Hot or Not? Service plan from Bestbuy.

[Sepen]

BestBuy-My take on it. I bought a Rug Shampoo'er, cost me $324 and some change, got the 3 year extended warranty for another $59. It broke after 4 months. I took it back. They gave me a new one, BUT, the warranty is now void. It is not for 3 years, it is for if the unit breaks. So, I had to buy another 3 year warranty.

CircuitCity-I bought a Apex, yep, a cheapo DVD player for my daughter, $79 plus another $39 for the extended 3 year warranty. The drawer mechanism stopped working after 3 months, I took it back. They replaced it no questions asked. The 3 year warranty is still good on it, another 2 yrs 9 months left.

As far as the laptops are concerned, I think that the same rules would imply.

This isn't to put BB down, I luv em, sometimes. But the warranty is misleading.

 

[Nova13]

depends. I bought the warentee from best buy on an aptiva i had bought there (piece of crap imho) but my parents bought it for me as a gift. Got the warentee within 6 months it broke 3 times so it fell under the no lemon policy thingy. THey had to replace it and i shoudl have gotten the same value to pick out a new computer. Well i got to pick it this time so i used their creation station the sales rep was constantly trying to talk me out of using all my credit. he repeatedly told me i didn't need everything i ordered and tried to sell me a 700 dollar computer instead of the $1600 computer i had enough credit to buy (thats how much the aptiva costs my parents) so if your willing to go through all the hassle. (just to get them to follow their no lemon policy and not "fix it again" i had to argure for over 2 hours) The 3rd fix they did they never told me what was wrong i got it back plugged it in and it ran for 5 mins then froze and wouldn't boot up again. So i took it back and thats when i had to argure. Their service technicians needed to keep sending out my computer. If you want to make sure your getting a good deal i can only recommend building it yourself. Out of the 6 months i owned my computer it was only in my posesion maybe 3-4 months of that time. The rest was spent between best buy sending it back to IBM to fix it. Now im not trying to make4 best buy look bad or anything. i personally get some really great deals from them and the new HP we bought with the credit has been running wonderfully. It's just that you may want to consider how they handle their "sales pitches" if thats what you want to call them. before you dive into one.

 

[wakeboarder]

Sears was pretty strong with their pressure when I bought a DVD player for my sister for X-mas. I must have said no 10 times. The guy was non stop.

Guy:Are you sure?
Me:Yes!
G:What if it breaks?
Me:Why do you sell shoddy product?
G:No, but you can cancel anytime in the first year and you're money will be refunded.
Me:I won't remember to do that in 11.5 months.
G:Don't you keep files?
Me:Yeah, but it won't be at my place so I'll forget.
G:Don't you want to save your sister the hassle?
Me:What hassle?
G:When it breaks.
Me:I've never bought a warranty and never had any problems.
G:There is a first time for everything.
Me:No thanks.
G:It covers labor for the first 90 days and that's what is the most expensive. Parts are cheap.
Me:NO!
G:Why not take it if it's free?
Me:It's not free, you refund my money if I cancel it. If it breaks I'll just buy her a new one.
G:Like to throw your money away.
Me: No because I'm not buying you plan.
G:If you have money to buy a new one, why not put the $50 down as an insurance policy?
Me:It only cost $150. I wouldn't get $5000 a year insurance for a $15000 car. Besides my credit card doubles the manufacturers warranty.
G:Why not get this and have your credit card double this protection.

At this point he stopped asking because I told him a very loud way that their plan was crap and to just sell me the dvd player or go get his manager. The people around just starting laughing.

When I was checking out the DVD player it had no remote with the display model, so I asked him where the remote was and he told me it didn't come with one.

 

[bradolson]

Also be sure to read the hundreds of customer (and employee) horror stories on BestBuySux.org

Brad

 

[HalfFerengi]

Best Buy decides wether the computer manager stays or goes by the % of service plans sold on everything from printers to laptops. It also is the deciding factor on how large his bonus at the end of the year will be. Not that they are not decent service plans, but fear is the incentive for the employees to push them, they are fired if their % of service plans is too low in some stores.

You can choose to supprot this if you wish, but I, for one, would rather buy Toshiba or a manufacturer extention, which is probably better, for a couple extra bucks then support the tactics of BB corp.

If you can put up with the relentless pressure of buying a laptop from BB and them pushing the service plans down your throat, do it. It may indeed end up being a good deal, you just never know what they will "cover" or not.

