Anyone here worked at Future Shop?

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Serious?!

Yup.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by pylon

Uh oh... here comes the car biz guy.

Extended warranties are crap unless 2 variables are present.

1) Is it a MANUFACTURERS warranty? If so, they are a safe bet.

2) DO they exceed the price of said product by more than 10%? If so, it is usually cheaper to self insure.

We sell nothing but genuine manufacturer warranties on our vehicles, and I have no issues whatsoever selling them. It can't be an issue, as it is a huge component of my job in finance. But our manufacturers extension, is simply that, an extension of the coverage you drive off the lot with. Not hard to sell the benefits.

Statistically, there is a 90% chance you will not have a major repair on a car, that will exceed 10% of the vehicles original value, within a period, in which the vehicle will still qualify for a comprehensive warranty.

I use the Future Shop/Best Buy warranty pricing as an example of why vehicle warranties are affordable. "Mr. Smith, this isn't like Best Buy, where we are selling you a 3rd party, in house warranty, for $500, on a $1500 TV, or about 1/3 of its cost" "You just bought a $40,000 car, and you can double your factory coverage, for around $2500, or around 6% of the purchase price."

The best rationale I use is this. "Would you give up your factory warranty, if I were to discount the car $2500 right now?" Never in 12 years, has someone said yes. "Then if it has that value to you, why wouldn't you want to double it, and have full coverage, when the car is older, and more likely to break?" Unless it is a short term owner, it is hard logic to argue with.

Electronics though, never once bought an extended warranty from a store. I will buy Apple Care, and I have bought a couple Toshiba genuine warranties on laptops, but if isn't the manufacturer backing it, run, don't walk away.

I consider it extremely unprofessional to dog on another company to make your product seem better, but overall I do agree with most of what you have said.

On a side note about Credit Cards extending warranties is that you should check to see what "features" your card has. Not all cards are created equal and some don't have this feature unless you purchase a yearly fee edition of a card.

[MacGruber]

my credit card actually doubles the manufactures warranty. heres the trick tho, some laptop companies only cover the screen for months, not years.

laptops are just... ugh. so scummy. im reluctant to replace my toshiba until it literally falls apart in my hands

[yads]

This is the reason I don't shop at these stores for any big ticket items. All these guys know about the product is that they can sell you a great extended warranty.

The worst extended warranty offer I ever saw was a $25 warranty on a $50 hair dryer at London Drugs. And the woman took it.

[Swarly]

ah those guys are the worst. My dad was buying a new family computer a few years ago and the guy wouldn't shut up about the warranty after quite a few firm no i'm not getting that. So finally my dad said to him, is this product so crappy that your saying it will break in the next year. Guy didnt have anything to say, my dad turned around and walked out of the store, drove to the next closest FS and bought there.

and I bought a cheap laptop at laptop depot one time, just a cheap unit, maybe 700, buddy wanted to sell me a $300 1 year warranty. After a no, I just looked at him like he was a moron and said for 300 i'm 1/2 way to a new laptop.

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Remember that making a purchase on your credit card often comes with an additional year of free extended warranty from your credit card company.

That is another reason why not to buy extended warranties.

yes, but depending on who is providing the warranty and such, it may be a hassle.

we are currently going through this process with presidents choice financial, which sublets the warranty through an insurance company, and it has been a bit of a pain to deal with thus far.

[Old Yeller]

A Soundsaround employee actually followed me out of the store after I walked out because he got too pushy with an extended warranty on a center channel I bought there.

"Look at you, you're in the parking lot still trying to push an unwanted warranty on me"

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Deegee

I consider it extremely unprofessional to dog on another company to make your product seem better, but overall I do agree with most of what you have said.

On a side note about Credit Cards extending warranties is that you should check to see what "features" your card has. Not all cards are created equal and some don't have this feature unless you purchase a yearly fee edition of a card.

I would agree with you if you are comparing apples to apples. I never run down another auto manufacturer or brand, big no-no. But comparing a manufacturers warranty on a $50 or 60,000 car, to a $100 warranty on a $200 ghetto blaster, is not "dogging" the competition. It immediately takes away any preconceived notions about what you are trying to present to them. Because, thanks to companies like Best Buy, Future Shop, and many 3rd party auto warranty companies... very solid manufacturers products, have had their names absolutely trashed by garbage policies, jammed down peoples throats by in a manner that Puckluck is suggesting.

The second you mention extended warranty to people, they have a horror story about getting burned by 'XYZ' electronics store, or 'ABC' used car lot. You are simply being proactive in your approach, and clearing the air from what you are selling from the get go. Also, it is how the manufacturer trains you to present it.... but I am sure you know more than a multi-billion dollar company.

