Poll: Extended warranty on new TV?

[JohnT]

Sony 32" priced at $449 w/one-year warranty. Three-year extended is $55.

[dryicerx]

Extended warranties are legalized scams... specially the ones from brick-mortar stores like bestbuy/frys/etc. Read the fine print which usually nullifies all normal uses cases, plus warranties are only good against manufacturer defects (and if there are any, you would have figured that out in the first year or normal warranty period anyway).

Plus, check your credit card... most of them provide extended warranties at no cost anyways (amex is the big name in this, but lately visa/mastercard have been offering them as well).

[SCone]

If it's going to have a problem, it'll be in the first year... if you buy it with Amex or some others, you get another year... sometimes two.........

[JohnT]

Thanks. I have two Visa cards and will check to see if they offer anything.

[jeffro20]

I'm not a fan of such warranties but when I dropped $1400 for Mishibushi 46" HDTV LCD two years ago, I gave it some serious thought. Fry's wanted $179 for three years that covered most everything except dropping it or throwing a brick at it. OUCH, $179, you must be kidding!!! So glad my gut told me to do it.

18 months later two pencil thin dark lines were showing up on the screen near the east and west edges running from top to bottom.....very annoying.

I took a digital image of the screen, showed it to the service department at Frys and they said that was proof enough to send a technician to my house. Guy shows up a few days later with a brand new screen to put on my TV. Looks great again. Tech said without the warranty, the replacement would have been very expensive.

For once, a warranty paid off for me.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by jeffro20

I'm not a fan of such warranties but when I dropped $1400 for Mishibushi 46" HDTV LCD two years ago, I gave it some serious thought. Fry's wanted $179 for three years that covered most everything except dropping it or throwing a brick at it. OUCH, $179, you must be kidding!!! So glad my gut told me to do it.

18 months later two pencil thin dark lines were showing up on the screen near the east and west edges running from top to bottom.....very annoying.

I took a digital image of the screen, showed it to the service department at Frys and they said that was proof enough to send a technician to my house. Guy shows up a few days later with a brand new screen to put on my TV. Looks great again. Tech said without the warranty, the replacement would have been very expensive.

For once, a warranty paid off for me.

When I bought my $1300 40" Samsung 2-1/2 years ago, I opted for the warranty for $150. Haven't needed it yet, but I still have six months to go.

[Bill M]

I don't buy extended warranties. I have bought them on both big screens I have bought. The first paid for itself with the replacing of three bulbs. The second TV has not needed it yet. I hope I paid for nothing on it.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Don't get the warranty, it's a high margin item with lots of loopholes for the issuer.

[Lexie]

I purchased a Philip's LCD flat screen in December of 07. The screen is now black, but sounds great, thus leaving me with a 48" Flat Screen Radio!! I did not buy the extended warranty, but when the screen went black, I'd wished I had. THEN I looked back at the purchase date and realized the screen blacked out a week AFTER what the would be date of a 3 year extended warranty would have covered!! Go figure! I did contact a repair tech (a six hour drive there & back) & was told it would be $140.00 to just look at it! I think I'll just shop around for another TV.

[janikphoto]

The ext warrantees are just like gambling. Chances are that you'll lose your money (by not using it), but sometimes you get lucky (when it saves you from a repair bill). I don't gamble much, so I tend not to buy them. I figure all the money I save on NOT buying them will allow me to pay full price for a repair or two when eventually needed one day.

[ndsimm]

I agree with Jason - I've "gambled" a few times on them (mainly on small electronics for my son) and it has paid off with getting new replacements, but I have a 2002 Toshiba 42" big screen that I got a 3 year warranty on and it was only this year that I am having image problems with it. I had it looked at and to repair it, it would cost around $600-700 which would buy me a nice SMALLER 42" LCD

[Cajungaltx]

The price is dropping so fast on this particular item that I wouldn't buy one.... my husband gave me a new motherboard/cpu for Christmas and bought a 3 year warranty on them... which I thought was kind of hilarious cause I'll be replacing it in 2 probably... ;-) For the 'most' part - I don't do 'extended' warranties...I buy brands that have good reputations to avoid the issue entirely... I'll pay a little more for a brand with a solid reputation for that 'peace of mind'....

[JohnT]

Thanks for all the input and advice. 10 of 13 here suggest no warranty, and all but one of those queried on my FB list suggested no warranty. Sony is a reputable brand so I'm going to skip the warranty and hope for the best.

[jeffkohn]

Bottom line is that the retailers push these warranties so hard because they are extremely profitable to the retailers. Given that, it's hard to see how they can be a really good deal for customers. Sure some people will tell you they had an instance where the extended warranty paid off on a particular item, but how many times does it not pay off? Add up all the money you've spent on warranties versus the saving on that one time you got something replaced/repaired for free and you might see it's not such a good deal.

My approach is to never buy the extended warranty on anything (except possibly a car I know I'm going to be putting high mileage on). That way even if I do have an item where I'm out of pocket for a few hundred, I still come out way ahead because of my savings from not buying the extended warranty on everything.

[revjvegas]

like everyone else has already said...save your money; skip the extended warranty.