Extended Warrenty???

I read this report concerning Best Buy extended warranties. The report claims that management puts so much pressure to push them, that sometimes salesmen will find an excuse (ex. 'not in stock') not to sell the item if the customer refues the ext. warranty.

As someone who has worked a lot of retail, it is apparant to me that they are sly rip offs. Getting a store to honor an extended warranty will surely be a challenge, and most likely, you won't even need it. You can't cheat an honest man. Have fun with your TV.

Although the standard answer is no, I think it is not so simple. Several years ago I purchased a laptop from someone who stuck me with a lemon. Fortunately for me it had an extended "transferable" warrentee. After two unsuccessful repairs the warrentee company decided to give me $1200 credit towards a new unit at a major retailer. I only paid $600 for the original computer so it was a real windfall. Consider the hourly cost of repairs plus parts and the cost of a warrentee can be a real bargain. It is also a major selling point if you sell. BTW I am still using the second laptop after two years and am typing this follow up on said machine !

Most Electronics are "bad" right out of the box if they are going to fail. Under these circumstances the manufacturer's warranty will cover it. Extended warranties should never be purchased.

I basically agree that most extended warranties are not worth buying. Most people NEVER use them and as such, they are "free" money aka "high profit" for the seller.

Having said that, some extended warranties are worth purchasing. I would recommend them for laptop computers. Big screens are also another one, but that is somewhat conditional. How long the warranty is, who performs the service, what you're recourse is if the unit can't be repaired correctly, has repeated problems of if the repair can't be done on a timely basis, etc... Since these devices DO go out of alignment from movement, vibration, etc... having it cleaned and calibrated once in a while can be a good thing. This is not to mention that if you are the poor soul that buys that "lemon", you'll be covered.

My sister bought a large Pioneer tv and it gave her nothing but headaches. Luckily, the extended warranty saved her as she had some very expensive modules go out after the factory warranty. This happened to her twice, so the warranty more than paid for itself.

I did buy the extended warranty on my Mitsu big screen. Although i have confidence that it is a well built product, i had very little to loose. The dealer that sold it to me offers a 75% store credit if you never take advantage of the warranty. As such, it will either pay for itself if i do have to use it or it will have cost me VERY few pennies per day for complete piece of mind. Given the fact that i like to shake the entire house when watching sci-fi movies, i'm sure that it could use re-aligment as we speak : ) Sean
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Kelly - its no assumption on my part. I guess the word "sanctioned" I used was inappropriate as these stores known as the Sony Store are owned and operated by Sony Canada and the staff are employed by Sony Canada. Do you not have these Sony Stores in the good ole US of A?