- Oct 30, 1999
- 11,815
- 104
- 106
When my baby was born, I bought the Sharper Image baby monitor. No doubt it was the best on the market. Where other monitors were black and white tubes, this was a color LCD. It was also more portable than all of the others.
Unfortunately, it died soon after I bought it. It would work on battery power, but not with the AC adapter. I bought another AC Adapter and it still didn't work, so I returned the monitor and got another. After about 10 months, the new one died in the same manner. Once again I took it back to Sharper Image and they exchanged it, but I don't get a new one year warranty with each exchange, so this new one would be out of warranty in a few weeks. I bought a service plan for it for $50. Cheaper than a new baby monitor, right?
Another 10 months later, this third one died too. And in the exact same way as the first two! I went back to Sharper Image to exchange it using my service plan, but they told me they were out of them and would only be able to give me a refurbished one in exchange. I didn't want a refurbished one as a replacement. I expected a new one.
The other option was a store credit for the full purchase amount of the monitor. A whole $269, which isn't so bad considering I bought it almost two years ago, but I would lose the money I invested in the service plan. I thought about it and decided that if it wasn't for the service plan, I'd be screwed now anyways! Count my blessings.
I told them I'd take the store credit, they gave me a gift card and I left.
When I got home, I wen't to Sharper Image's website and found the monitor there for only $107 refurbed! That's cheaper than all of the black and white CRT versions that are out there and it still had a 1 year warranty! I was happy and pissed off the same time.
I was pissed off because they jack-leg at the store was going to give me one of these refurbs "even Steven" when I paid more than twice as much for it in the first place. The only benefit is I would still have my service plan (which still had more than 2 years on it.)
But by using the gift card on-line, I can get the refurb monitor with a one-year warranty (only shorting me by a little more than a year from what I had on my service contract) and if I'm lucky and it dies too, it dies the same way as the others and I can still use batteries. I can then use the other $162 on other stuff. Ionic Breeze, anyone?
On the other hand, I thought about storming back into the store, pointing out that the refurb cost $162 less than what I paid and that if that was the only way to get mine replaced, demand to get a credit for the difference and keep my service contract active.
Any thoughts?
Unfortunately, it died soon after I bought it. It would work on battery power, but not with the AC adapter. I bought another AC Adapter and it still didn't work, so I returned the monitor and got another. After about 10 months, the new one died in the same manner. Once again I took it back to Sharper Image and they exchanged it, but I don't get a new one year warranty with each exchange, so this new one would be out of warranty in a few weeks. I bought a service plan for it for $50. Cheaper than a new baby monitor, right?
Another 10 months later, this third one died too. And in the exact same way as the first two! I went back to Sharper Image to exchange it using my service plan, but they told me they were out of them and would only be able to give me a refurbished one in exchange. I didn't want a refurbished one as a replacement. I expected a new one.
The other option was a store credit for the full purchase amount of the monitor. A whole $269, which isn't so bad considering I bought it almost two years ago, but I would lose the money I invested in the service plan. I thought about it and decided that if it wasn't for the service plan, I'd be screwed now anyways! Count my blessings.
I told them I'd take the store credit, they gave me a gift card and I left.
When I got home, I wen't to Sharper Image's website and found the monitor there for only $107 refurbed! That's cheaper than all of the black and white CRT versions that are out there and it still had a 1 year warranty! I was happy and pissed off the same time.
I was pissed off because they jack-leg at the store was going to give me one of these refurbs "even Steven" when I paid more than twice as much for it in the first place. The only benefit is I would still have my service plan (which still had more than 2 years on it.)
But by using the gift card on-line, I can get the refurb monitor with a one-year warranty (only shorting me by a little more than a year from what I had on my service contract) and if I'm lucky and it dies too, it dies the same way as the others and I can still use batteries. I can then use the other $162 on other stuff. Ionic Breeze, anyone?
On the other hand, I thought about storming back into the store, pointing out that the refurb cost $162 less than what I paid and that if that was the only way to get mine replaced, demand to get a credit for the difference and keep my service contract active.
Any thoughts?