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Extended Warranties

SKIP EXTENDED WARRANTIES, CONSUMERS UNION URGES

Shoppers should sidestep extended warranty offers on electronics and appliances this holiday season, advises Consumers Union, the organization that publishes the magazine Consumer Reports.
Ref. https://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2006/11/1...r-warranty.html

Warranties Extended

I'd weigh up the cost of the extended warranty against the cost of a new product first. Sometimes it isn't worth while to pay a high price on top of the price that you've just paid for the product. I would probably pay up to 30% of the product value on an extended warranty, anything over this price then I think you might as well pay for either a new product or the repair price out of your own product.

The only exception to this would be if I bought a product and I had continual problems with it before its' guarantee ran out, then odds are that the product is always going to be breaking down, then under these circumstances a warranty in my opinion is necessary!

Extended Warranties Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

I have only purchased an extended warranty on one thing in my life. That has been a camcorder. Under the initial warranty, I had some mechanical problems with the camcorder and had to take it in. That was enough of a indicator to me that I needed the extended warranty. I was totally sold on the warranty when I asked how much the repairs would have been on the camcorder if it was not under warranty and they told me about 75 USD. Since the 3yr extended warranty was only 100 USD, I thought I had a good chance that my investment would not be a waste. Turns out that I took that camcorder in for repairs 5 times in the 3 years of the extended warranty.

Now I did have a car that I did not take the extended warranty on and had a problem 2 weeks after the manufacturers warranty expired. It was exactly 2 weeks to the day that the exit of my catalytic converter and the connecting exhaust pipe rusted through. My car sounded like a airplane when I was driving. The cost of the repairs was 600USD! Since I had been buying this companies cars all my life, I decided to write a letter explaining my situation (enclosed a copy of the repair bill) and that I was pretty disappointed that it appeared my car was falling apart within days of the manufacturer's warranty expiration and that I was concerned about the quality of the product that I spent such a large amount of money to buy. I asked them if it is intended that the cars functional life is over after the manufacturer's warranty expires, because I need to know this information for my "next" car. They didn't give me my money back, but 2 weeks later, I did get a certificate for free scheduled maintenance on the car (2 years worth) at one of their dealerships. It turns out that that was worth about 1000USD. So, even if you didn't get your extended warranty, it never hurts to write a letter!