Are Service Plans really neccessary?

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riggs58

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 8, 2003
Messages
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I just ordered a Toshiba 42" LCD TV (42HL167) at Circuit City by phone. The operator was really trying to sell me on a 3yr service plan for $339.00. He sounded so persuasive I almost gave in but said I wanted to think about it, and may buy it later on. What I want to know is, do service plans provide a good value for an LCD and should really be considered a requirement. I always heard the lifespan of an LCD is very good, and if it lives outside its limited warranty, it should live a happy and trouble-free life.

I've never purchased extended warranties on any of my 3 CRT's and have never had any trouble with them.
 
According to my General Manager, who was a previous GM at Circuit City...

DO NOT BUY A PLAN FROM THEM.

Period.

Reasons? All I know is that they try to get out of it as much as possible.

Same with Best Buy unfortunately.

Although Staples has an excellent plan, they don't sell many TVs :(
 
Service plans are a rip-off for all electronics. They're damn near pure profit for the seller; the likelihood of your product breaking outside of the manufacturer's warranty but inside the Circuit City one is too low for what they charge. And yes, they do make you go through the manufacturer for service if that warranty is still active.

Think of it this way: you're buying a $1600 lcd with a one year warranty and spending $340 for coverage in years 2 and 3. So you're betting that there's a higher than 1/5 chance that catastrophic failure which requires complete replacement of your LCD will occur in the second or third year of ownership. Not only that, but LCDs plummet in price, so let's say a replacement in two years is $1200. So now you're betting there's a better than 1/4 chance that you'll need to completely replace your LCD in those two years. Now take into account the time value of money, and your bet is even worse.

So no, don't buy the warranty. Or if you think that the risk of catastrophic failure is that high, don't buy the TV because it's a piece.
 
Manufacturer's warranty is good enough. When your display is outside of the manufacturer's warranty, you'd probably rather get a new display if it breaks. Your display's value will have dropped considerably by that point anyway.
 
Yep. Circuit City/BB/CompUSA all suck in their warranties. They just try to fix it for you and they do a crappy job at that.

Staples (I know it feels like im promoting it...but damn its stupid good) ANY reason at all, within the time you bought your warranty, just bring the product back to the store (no box needed) and we give you store credit for the price you paid the time you left.

We don't fucken tell you to use the manufactures warranty, why the fuck would you buy our warranty in the first place? Stupid Circuit City.

Its an awsome upgrade program as well. If you buy a laptop and in 2 years you dont like it/you toss it off a building/take a sledgehammer to it/whatever, bring it back and you get your money back in store credit toward a new laptop. How fucken sweet is that? Does anyone else do that? Fuck no.

Unless their plan reflects that, don't bother with anything else.
 
I'll buy the service plan if it is priced reasonable.
I paid $20 for a 2 year warranty on one of my CRT's and 1.5 years later it was looking slightly dull and out of focus, compared to my other identical screen, took it best buy and they gave me my purchase price of the monitor back and I went with some LCD's.

Way back in the early 90's I bought a high dollar JVC S-VHS (HR-S6700U) deck from Circuit City (I think it was $790 on sale) and I used the crap out of it, usually 8 hours a day of use almost every day since I recorded all of the show I was watching and then would watch them later at night to fast forward through the commercials. I was paying $30 every year for an extra year of warranty which included a thorough head and internal cleaning and fixing anything wrong with it. I have over $700 in receipts from warranty work performed over 6 years (labor, replacement drum/head, rollers and guides, power supply, switches, and some other parts) which only costed me $180 over those 6 years.
I no longer use the VCR as I stopped using tapes and the machines internals are so worn out, but I am saving it since it was my dream VCR.

I also bought the warranty for car speakers when I used to buy them new since they would replace them on the spot if they blew.
 
