Is it ever worth buying the Extended Warranty?

[Capt Caveman]

Will be buying a new front-loading washer/dryer set. Now, they'll be getting a lot of work. Would it be wise to spend $150 for a three year warranty on the washer? It's $250 for a five year warranty. The pricing is the same for the dryer.

 

[homercles337]

Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer. If you feel like tipping your salesman $150 then by all means do so, because that is what you are doing with the extended warranty.

 

[IronWing]

For a new frontloader, I would probably get the extended warranty, depending on what is covered. Too many friends have had problems with the new "super" washers. Does the extended warranty include in-home service? Replacement?

For a standard top loader w/o all the electronic controls I wouldn't bother with the extended warranty.

 

[FoBoT]

no, don't do it

 

[Superself]

Its a new washer/dryer right? So if it breaks down, shouldn't it have its own warranty which cover it?? If not, I'd drag the POS back to the store and won't leave until they give me a refund.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer. If you feel like tipping your salesman $150 then by all means do so, because that is what you are doing with the extended warranty.

no they arnt,

my rents got the extended warrenty when they had their new furnaceputin/fixed, they just had to have work done cause something buggered up, because of the warrenty they only paied 200$ for the part and saved the 1000$ or so on labor and such

 

[Xavier434]

For me, it would depend on how much they cost to begin with and what is covered. Otherwise, that same model or one of equal quality will probably cost much less to replace by the time the standard warranty runs out. That's the key that you need to consider when buying an extended warranty of any product. When you buy extended warranty, you are technically only insuring the cost of the same or equal product after the normal warranty expires sicne you could otherwise put that extra money into that older model instead. You got to compare prices of current older models to try and figure that out the best you can.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer. If you feel like tipping your salesman $150 then by all means do so, because that is what you are doing with the extended warranty.

WRONG!!!

My wife wants a washer that does not have a good track record. One of those large 4.5 non-agitatior stand up washers. It cost about $800-1100 for one and the circuit board alone is over $200. it goes out just once the warrenty pays for itself.



For a item that has a bad record or is very new SOMETIMES the ext. warrenty does work out. I rarely say anything but bad things about them but they do have their places if you know when and were to use. So saying "always a rip off" is far from the truth.



For the OP look at amazon, sears, epinions, etc... and see what real users have to say about them. If there are 90%+ good things them probable no. If a lot of bad things are posted and they are similar then maybe the 3 year will pay for itself.
I am looking at getting a new washer, dryer, fridge, stove, etc... and sears has the 20% off if you buy 3 or more. Am,d trying to see if they will pricematch AND give the 20% rebate.

 

[tyanni]

I think it depends on how handy you are. My parents relatively new dryer (about 1 year or so) started making a horrible noise recently. My dad was able to open it up and find a button stuck in between the tumbler and the outside wall of the dryer. IF you aren't comfortable opening up your appliances and doing a little work yourself, then an extended warranty might be worth it if it includes in home repair.

 

[Capt Caveman]

These LG units have a warranty of one year parts/labor. I think this is pretty standard for all large appliances.

Good/bad - these units have LED controls. So, I'm guessing if I ever had problems, it would be a small fortune to repair.

I would be buying the units from Sears, so their Master Protection Agreement covers everything (in home, 4 repairs in a year = full replacement). Though I have been hearing bad things about Sears repair services.

Has anyone ever had a problem with their washer/dryer and had to pay to get it repaired?

 

[KeithTalent]

I got an extended warranty on my router and it has paid off in spades.

It really depends on the item and the actual terms of the warranty.

KT

Edit: also got my mom the full, extended warranty on her laptop and it has paid off as well.

 

[steppinthrax]

Warranties are based on various statistics. They want to make a profit. They create a price based on how much they think it would cost (to repair) within that period and how much more can they charge to make a profit (on top of the profit they are making when you never use the warranty). If you study warranties you find them to be quite relative to the reliability of the product. Example, my boss got a warranty for his push mower (100 4 years onsite Lowes). Well, think of it this way when do you ever take you lawn mower out (once a season) afterwards it sits in the garage all day.