[afc wimbledon]

Can't speak to computors but when it comes to Audio and TV's you will generally see any problems in a unit pretty quickly, it is in the nature of solid state electronics they tend to either work as advertised or have problems right from the start, as such if it works fine for a year it is extremely unlikely anything will go wrong for years after.
cd and DVD players have moving parts so are a bit more likely to have problems down the road, but are so cheap they arn't really worth insuring.

My favourite warrenty, Bryston Audio who build amps etc, 25 year manufacturers warrenty!

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

^^^ I miss the old A&B downtown store. That place rocked.

There was no better place for most people to get a decent stereo. covered pretty much all price ranges so you tended to get high end knowledge even for budget systems.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

There was no better place for most people to get a decent stereo. covered pretty much all price ranges so you tended to get high end knowledge even for budget systems.

London Drugs has some surprisingly nice gear nowadays. And they are awesome to deal with.

[-TC-]

I've always been treated fairly by Future Shop, I've never had a pushy or unreasonable salesperson and, once, when I had an issue with an external HD I bought, they replaced it at no cost to me.

FS is always my first stop when I need electronics.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by pylon

The best rationale I use is this. "Would you give up your factory warranty, if I were to discount the car $2500 right now?" Never in 12 years, has someone said yes.

I would be very tempted.....

[FlamesAddiction]

The last time I went to Future Shop, I had some guy trying to help me but he was eating an apple and chewing with his mouth open.

I take them up on a warranty issue before and thought they accommodated me well.

I bought a flat screen from them and had a couple of pixels go on it but not enough to activate the warranty. With a week to go on the warranty, another pixel went but was still under the 6 or 7 (can't remember the exact number) to get a replacement TV. I went there and talked to a manager and made a joke about probably losing the other pixel the day after the warranty would expire, and he told me to bring it in and they'd replace it anyway as they wanted to clear out some of their TVs.

[FlamesKickAss]

I left A&B sound in shawnessy when I purchased the stereo for my car, the guy flat out told me with Calgary winter it wouldn't last that long so I should buy the warranty, I had the thing in my hands and was about to purchase when I put it down and walked out. I have never purchased an extended warranty on anything other than vehicles.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Deegee

I consider it extremely unprofessional to dog on another company to make your product seem better, but overall I do agree with most of what you have said.

That point would have merit were he an electronics retailer trying to make the competing products he sold more attractive than those of Future Shop.

He's not. He is in the car business.

It is totally fair for anyone to debate the business ethics and strategies surrounding Extended Warranties.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by pylon

Uh oh... here comes the car biz guy.

Extended warranties are crap unless 2 variables are present.

1) Is it a MANUFACTURERS warranty? If so, they are a safe bet.

2) DO they exceed the price of said product by more than 10%? If so, it is usually cheaper to self insure.

We sell nothing but genuine manufacturer warranties on our vehicles, and I have no issues whatsoever selling them. It can't be an issue, as it is a huge component of my job in finance. But our manufacturers extension, is simply that, an extension of the coverage you drive off the lot with. Not hard to sell the benefits.

Statistically, there is a 90% chance you will not have a major repair on a car, that will exceed 10% of the vehicles original value, within a period, in which the vehicle will still qualify for a comprehensive warranty.

I use the Future Shop/Best Buy warranty pricing as an example of why vehicle warranties are affordable. "Mr. Smith, this isn't like Best Buy, where we are selling you a 3rd party, in house warranty, for $500, on a $1500 TV, or about 1/3 of its cost" "You just bought a $40,000 car, and you can double your factory coverage, for around $2500, or around 6% of the purchase price."

The best rationale I use is this. "Would you give up your factory warranty, if I were to discount the car $2500 right now?" Never in 12 years, has someone said yes. "Then if it has that value to you, why wouldn't you want to double it, and have full coverage, when the car is older, and more likely to break?" Unless it is a short term owner, it is hard logic to argue with.

Electronics though, never once bought an extended warranty from a store. I will buy Apple Care, and I have bought a couple Toshiba genuine warranties on laptops, but if isn't the manufacturer backing it, run, don't walk away.

I have ragged on car salesmen before, but in my mind this is one area where the car sales industry is superior to Future Shop/electronics places. When you buy a new or used car, most places have warrenty disclosures that clearly describe to you what you're buying vis-a-vis coverage, and they even give you a day or two to decide coverage levels or whether or not you buy additional coverage. Should you choose you can look up reliability and anticipated repair costs online or through many other sources and determine if there are repairs likely to reach levels at which buying the warranty or service contract might look attractive. Naturally you're going to get pitched on the highest level of coverage which obviously translate into the highest profit margins for the dealership/car company, but you at least get some time and information to evaluate.