I bought a 40" 1080p from Best Buy...thank God I got the service plan, when I found one blue pixel, they shipped me a brand new TV. No cost to me. If I hadn't gotten the plan, I would have had to have 7 or more dead pixels within one inch of each other to get it replaced. I would have been PISSED. Anyone that doesn't believe, just ask and I'll scan the recipt from the replacement for you. I'm getting that framed.
 
JBavousett said:
I bought a 40" 1080p from Best Buy...thank God I got the service plan, when I found one blue pixel, they shipped me a brand new TV. No cost to me. If I hadn't gotten the plan, I would have had to have 7 or more dead pixels within one inch of each other to get it replaced. I would have been PISSED. Anyone that doesn't believe, just ask and I'll scan the recipt from the replacement for you. I'm getting that framed.
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Thanks for the replys everyone.

Not sure about BB, but Circuit City has 30-day no-questions-asked return policy. So, if you had a few dead pixels, you could either exchange it or get your money back. Open box doesn't matter.
 
339 bucks for a service plan, now that's retarded... if you do end up getting that make sure to sabotage your LCD to utilize that ridiculous plan.

Everytime i turn down their plans like that they seem to surprised and offended. They go through this whole speal about it and I'm just like... ummmm.. no.
 
yaric said:
339 bucks for a service plan, now that's retarded... if you do end up getting that make sure to sabotage your LCD to utilize that ridiculous plan.

Everytime i turn down their plans like that they seem to surprised and offended. They go through this whole speal about it and I'm just like... ummmm.. no.
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lol - that's funny, I got the same reaction when I declined. He kind of made feel like I was a bit dense for not getting it. I got the impression that potentially, he's getting more out of the deal than I am. Commission maybe? hmmm...
 
riggs58 said:
lol - that's funny, I got the same reaction when I declined. He kind of made feel like I was a bit dense for not getting it. I got the impression that potentially, he's getting more out of the deal than I am. Commission maybe? hmmm...
Click to expand...

Not commission, job requirement.
 
riggs58 said:
Thanks for the replys everyone.

Not sure about BB, but Circuit City has 30-day no-questions-asked return policy. So, if you had a few dead pixels, you could either exchange it or get your money back. Open box doesn't matter.
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BB is 30 days return for any reason.

BB takes just about everything......you dont even need a service plan. They (I work @ BB) will take a lot of products wihtin the Manufac. Warr. and we are authorized to service MF. warranties to what the MF authorizes.



I will say this, some service plans are retarded.....period. One for a toaster? stupid. But some are insanely valuable to have. Think about this.....buy a laptop for $500 on sale.....get the accidental service plan, and if anyting happens to go wrong.....say hypothetically, around the time you want to upgrade, like you dropping it or cracking the LCD it will get serviced......but typically too exspensive so they replace spec for spec.....you may have paid $500 but in 2-3yrs the closest we can get is CRAZY.


Cameras now have the same thing, two days ago i replaced a Canon SD110 (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd110.asp) with a (http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_sd1000.asp)



The upgrade that lady got was insane....once it was determined we couldn't fix the old one she came in and was out of the store with a MONSTER upgrade within 5min.

I love anything with accidental, i dont care what it is.....

As far as TV ones? obviously thats your call. I would...not because i work at BB. Because obviously you bought it at CC....but because i have seen too many F'd up things. Same reason i can't eat at the Fastfood place i worked as a kid.







I would never have my guys be assholes about it, they are required to mention it, pitch it properly....if you say no, then its no. But they also have to mention a memory card for a camera, or ask if they want a case for a camera.....nothing unreasonable. Most people say no out of spite. If you knew what the accidentaly plan covered and how retarded easy it is....you would never pass on it
 
I'll only buy it if it is $20 to $40. I once bought a Sony 500W ES Receiver, and they charge $20 for 2 more yr. of warranty, brings a total to 5 yr., and I go for it. Keep in mind the following:

1) If the ext. warranty is from manufacturer and it's cheap, go for it, if the ext. warranty is from CC, don't bother. They just announce their first corp. qtr. loss the other day, they will do whatever it takes to get out of any warranty service

2) Most credit cards, c/w 1 more yr. of ext. warranty as part of your credit card service agreement. I have use that as repair many times from computer to carpet cleaning machine, totally free and very useful.
 