 

[HUGEhead]

its a waste of money.. even when you do have something wrong with it.. they give you a hard time about returning it.. they always make me feel like i am tryin to scam them or something.. dont buy the warranty!

 

[MyBuds]

I worked for best buy for two years and have much experience with service plans.heres what you need to know

First of all there are replacement plans and service plans.

If an item has a replacement plan, you get a new one when it breaks. Replacement plans are generaly good if you remember to use it. Obviously you still need to take into consideration the price of the product compared to the plan, and the odds of it breaking within the two years of coverage.
One downside of the replacement plan. Usually when you use it, you have to buy another one to cover your new item.



If you have a service plan, many things can happen, and much of it does vary by store. Here are some definites. If an item with a service plan has a "Devo flag" it is sent back to the manufacturer when broken, and you get a new one similar to a replacement plan. These plans are good. Cell phones usually fall under this category. If an item does not have a "Devo flag" it is sent to best buy service, which is a hassle, because it can take months to get a product fixed.

Service plans without a devo flag have whats called a "no lemon policy." After an item is sent it 3 times, it is replaced with the same item, or a similary priced one.

One good thing about the service plan is you are garunteed the term of coverage, and you can return it at anytime at a pro-rated amount, as long as you havent used it.




I hope this information helps. Another bit of info- Try to make a friend of an employee and get him to buy service plans for you as employees pay a small fraction of the price regular customers pay.

 

[Lucky]

<<

<< Best Buy, knowing this, EXCLUDES physical damage from their coverage, making it essentially valueless to the consumer and a HUGE cash cow for the store... that is why they push them so hard. >>



Incorrect.

D.C. >>




incorrect what? what he said is true.

 

[armando416]

<< Best Buy decides wether the computer manager stays or goes by the % of service plans sold on everything from printers to laptops. It also is the deciding factor on how large his bonus at the end of the year will be. Not that they are not decent service plans, but fear is the incentive for the employees to push them, they are fired if their % of service plans is too low in some stores.

You can choose to supprot this if you wish, but I, for one, would rather buy Toshiba or a manufacturer extention, which is probably better, for a couple extra bucks then support the tactics of BB corp.

If you can put up with the relentless pressure of buying a laptop from BB and them pushing the service plans down your throat, do it. It may indeed end up being a good deal, you just never know what they will "cover" or not. >>



I definitely believe that. I was actually LIED to so that an employee could sell me a performance plan. I bought a $40 plan for an in-dash car CD player. The employee told me "this thing will cover EVERYTHING. If you break off a button, if the drive wears out, etc. This is great because one of the most common things that people need fixed is when a button or knob gets stuck or breaks off. A lot of times if you don't have this and you need it repaired you will actually have to buy a whole new player so you'll be saving lots of money...about the only thing that this plan doesn't cover is if the player gets struck by lightning (he did actually say this)."

It sounded good to me so I bought it. About 6 months later, I'm going through my papers and throwing some away, and I come across my Performance plan card and actually take the time to READ it (which you usually don't have time to do in the store, and I of course had no reason to suspect the guy would actually LIE to me). I find out that the stupid thing DOESN'T cover ANYTHING that will naturally wear out. It specifically stated that that would include knobs, buttons, basically anything that turns or spins. So I call the center to cancel my plan. I told them I was lied to which is fraud. What do they tell me? That they will gladly refund me on a pro-rated basis...which I am entitled to in the plan anyways, no matter what reason! They obviously didn't give a $h!t who lied to me, since it's probably standard procedure. Long story short, I contacted the BBB and Best Buy finally decides to give me a FULL refund.

SO WHAT EXACTLY DO THESE WARRANTIES COVER?! They don't cover accidental/physical damage. They don't cover stuff that wears out (or at least the car audio ones didn't...not sure about laptops and comps). What then?! This is one of the 3 major incidents I have had at Best Buy which have made me decide to try and rip THEM off at every opportunity. Like next week, I'm goin' on vacation, so I'm gonna "rent" a portable DVD player from them, and they can have it right back the day I return. I wouldn't even consider doing this to any other store. At least it'll give me something for the rests on the 19-hr drive.

