Are extended warranties necessary on plasmas?

Dawgbyte,you are right .Do not worry for the next at least 3 years.
BTW,if plasma is only $500,who needs warranty!

Thank you Pescolar. I'll give everyone an example of the value of an extended warranty. I purchased a computer several years ago from an unmentioned PC manufacturer. Within months I had to replace the internal CPU fan twice and the hard drive once. The following year another hard drive failure and another fan replaced. Last summer another hard drive failure. Okay, enough is enough... my extended warranty identified me as a "Platinum level" customer. After this failure the computer company sent me a "refurbished" computer - in reality it was their top of the line computer with the faster processor Intel makes, an additional DVD drive and upgrades across the board.

Are extended warranties a resellers best friend? Yes indeed, but when the value of the object your purchasing is higher than the cost of the insurance to fix or replace the item, then I believe it's something to seriously consider. As was just pointed out by Pescolar - does it make sense to purchase a $250 extended warranty on a $500? I doubt it.

Do I regret purchasing the extended warranty on my plasma? Nope!

I personally know a CC serviceman who works on these TV's evey day... he advises that the extended warranty on these units makes a lot of sense; these things fail constantly and are typically very expensive to repair. Most of the customers he deals with do have the extended warranty and are glad that they do.

The original question had to do with $500.00 value of the extended warranty. First, I don't think I would buy a plasma that did not already come with a one-year warranty. This speaks to the confidance the manufacturer has in their own product. Second, when something does go wrong, can it be repaired for less than $500.00? Why buy a warrenty that costs more than the repair.

For more on this subject, try www.avsforum.com

Go to this site especially when deciding on a particular model. The NEC and Panasonic threads are great reads.

LIke anything else in life, you take's yer chances! Me, haveing sold, hundreds, maybe even thousands of extended warranties over the years in retail sales, I don't think most of these things end up panning out in the big scheme of things. Your odds are that you're fine. So, I think "why buy" to a loosing propossition, odds-wise? Being the gambling man I am, I prefer to go with the odds, as does Vegas. That's just me. However, a deal's a deal. And if you opt to pay $500 more on something, so you can sleep better at night, then so be it.
Nowadays, if it were my money, and I bought a $4k plasma, er whatever, and the darn thing took a bath 2 years latter, I'd first try to talk to the manufacture and try to reason with them, and see what they'd do.
What I've found is that many of the manufacturers have a warranty, like any other, to simply protect themselves legally. However, many good companies will go very much above and beyond the warranty to satisfy their customers, their reputation, and business, by taking care of you! I've had many products over the years fixed by manufacturers well beyond the warranty expiration date, personally. YOu just gotta talk to them.
However, if that doesn't work, you can always resort to putting "pressure" on them, telling them you'll raise a stink on the internet, and that you've lots of influence on the buying public, and will spread their bad reputation around, or that you've been buying their products for year,s and you and your family/friends will never buy thier products again, etc, etc. Usually, it doesn't get to this. However, some will make you pay in the end. Still, I like my chances! I'll pass on most of the warranty situations.
HOWEVER,some of the products out there offer "replacement warranties. You can DEFINITELY work these to your advantage when they're about to expire!!! You can simply "make the products fail", right before warranty expires, and then get the new/improved current technology replacement! I know, I know,...it's a bit underhanded. However, who here has never, a time or two, worked the system?! (lol) Heck, the employees of these AV chain stores used to do this kind of manuever with their "emplyee purchases" when they purchased a warranty on something, and something NEW AND IMPROVED WAS was coming down the pike!
Whatever. Anyway, the fact that they manke money overall on these things means you're THROWING AWAY MONEY! You gotta know you'll likely never use the warranty, and that you're money is going "bye bye!!!" I prefer to take my changes, save the money (time is money after all), and buy something else with the money saved.
Usually products are going to fail pretty quickly anyhow, if they are at all...