I'm not so sure about Circuit City. A little while back, a salesperson told me that they charge a 15% restocking fee if the product is not their definition of defective. Can anyone confirm?

I've returned an LCD to Best Buy because of a backlight bleed issue. They made me wait for their "Geek Squad" to unpack it, hook it up and take a look at it, but that was the only small hassle.
 
pickxx said:
I will say this, some service plans are retarded.....period... But some are insanely valuable to have. Think about this.....buy a laptop for $500 on sale.....get the accidental service plan, and if anyting happens to go wrong.....say hypothetically, around the time you want to upgrade, like you dropping it or cracking the LCD it will get serviced......but typically too exspensive so they replace spec for spec.....you may have paid $500 but in 2-3yrs the closest we can get is CRAZY.
...
As far as TV ones? obviously thats your call. I would...not because i work at BB. Because obviously you bought it at CC....but because i have seen too many F'd up things. Same reason i can't eat at the Fastfood place i worked as a kid.
...
Most people say no out of spite. If you knew what the accidentaly plan covered and how retarded easy it is....you would never pass on it
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A $500 laptop is exactly the model of a BAD thing to get an extended service plan for. What's that plan cost? They were $200-300 on a $500 laptop last I checked (because they don't lower service plan prices with sales). That's absurd. Unless you're planning on committing fraud so you KNOW you'll be upgrading through the warranty, you're getting ripped off. If something does happen accidentally or outside of manufacturer warranty, just buy whatever the $500 laptop du jour is in a couple of years. Don't imply that Best Buy would replace that $500 laptop down the road with a $2000 laptop. They replace with the current comparable model or go one step up if they have to. And before they do that, they'll waste weeks of your time trying to fix it.

TV is even worse. The failure rate is lower and you're not carrying the thing around, so who needs accidental? Plus, it's not like a laptop where conceivably you could lose the use of something you need for work or school and not have the funds to purchase a replacement immediately--it's a TV. Nobody needs a TV, so your risk tolerance should be higher.

And most people say no because they know the service plans are giant rip-offs and pure profit to the seller, not out of spite. They're like the old undercoating the used car salesmen used to put on. The only time you'll get spite from me is when your employees ask more than once. Luckily, Best Buy is pretty good about them not doing that.
 
When I bought my 42" plasma I was very close to spending an extra $400 on an extended service plan out of pure fear. Instead I rolled the dice and decided to spend the extra money upgrading my home theater sound system...nearly four years later I have zero regrets.;)
 
East said:
what about the RepairMaster warranties for LCD's?
Click to expand...
I think that most will agree that when buying a tv you will either have issues right away (or well within the manufacturer warranty time period) or no issues for years....by which time you will most likely be ready for a new set anyway.
 
pickxx said:
I love anything with accidental, i dont care what it is.....
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I guess i have to kinda agree with this. If you are buying something that has a pretty good chance of getting accidentally damaged i will definitely consider a plan that will fix it if damaged, but plans that just extend normal warranty in case of a manufacturing defect 3 or 4 years down the road, screw that...
 
bigforearms said:
Don't imply that Best Buy would replace that $500 laptop down the road with a $2000 laptop. They replace with the current comparable model or go one step up if they have to. And before they do that, they'll waste weeks of your time trying to fix it.
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First off, if it sounded like i was saying they would get something thats $2000 thats not true, but if it breaks 2yrs later it is a huge upgrade. Think about this.....you get a $750 laptop for $500. You spend $250 (guessing on the accidental because i dont remember....anyway) for the plan.


You are right, you may have a laptop for years and treat it well, but a lot of people don't.