Then again I'm a real handy person and have taken apart and repaired almost everything so when something goes wrong with my laptop or LCD/Plasma TV I don't mind replacing the 20 dollar part v.s. paying 200 for a warranty. There are plenty of DIY guides on the net on replacing backlights.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: tyanni
I think it depends on how handy you are. My parents relatively new dryer (about 1 year or so) started making a horrible noise recently. My dad was able to open it up and find a button stuck in between the tumbler and the outside wall of the dryer. IF you aren't comfortable opening up your appliances and doing a little work yourself, then an extended warranty might be worth it if it includes in home repair.

I'm handy with mechanical stuff but not electrical. In my first home, I repaired the igniter unit on 15 year old gas dryer. The part itself was like $70 so I definitely saved myself on the labor.

 

[venkman]

They are a great idea on Xbox 360s. Heck, they are such a great idea that Gamestop stopped selling them.

PS. I remember back on the 360s launch day, there was a cell phone video about a BB employee really pushing the warranty on a customer. Everyone berated him as a jerk or another BB jacka** for telling the customer that their demo units kept breaking due to overheating and it turns out he was RIGHT.

 

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer.

unless you're buying something made by sony... then it's a necessity

on topic:
when i moved into my new place 3 years ago, i bought a washer and dryer. nothing fancy just a couple of ropers that i bought at fry's. i caught them on an ad and i paid less than $400 for the pair including delivery. i've had no issues with them at all so far.

however, i'm just a single guy living in my own place so i only have to do a couple of loads a week. if i had a family, i probably would have bought a better brand instead of taking the gamble

 

[Deeko]

Sometimes, but it's a gamble.

I've had it on two different receivers - a fairly low end ($250) Sony, and a pretty good Harmon Kardon ($700). BOTH of them died 3 times, giving me a refund and allowing me to get a brand new receiver. Not only did it save me from getting screwed - apparently I have bad luck with choosing receiver models or something - but because the warranty gave me what I paid, a few years later I got a better receiver for the same money. It was pretty cheap in both cases, too.

Now, buying a $250 warranty on a $700 desktop computer? Yea, probably a waste of money.

It all depends. I don't know enough about washers to give you advice there, though.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer. If you feel like tipping your salesman $150 then by all means do so, because that is what you are doing with the extended warranty.

WRONG!!!

My wife wants a washer that does not have a good track record. One of those large 4.5 non-agitatior stand up washers. It cost about $800-1100 for one and the circuit board alone is over $200. it goes out just once the warrenty pays for itself.



For a item that has a bad record or is very new SOMETIMES the ext. warrenty does work out. I rarely say anything but bad things about them but they do have their places if you know when and were to use. So saying "always a rip off" is far from the truth.



For the OP look at amazon, sears, epinions, etc... and see what real users have to say about them. If there are 90%+ good things them probable no. If a lot of bad things are posted and they are similar then maybe the 3 year will pay for itself.
I am looking at getting a new washer, dryer, fridge, stove, etc... and sears has the 20% off if you buy 3 or more. Am,d trying to see if they will pricematch AND give the 20% rebate.

Instead of buying a warranty for products that you know suck, just don't buy the crappy product.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer.

unless you're buying something made by sony... then it's a necessity

on topic:
when i moved into my new place 3 years ago, i bought a washer and dryer. nothing fancy just a couple of ropers that i bought at fry's. i caught them on an ad and i paid less than $400 for the pair including delivery. i've had no issues with them at all so far.

however, i'm just a single guy living in my own place so i only have to do a couple of loads a week. if i had a family, i probably would have bought a better brand instead of taking the gamble

Actually I have found that the cheap models hold up better as there is less to break and they make so many that parts are a standard item, not something just made for it. So a ext warrent on something like that would be junk IMO based on what you paid % compared to the price of warrenty.

Thats why I will get the ext. warrenty on the washer my wife wants.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975

Originally posted by: homercles337
Extended warranties are *always* a rip off for the consumer. If you feel like tipping your salesman $150 then by all means do so, because that is what you are doing with the extended warranty.

WRONG!!!

