Hey All,
Another lesson learned! Over the last few years, I have begun purchasing warranties on just about everything I was buying at Best Buy. I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of electronics, both large and small. With some of the smaller items, like cordless phones and the like, I would pass on the warranties, but when it came time to but the 50" plasma, or the Yamaha sound system, the JBL speakers and those big ticket items, I did buy the warranty. I figured it had to be worth it on those items that I wouldn't classify as "disposable."
Well, the one items that I misclassified was my Sony digital camera. A $400 camera that took incredible pictures. I did buy the warranty on that item thinking that plenty could happen to it and the warranty would come in handy.
Let me tell you about warranties and what I thought they were. Years ago, I worked for a large local (Maryland) chain electronics store. We sold warranties too. However, our warranties were handled differently: if we couldn't fix the large item, we'd replace it and on smaller items, we'd just do an over the counter exchange or exchange it for a similar model if the original was no longer available. So let's get back to my recent experience.
I dropped my Sony camera on a wooden deck. It bent the casing a bit, which in turn also caused the plastic center seal around the perimeter of the camera to be popped open and in turn caused the pictures to turn out blurry. Not a good sign. I took it back to Best Buy and had it reset to the manufacturer's original spec's and then took it home again but encountered the same blurry pictures. Their quick fix didn't work. I brought it back and they advised me to ship it out to have it repaired. It seemed that the warranty I purchased covered basically everything, even dropping it! So, it gets sent out and is gone for close to a month. Keep in mind, not only have I had blurry pictures for the last few months and special occasions but I now have no camera for the next 30 days. I get the camera back and it looks exactly the same, although it has been "repaired." The case is still bent, the plastic strap that surrounds the seam is still popped up and allowing light in between the seam, and now it's missing one of those tiny screws that keeps the housing together. Oh, and I can't tell what was done since the paperwork doesn't tell me (although the Geeks website tells me that they had to wait a week for parts) and it wonderfully (sarcastic) still takes blurry pictures.
Well, Geeks has already told me that it takes FOUR returns back to service before I can get credit for another camera. Three more times, which means three more months throughout the year with no pictures. In my opinion, this isn't worth the hassle!
So, I will probably go and buy the latest and greatest Sony digital compact camera. The one I have, used to take awesome pictures and I will once again have that opportunity, but not because of the extended warranty and I'm not going to buy it this time.
So, the moral of the story is: Buy the warranty on things that you won't be able to replace because of the expense, but if it's something that you can't be without or something that you can classify as "financially disposable", skip the warranty and go to dinner; the dinner will be a much more memorable experience.
Vito
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@BBYCameraGuy