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Should I get an extended warranty?

A

Alex C

Senior member
I ordered a Sansa E280 from Tiger Direct a few days ago for $50. I've heard Sansa doesn't do the refurbishing or warranty refurbished items, but the price and storage capacity were just right for me so I thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I received it yesterday and after a few hours it froze up and wouldn't restart after I turned it on, I googled around a bit and found that tends to happen if you drop it. Now I know why it was refurbished. It looked easy enough to fix (you just open it up and push a part back into place) but I decided to return it to TR for another one anyway (I'm hoping to get a V2). TR's warranty ends after 90 days, but they offer 1 and 2 year replacement and accidental damage plans for $15 and $18. I'm usually pretty careful with my stuff, I've had my previous mp3 player for over five years (a 1 gig sansa model) and haven't had any issues, and I don't usually buy warranties. I kind of feel like the 90 days TR covers should be long enough to discover if there are any defects and have it taken care of, but at the same time it would suck to have this thing die on me after 3 months. What do you guys think I should do? I'd also be interested in hearing your opinions on extended warranties in general, do you ever use them, are there certain products that warrant them, etc. Thanks.

-Alex
 
Extended warranties are generally a waste of money. In this case particularly, 30% of the product price is crazy to pay. Just use until it breaks and get something better. For FYI Sandisk doesn't have a really have a refurb program. That is why all servicing is done by the reseller on them, they don't want anything to do with them. I am more of a fan for refurbs than your average Joe but I wouldn't touch a refurbed Sansa.
 
Extended warrantiss are very profitable for the seller. They are therefore losers for the buyer. For $50? How much would that be? Put the $15 aside. After 90 days or whatever, add another $15. You are then covering the value iof your Sansa. If it lasts a year, you have paid for a new one. If it is still running, - go out to dinner and enjoy. 🙂
 
One of the best things about the E series Sansa is that you can use Rockbox on them (rockbox.org) which makes them into much better players. I'm sure it also voids any warranty.

Extended warranty is almost never a good buy. Maybe if it is very cheap, and the item is an expensive item (big plasma TV or something) it might be helpful, but even then you are not likely to see a benefit.
 
I never get the extended warranty. I considered it when I bought my TV but then I figured if it breaks after the regular 1 year warranty is up I could probably re-buy the same TV for the price of the extended warranty. For a $50 mp3 player, I wouldn't even think about it.
 
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