My wife wants a washer that does not have a good track record. One of those large 4.5 non-agitatior stand up washers. It cost about $800-1100 for one and the circuit board alone is over $200. it goes out just once the warrenty pays for itself.

For a item that has a bad record or is very new SOMETIMES the ext. warrenty does work out. I rarely say anything but bad things about them but they do have their places if you know when and were to use. So saying "always a rip off" is far from the truth.

Then how about 'its a tax for people who are bad at math' which is closer to the truth. Or its a forced savings plan. The truth is if he put the $500 the warranties are going to cost into savings along with the warranty prices of other products he buys, even with an average failure rate (and assuming money from savings pays for replacements or repairs) he'll come out ahead saving.

The one sometime exception to this rule is home warranties where multiple appliances are covered, depending on how many you have these can be a good deal as they are MUCH less per device covered than what he's getting from the retailer.

For the OP look at amazon, sears, epinions, etc... and see what real users have to say about them. If there are 90%+ good things them probable no. If a lot of bad things are posted and they are similar then maybe the 3 year will pay for itself.
I am looking at getting a new washer, dryer, fridge, stove, etc... and sears has the 20% off if you buy 3 or more. Am,d trying to see if they will pricematch AND give the 20% rebate.

If there is a lot of bad and it's similar, maybe he'd be better off buying a brand without those issues.

Bill

 

[Capt Caveman]

Marlin - that's what I'm doing. I'm pricematching against Home Depot to get $110 off each appliance and then getting the extra 15% off and free delivery.

And yes they will give you both. On Black Friday, I price matched a LCD TV and got a 10% cash back mail in rebate(same as the current appliance rebate). I just got an email from Sears yesterday that my rebate was approved and being processed.

edit - the reviews/ratings on the product have been very good compared to other brands. However, these models haven't been around that long so long-term, it's hard to tell of their reliability.

 

[Descartes]

Obviously opinions will differ based on individual experiences, but I think if you took a poll you'd probably see that the overwhelming majority of extended warranties go unexercised. After all, if that weren't the case, they wouldn't be offering them; they don't do it for consumer charity.

In expensive mechanical assets, it might be worth it, especially if there are moving parts (e.g. washers). I don't worry so much about solid-state things, and quite honestly I haven't had a single problem with anything from televisions to an iPod in over a decade.

 

[BoomerD]

We've always felt like we got the value from extended warranties. Does the equipment always break down during that period? Nope, but when it does, the repair cost usually exceeds the warranty cost, so I guess it's a gamble...
We've had 2 Kenmore washing machines with extended warranties. The Sears plans allow you to have an annual "tune-up" at no charge. They may not do much except look at the machine, run a couple of tests, and call it good, OR, they may find a problem that hasn't actually caused a break-down yet.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Marlin - that's what I'm doing. I'm pricematching against Home Depot to get $110 off each appliance and then getting the extra 15% off and free delivery.

And yes they will give you both. On Black Friday, I price matched a LCD TV and got a 10% cash back mail in rebate(same as the current appliance rebate). I just got an email from Sears yesterday that my rebate was approved and being processed.

edit - the reviews/ratings on the product have been very good compared to other brands. However, these models haven't been around that long so long-term, it's hard to tell of their reliability.

Check out bestbuy as well depending on your model. I foudn the fridge at BB cheaper so i will use them to pricematch.

Also the free shipping is ONLY if you pay with a sears card. the rebate is for any payment.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Does the equipment always break down during that period? Nope, but when it does, the repair cost usually exceeds the warranty cost, so I guess it's a gamble...

Yes, and if you put aside the cost of warranties for everything you bought you'd have the cache to pay for that repair and the profit that you would have paid for the plan in your pocket and not there's. The only reason these are popular is people dont actually put the money they would have saved into savings, they spend it. So, when there is a problem, it becomes a cash crunch for them.

Bill

 

[GoPackGo]

my gas company offers an in home service plan to cover all of my appliances.

my furnace / ac is old and its paid for it over and over.

fridge is 10 years old, had a gasket replaced.

stove, washer / dryer newer, still covered but never had a problem yet.

its cheap insurance at 300 bucks a year. One middle of the night furnace call saves me twice that.