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Do You Buy Extended Warranties?
Stackdump asks: "I am a college student (senior seeking CS BS). I work partime at Best Buy selling computers (arg!). To be truthful I don't really sell computers; I sell what we call 'performance service plans' or PSP's for short. This is the somewhat gimmicky name given to Best Buy's extended warranties. To be fair they do actually provide some service in the store, swapping HDs, CDROMs, and so forth, but most of the hardcore repairs are done elsewhere or by the manufacturer. Prices range from $99 on the cheapest tower to $249 on laptops over $1000. Terms of service are pretty simple everything is covered against power surge, dust contamination, whatever... BUT abuse is not covered: so slam a pencil in your laptop and say byebye, but fry your computer because you don't have a surge protector and you can get a new one. As this is the central pre-occupation of my work day I ask the Slashdot community this: do you feel these warranties are really worth the money?"
After working a full 10 days at Best Buy in the same position (and quitting in disgust at how it was to work there), I can proudly say that we did not, in fact, get any sort of commission for those asinine service plans. Actually, it seemed my employment was dependent on selling them, but there were no obvious positive insentives for me to sell them whatsoever. I don't know if the policy has changed, but we were required to say something like, "I'll be honest with you since I don't get commission from these sales."
I would also like to take this opportunity to say that my 'boss' there, Justin who was 4 years younger than me and knew next to nothing about computers except that '3dfx rocks, dude', was a dick. Hi Justin!
I almost bought one on a digital camcorder, particularly because the saleskid said it would be covered if it got dropped, got wet, etc. But when I read the policy before checking out, almost everything he said was wrong. Almost nothing was covered. Now I never buy them.
I have had my cell phone "break" about 5 times now over 2 years to get a full replacement each time.
Also these things will cover your laptop battery for years. Consider the cost of a replacement battery (for most laptops this is the same as the cost of the PSP) its an insanely great deal.
Over all, I figure I have cost BestBuy about twice as much as they ever paid me :) Would I buy anything from them with one of these deals without the discount? Hell No!
I purchased one on a few things... sometimes, if you use them, they make sense.
For example, I purchased a handspring visor prism and paid 80$ for a warranty. 1.5 years later, the battery ceased holding a charge. I took it back to my local best buy, and they took it back, and gave me credit for 450$ towards a new handheld. When i picked the sony clie 615c, they rang it up as 450$ instead of 350$, so that I would have the full amount of credit if it ever went bad. I havent had to use that yet, but wouldnt hesitate if i had a problem. It was a completely painless experience.
In fact, it prompted me to spend the money on a plan for my digital camera, because it also covers the batteries and such. So in a year, when the 100$ battery stops charging fully, i can just swap for a new one... all because of a $30 up front plan.
In some cases it doesnt make sense. But in the case of smaller things where some essential component cant be cheaply replaced (i.e. batteries in pdas, digitizers, lenses, etc) it makes a ton of sense... and if you ever need it, they essentially throw in an upgrade for free.
Not a bad deal really.