 

[dp80]

dont buy those service plans. I've worked at both best buy and circuit city, especially CC I used to push those things like crazy, not for the customers benefit, just so I could make ridiculous commission. I honestly think the only thing those plans are worth it are for Projection TV's. A plan was $400 for four years but it really does pay for itself for the cleanings alone. When you buy a projection TV the guns must be aligned and cleaned yearly, which costs upwards of $100, which is something you must do. So it was worth it for those. But the hassles the company, especially CIRCUIT CITY, gives customers who try to bring the products back in are horrible. Something is going to fail within the manufacturers period if it is going to fail. Everything else will be due to negligence which these companies won't cover. Im surprised there arent lawsuits against these companies for employees falsely saying these plans will cover breakage (which I used to say just to get the sale). screw these big companies, this is how they make their profit.

 

[Aceman]

<< Best Buy decides wether the computer manager stays or goes by the % of service plans sold on everything from printers to laptops. It also is the deciding factor on how large his bonus at the end of the year will be. Not that they are not decent service plans, but fear is the incentive for the employees to push them, they are fired if their % of service plans is too low in some stores. >>



This is false or at the very least a stretch of the truth.

I've worked as a Best Buy Comp Sales for over 3 years. There is no Computer Mgr, there is a Computer Supervisor. Yes, Sales Mgrs do get a bonus from how well the store sells service plans. Never have I been threatened or seen another employee threatened or fired for not selling service plans. If they can't sell, they're moved to cashier or Media or Warehouse. Are they worth it? A lot of the times......YES. Many times NO! The laptop plan I believe is worth it as not too many people actually fix laptops like you do a desktop. If the item is DEVO (Ask the sales people if it is, they can look it up.), GET THE SERVICE! It will pay off. If you're only going to keep the product for a year or so before buying a new one, the warranty is not worth it. With computers these days, many people are just buying new ones every 12-18 months. As for being a computer salesman for 3+ years, these plans are easy to attach at a high percenntage, if you're honest with a customer and aren't overbearing.

Eample on the laptop:
A) I ALWAYS check if it's a DEVO product. This is the best of both worlds... for the customer and salesman
B) The battery........It's replaced within those 3 years for free. An a high % go out.
C) The screen might go out. If it does, you're screwed
D) If the hard drive goes out and the person isn't comfortable replacing it......Easy sell
E) Bring me a laptop with a hardware failure on my regular job with the Army and I don't even crack it open. I send it in for repairs. Too damn difficult to mess with!
F) CD-ROM/DVD ROM goes out. You just don't trott down to Best Buy and buy a replacement. Their usually proprietary
G) Video goes bad......You aren't just replacing a video card in them

Laptop PSPs are easy sells!

 

[uwannawhat]

I bought a Sony VAIO laptop a little over a year ago, I purchased the extended service plan along with it.

Well 3 months ago the AC power supply went out (I know this because I tried it with a "good" one and it works fine). So I took the AC cord along with my warranty to the service department and asked for a new one. They told me I needed to bring in my whole laptop & they would have to ship it to Colorado or Texas, I can't remember, and that it would take 2 to 3 months before I saw it again!

I'm sorry but this is unacceptable. I paid upwards of $300 for the SP and now they've got me by the ****'s.

I will never buy another service plan from them ever again. :|

 

[Rally1]

3ish years ago i got a $1600 Compaq Laptop, bought $100 service plan

a couple weeks ago I got a P4 1.13GHZ 512MB RAM DVD/CD-RW $1600 laptop to replace the first one that died, for free.

So I paid $1700 3 years ago, and I still have a $1600 laptop today, pretty good deal.

If you remember you have the plan, they can be worth it, esp. on something like a laptop that can't be fixed easily, I would not buy one on a desktop computer, as I can fix/replace almost anything on one of those.

 

[XFreebie]

so let me get this straight, if u buy the service plan, ur laptop will break?

 

[ieee]

You can also get a warranty from a 3rd party!!

VIKING WARRANTY

so if you warranty runs out in 1 month after using it for 11, just get a 2 year from the above...

 

[Jono182]

last time i was at best buy, the rep tried to sell me the $70 3 year sevice plan for my free (AR) cell phone. he claimed that since the battery was nickel cadmium and had a memory, it would degrade and i could use the service plan to replace my battery. when i got home, i took out the battery and found out it was actually nickel metal hydride! what a liar! luckily i didnt get the plan!

 

[Pardus]

I buy service plans from a 3rd party vendor only on real expensive items like a DishWasher or a Washer/Dryer. We recently bought a TV from BestBuy and 3 times they insisted i take a 5-year plan for $99.00.

If the TV dies in 2 years, your ahead of the game, but the odds of a tv, camera or even a laptop dying so quickly is rare.

