What's really the point of registering products?

[archcommus]

I've never seen a manufacturer that REQUIRES you register your product online to ever obtain warranty service if you need it. So what's really the point in even doing it?

 

[NFS4]

Sometimes they force you to register online to qualify with a rebate. Also makes warranty work easier to handle, but I can't remember when the last time was that I had to send an electronic device off for warranty repair

 

[Steve]

Some maker's policies are that you bought the item and they got your money, that is they don't want to support products you bought secondhand or on eBay.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Full technical support? I dunno. Maybe we don't know what we're missing because we never register. And if we ever did register it'd be like "OMFG support actually helped me!" or something. I dunno, I'm grasping at straws here.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Some products don't give you the full warranty unless you register, though to be legal about it they phrase this as a free extension to their basic warranty.

The keytronics "lifetime warranty" keyboard that died on me last year had in the warranty fine print that it was only "increased" to lifetime if you mailed in the warranty card within 30 days, which I hadn't. d'oh!

 

[archcommus]

I've never registered products, even expensive ones like my monitor, video card, etc. Just wondering if I should've been all this time.

 

[Yossarian]

the point is to give the manufacturer a free list of people to market to in the future.

 

[archcommus]

So you pretty much never have to with the big brands like Samsung, ATI, AMD, etc?

 

[tami]

when you need repair, it's good to know that you had previously registered your product with the company. that's not to say that it's always ideal to register your product as soon as you get it, though. i know i registered a palm iiie way back in the day almost immediately after purchase -- and the screen cracked shortly after the "warranty" (based on when i mailed in my registration card) expired. that was frustrating. it would have cost $100 to fix, whereby i could have bought a newer and better version for about $25 more.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: archcommus
I've never seen a manufacturer that REQUIRES you register your product online to ever obtain warranty service if you need it. So what's really the point in even doing it?

I usually don't register but in 2000 I registered my Sharp 27" TV. Earlier this year there was a recall on my TV to replace the power switch.

Sharp contacted me and a technician came and replaced the switch.

The TV cost $250. The technician said that Sharp was paying his company $90 to replace the switch.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: jadinolf

Originally posted by: archcommus
I've never seen a manufacturer that REQUIRES you register your product online to ever obtain warranty service if you need it. So what's really the point in even doing it?

I usually don't register but in 2000 I registered my Sharp 27" TV. Earlier this year there was a recall on my TV to replace the power switch.

Sharp contacted me and a technician came and replaced the switch.

The TV cost $250. The technician said that Sharp was paying his company $90 to replace the switch.

Yeah, that reminds me. I had a Belkin Bluetooth GPS unit for my car that I used in conjunction with my iPAQ. I registered it with Belkin.

Then last month, I received a battery in a box. I was like, WTF is this crap? I read the note enclosed and it was a note from Belkin saying that the original battery in the GPS unit was deemed defective and they were mailing out replacements to registered users. Too bad I had already sold the unit about 6 months earlier :laugh:

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: jadinolf

Originally posted by: archcommus
I've never seen a manufacturer that REQUIRES you register your product online to ever obtain warranty service if you need it. So what's really the point in even doing it?

I usually don't register but in 2000 I registered my Sharp 27" TV. Earlier this year there was a recall on my TV to replace the power switch.

Sharp contacted me and a technician came and replaced the switch.

The TV cost $250. The technician said that Sharp was paying his company $90 to replace the switch.

Yeah, that reminds me. I had a Belkin Bluetooth GPS unit for my car that I used in conjunction with my iPAQ. I registered it with Belkin.

Then last month, I received a battery in a box. I was like, WTF is this crap? I read the note enclosed and it was a note from Belkin saying that the original battery in the GPS unit was deemed defective and they were mailing out replacements to registered users. Too bad I had already sold the unit about 6 months earlier :laugh:

See? See?

 

[archcommus]

So I guess it should be done. Any disadvantages?

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: archcommus
So I guess it should be done. Any disadvantages?

Maybe spam, but just use a gmail account or some other accout with good spam protection