Extended warranties on new appliances?

[nfotiu]

Useless post, but I had a brand new refrigerator do $15,000 of damage to my brand new house a couple years ago. Extended warranty would not have helped :-) .

[redforever]

I live in the country and can't get a repair guy out to even look at what is wrong, let alone fix it for less than $125 plus travel so I always buy extended warranties.

[GGG]

I used to buy them on just dishwashers as sears included a yearly cleaning in with the extended warranty which I used and found it to be pretty useful. They have since cancelled that part of the extended warranty so I no longer by them.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

So i would suggest an EW if its a newer technology or a newer car model with many changes over the previous years. For instance if i purchased an electric or hybrid vehicle i would get one.

I think cars are a different story as there's an expectation of repairs with them and you know that will have a cost to it one way or another.

[jar_e]

If you're concerned about the reliability of it, don't buy the "top of the line" one as you say and parlay the cash you would have spent with that into a mid-range + the extended warranty?

[Jiggy_12]

Dishwasher, fridge, washing machine - worth considering.

Other appliances not as much. Those are far and away the most commonly serviced appliance categories and the most costly to repair.

[psyang]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Dishwasher, fridge, washing machine - worth considering.

Other appliances not as much. Those are far and away the most commonly serviced appliance categories and the most costly to repair.

That's what I've heard - anytime water and electronics are together, it may be worth an extended warranty. It saved us a bundle when our front-load washing machine died.

[vanisleflamesfan]

Meh... stuff is made to only last a few years and then break down. Nothing is made to last for 30 years anymore. You will have to replace it in less than 10 years anyway so why bother paying for the extended warranty?

Planned obsolescence is pretty much the way that every company does business these days.

[Rerun]

http://lifehacker.com/5697141/skip-t...t-card-instead

Whenever you go to make a big purchase it's inevitable the salesperson will pitch you an extended warranty, care package, or other add-on. Skip their hard sale technique and enjoy extended consumer protection the easy way.

Why should you skip the extended warranty? Consider the following:

Products have a low failure rate. When talking about failure rates people often recall the one thing that burned them badly like a TV that smoked and popped a few months after buying it or a hard drive that died and left them without family photos. The reality, however, is that the vast majority of products work fine and the failure rate for most consumer electronics is in the single digits. If it's going to fail it will likely either fail shortly after you get it (and within the store's return window) or long after it would be out of even the best extended warranty program.

Use a good credit card and extend your warranty for free. This is the big one: a good credit card company will extend your warranty for free as part of their consumer protection package. Most major credit card companies offer extended warranties (although not on all the cards they offer, so call and check with your card company).

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

By the way, they're Samsungs, good stuff. I've checked them out in the consumer mags and they rate very high.

When I shopped for dishwashers two months ago, I had two salespeople at different places recommend against Samsung dishwashers, no matter the price. Apparently they are known to leak.

[#-3]

I remember going into Walmart one time and asking the electronics guy where the cheapest home phone they had was, he showed me a $9 phone, then proceeded to ask me if I wanted the extended warranty. LOL

Most of these electronics warranties are between 10 & 20 % of the value of the product. They are basically saying one of two things,

They either expect up to 1 out 10 of the products that come out of their factory to be crap
or
They are trying to add another revenue stream.

Which do you think it is?

[flamesfever]

I think purchasing an extended warranty on an appliance can be worthwhile when you have certain experience with a particular brand. We had a built-in Thermador oven/microwave which caused us unlimited amounts of trouble in the first 5 years. When it came time to replace it, the only thing that fit the space was another Thermador, and this time we purchased the five year extended warranty. Exactly two weeks after the one year period, which came without the warranty, the mother board crashed and an element burnt out, and the extended warranty more than paid for itself.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Jiggy_12

Dishwasher, fridge, washing machine - worth considering.

Other appliances not as much. Those are far and away the most commonly serviced appliance categories and the most costly to repair.

i would say that the dishwasher is almost cheap enough ($350 to $700) to just replace - unless perhaps you buy a bosch or other high end brand.

fridge is borderline ($1500 +), and after my expereince with our washing machne, i'd get it on that next time for sure.

[BigNumbers]

It really depends on the fine print, and your use. I bought top of the line fridge and stove from Lowes this year, and the warranty was laughably cheap and covered any damage from normal use. With 3 kids, I decided it made sense to buy it, as it covers the certain dings and damage that will occur in the next few years.

However, some warranties just extend/piggyback the manufacture's warranty for production defects (eg: not wear and tear, damage, etc). So

1) Check what it actually covers (fine print)
2) Determine your use of the product
3) Determine your risk tolerance
4) Decide if you buy or not.

For me, $100 or whatever it was to cover 2 appliances for 3 years of wear and tear from heavy use and kids who slam fridge doors, pull things off hinges, etc.... It felt like a no-brainer!

if it was just the wife and I... I'd probably have hemmed and hawed a bit more...

[MoneyGuy]

Thanks to everyone for the useful discussion and ideas. I'll be buying the appliances in the next few days and your opinions are helpful.

[MoneyGuy]

So, I bought the appliances yesterday and declined the extended warranties. Thanks for all of the advice, most of which confirmed my thinking.

[Ragz]

I am dealing with this issue, My fridge the "flagship" model when purchased, 13 months later, the ice machine stop working, called the place of purchase and there is nothing they will do, as it is past the initial one year warranty. I did buy the extended warranty , they are a pain to call and deal with, but our fridge will be 100% repaired.

Shortly after the ice machine stop working, the compressor failed and we lost all of our refrigerator items, the extended warranty company is even giving us a $250 gift card to replace those items. So not all extended warranty are a waste.

[bigtmac19]

Just watched Marketplace last night. It was about appliances. They had two appliance repair experts on and quite a few horror stories. A salesperson admitted (on hidden camera) that the quality is so poor now you can't expect them to last more than 10 years on average. The parts to fix appliances are also priced prohibitively to encourage consumers to replace as opposed to repair. The repairmen said they can still easily find parts for appliances that are 25 years old but not for appliances that are 5 years old, the manufacturers make it more difficult to repair the newer ones. There were several stories about Samsung appliances in particular and the high rate of breakdown and general poor quality. The Samsung fridge in question was just out of warranty.

[pseudoreality]

Samsung makes good TV'S, but poor appliances. My brother-in-law owns an appliance shop and refuses to stock Samsung.

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Rerun

http://lifehacker.com/5697141/skip-t...t-card-instead

I wanted to thank rerun and specifically his post on this thread regarding credit card warranties. Back in January I lost my new iPhone 6+ down the hole while ice fishing. I had bought the phone on release day through a contract with bell.

His post reminded me that I had paid for the phone with my capital one world aspire master card. I quickly looked up the benefits and purchase coverage on my credit card and sure enough purchases were covered for 120days against loss, theft or damage. I checked my statements and luckily I had purchased the phone 118 days before the loss.

I called the number on the back, filled out a simple form, gathered receipts and made the claim. Today I got confirmation that they paid my claim and are covering the full amount that I charged to my phone.

Downside is that because I bought the phone on contract I only get covered for the amount I paid which was about half the cost of a new phone purchased outright from the apple store. But much better than being down the full amount.

Thanks CP! (And specifically rerun)