BestBuy and others make there money from service plans, if your going to buy a 52" projection tv that your actually investing 1500 bux in, then yea get a service plan, but not from the store.

 

[beni]

<< This is one of the 3 major incidents I have had at Best Buy which have made me decide to try and rip THEM off at every opportunity. Like next week, I'm goin' on vacation, so I'm gonna "rent" a portable DVD player from them, and they can have it right back the day I return. I wouldn't even consider doing this to any other store. At least it'll give me something for the rests on the 19-hr drive. >>



LOL...I do that all the time. Not with anything that expensive, but if I need a NIC for a couple of days to do some testing or something, it's off to best buy. I give them enough of my legitimate business that I consider it a sort of compensation for what I have to deal with when I actually am there to buy (and keep) something.

 

[zippin44]

Here's an insurance plan for ya - Will save you time, money, and most of all, your sanity. Don't buy anything from those damn crooks at BB. I'm truly amazed how many people have horror stories from that place, yet it's packed every weekend with people who think they're getting good deals. If they can find a way to weasel out of their extended warrante, they will. And they do it often.

Best Buy sucks and so do their prices, plain and simple. They gouge you as much as they can. Stay away from that place, nothing but trouble!!!

 

[Ardeeell]

It's essentially expensive insurance.... which is based upon probability...so any input from expierienced persons is biased toward hardware failure...most people who bought insurance and never needed to use it would not post...my own opinion

 

[armando416]

<<

<< This is one of the 3 major incidents I have had at Best Buy which have made me decide to try and rip THEM off at every opportunity. Like next week, I'm goin' on vacation, so I'm gonna "rent" a portable DVD player from them, and they can have it right back the day I return. I wouldn't even consider doing this to any other store. At least it'll give me something for the rests on the 19-hr drive. >>



LOL...I do that all the time. Not with anything that expensive, but if I need a NIC for a couple of days to do some testing or something, it's off to best buy. I give them enough of my legitimate business that I consider it a sort of compensation for what I have to deal with when I actually am there to buy (and keep) something. >>



yeah, I kinda figured I wasn't the only one who does that. They deserve it as far as I'm concerned. I was also thinking about "renting" an Xbox for my younger brothers for a month so they can see if they like it. If they decide to actually buy it I'll tell them to get it from Target. The only problem is I don't know how hard it would be to return a game system. The portable DVD I know I'll have no problem with, I have a friend who has the exact same one I'll be getting, and the thing overheats like crazy. I read some reviews on the internet and it seems like they all do. So I got my excuse for that all ready.

Anyone here know where to get DVDs the cheapest? I know I can't return a DVD to Best Buy, so I'm just gonna buy maybe 6 or 7 of 'em somewhere else, and then sell them used on Ebay. Only idea I can think of. I can't rent them, because my trip is for 9 days, and blockbuster would probably charge me like $75 bucks in late fees for being 4 days late. I figured for that money I might as well buy the damn things. I need 'em soon though cause I leave in just a little over a week.

 

[fargopilot]

Yeah I was in a BB in Albuquerque and the sales guy was extremely high pressure in pushing the service plan. I was there with a friend who was buying a laptop and this guy was literally demanding to know why my friend was not going to get a service plan. Personally I would have just told him to forget the entire sale, since he was so pushy about it.

yes those stores make loads off of those warranties, most breaks happen within the warranty time, and a good part of those extended warranties are forgotten about.

Clue..If those are such a money maker for the stores, then its probably not in your favor to be getting them. And they act like they are doing you such a favor by offering it too. If you really want to have some kind of insurance for breakage, set aside whatever money it would cost for a warranty, and put it in an account and dont touch it.

Basically you are betting that it will break while you have it.

 

[XFreebie]

d00d, then just get ur computer, underclock it to 700mhz, stick a celeron decal on it and call it an xbox, oh and replace the video card with an nvidia one woth tv out and download an xbox emulator

sure beats ur idea of "renting it" what if someone else buys it?

 

[XFreebie]

remember, THEY get the good deals, cuz they wouldnt offer u that if they werent making bux off of it. therefore by default it cannot be worth it

 

[SLEEPER5555]

these cost them virtuallly nothing and they sell them for crazy amounts! they are hardly ever even used are are overpriced! If I were looking for a laptop right now i would go to costco, If one year down the road it breaks they will give me a full refund and i can get he latest model for that same price. No hastle and no extra warrantee needed and no overinflated prices!