them about every 6 months. mogul replaced twice, third time they replaced it with a touch pro. That phone replaced twice, third time I dropped it and broke the screen, and I got a touch pro 2. About 5 weeks later that broke and I just upgraded to the EVO on launch day. Now my EVO is having problems and I will have a replacement one on Monday. Sprint had to ship me one since they are still not in stores.
I am not sure what it is I am doing to these phones but I don't think HTC's products can be that bad.
Only a fool or a wealthy man owns a German automobile without factory warranty or a service contract.
I generally don't, but I guess those of you who use the "companies make money off it" don't buy health or life insurance either...
If you are wealthy enough, then yes, you are correct: it wouldn't make sense to buy either. Most of us aren't to that point, but we are to the point where we can risk losing a $200 camera and pickup the full cost to buy a new one.
Not niave, I think you just missed the concept: Yes, in most transactions, you're both benefiting... they sell you an item that you need/want (you're happy), and they make a profit (they're happy); neither party loses... that's not what we're talking about here.
In this situation the company is gambling with you: you are purchasing something that potentially has no benefit. Only it's not really gambling when they've run the numbers, and know there's very little chance they'll lose.
I agree. In most cases companies come out a head on extended warranties. They are like any other form of insurance. Only take it out if it may be a loss you can't afford to take - and even then the odds are in the favor of the companies offering warranties.
The only time we have taken out an extended warranty was on a car about twenty years ago. We had a transmission problem shorftly after the manufacturers warranty had expired. The part that was causing the problem wasn't specifically listed as being covered by the extended warranty so they did not cover it. A lot of good that warranty did us.
Normally I'm against buying the warranties, however, I'll never buy another laptop again without it, especially if it has an nVidia GPU in it. 2 months after the warranty expired, the GPU and motherboard fried. I could have spent the $400+ on fixing it, but from what I had been seeing on the HP website their "fixes" would last 3-6 months and would fry again. So yeah - I'm basically out $1200 now...
Re: This was just on one of those morning shows
It depends...
I bought a used car and bought one, because while a reliable brand; it isn't the highest rated.
Another rule of thumb is get them "water" appliances, like washer; dish washer; frig, etc.
It depends on the item. Think of it as insurance. Yes, stores make money on them, but there is a portion of the buying public that has to use the warranty. If you spent a lot of money on your purchase, it might be worth "insuring" it.
It depends...
I bought a used car and bought one, because while a reliable brand; it isn't the highest rated.
Another rule of thumb is get them "water" appliances, like washer; dish washer; frig, etc.
It depends on the item. Think of it as insurance. Yes, stores make money on them, but there is a portion of the buying public that has to use the warranty. If you spent a lot of money on your purchase, it might be worth "insuring" it.
I kind of believe in self insurance unless it's something very unreliable. I've never bought a car warranty but I don't keep cars long(I know it's dumb) and I usually drive reliable ones.
I also go with $1,000 deductible on car insurance. I've done this for 15 years and have never had a claim. This saves me about $300/year so it's saved me roughly $4,500 and if the worse happens and I get in an accident I'm only out an additional $500. To me this is a no brainer.
Some day I'm going to get stung by not buying a warranty but I've probably passed on over $20K in warranties on tv's, pc's, laptops, cars, motorcycles, cameras, etc, etc, etc. and you never know which one of those is going to break.
I also go with $1,000 deductible on car insurance. I've done this for 15 years and have never had a claim. This saves me about $300/year so it's saved me roughly $4,500 and if the worse happens and I get in an accident I'm only out an additional $500. To me this is a no brainer.
Some day I'm going to get stung by not buying a warranty but I've probably passed on over $20K in warranties on tv's, pc's, laptops, cars, motorcycles, cameras, etc, etc, etc. and you never know which one of those is going to break.