If you took ANY laptop from 3years ago.....what was the best one? the fastest most powerful, thinnest, biggest screen, longest battery life.....whatever matters to you, and then compare that to a mid level machine.



A buddy of mine got a Dell XPS 3yrs ago with a Radeon 9800 mobile and it sucks. It played games awesome, but battery without games was like 1hr....and it was hot, heavy, and all kinds of problems. Compare that to a C2D system with a mobile 7800 chip with a 17" screen and a 6hr battery life in office applications.

Guess which cost more? obviously the older one, and if he would have had to replace his XPS he's spec-for-spec replacement would have been something with longer battery life, thinner, lighter, better graphic card, faster cpu, and upgrade everything.



You don't like them.....fine. I'll admit it, i don't do service plans on everything. Some are just retarded....but some make sense.


If i were to buy a laptop i would get it with 24months no interest when BB had some promotion, and i would roll that $250-$300 into it. The cost per month is minimal.....and knowing that i don't have to shell out another $1000 at a moments notice to replace something i need.....(because like most people here, i love my computer) and i don't have $500 at a moments notice to get a new one, let alone $1000 to replace the one i got.









It's all a personal thing, and some people get so angry and upset about it. Buy from a reputable place, buy a good product, and buy within something you can afford......those are your solid rules, the rest is all preference.

Again i say
pickxx said:
As far as TV ones? obviously thats your call. I would...Same reason i can't eat at the Fastfood place i worked as a kid.
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we all know that the store (BB and CC) get certain points for selling the extended plans. I also believe the rep gets a certain kick back.

I almost always get the plan on TVs, such a large purchase and I would rather take it back to the store and get a another instead of dealing with the manufacturer. I have noticed with the extended plans, they are more apt (not 100%) to give you store credit for the purchase price.

Also, since it is pure profit for them, I can also negotiate a much better selling price. So the cost of the plan is sometimes a wash or just a few bucks more. Try it.
 
Liver said:
Also, since it is pure profit for them, I can also negotiate a much better selling price. So the cost of the plan is sometimes a wash or just a few bucks more. Try it.
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Thats true to some extent. AFAIK the price of the item falls into a price bracket which is given an individual SKU for the extended plan followed by the employees number. Now if you haggle a little bit (might help if your filipino here :D) they "could" lower to another bracket but it would help if the manager knew first (I know at Staples we could give a fuck so I lower the price on plans all the time) the biggest draw back to this is that if they decide to redeem the plan at another store it could be a problem for the guy who gave you the discount.

But yes, you can haggle a little bit. Just be aware they are putting their job on the line for you if they do decide to lower it for you.
 
pickxx said:
First off, if it sounded like i was saying they would get something thats $2000 thats not true, but if it breaks 2yrs later it is a huge upgrade. Think about this.....you get a $750 laptop for $500. You spend $250 (guessing on the accidental because i dont remember....anyway) for the plan.
...
You are right, you may have a laptop for years and treat it well, but a lot of people don't.
...
i don't have $500 at a moments notice to get a new one, let alone $1000 to replace the one i got.
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Say you buy a $500 laptop in year 1. And say, for arguments sake, that the accidental plan is $250 and covers three years. You're getting insurance against breakage for all three years, and an extension of the manufacturer's warranty (basically) for years 2 and 3.

So you spent $750 in year 1. Year 3 it breaks and needs complete replacement.

Assuming no time value of money (which Best Buy isn't, but anyway), you save $250 on the cost of buying a new $500 laptop in year 3, except instead of paying for it in year 3, you paid the $250 up front in year 1 and took a risk you wouldn't get it. It's that risk that's important. You're not getting some special upgrade by getting a new computer. You could have saved that $250 originally and thrown it into a computer in year 3. If you were just worried about having a computer, you could easily find year 1's $500 computer for sale on eBay or similar for under $250 in year 3.

I treat my laptop like shit, and it has, after 2.75 years, a power connection issue that probably involves replacing the motherboard under the three years my accidental would have covered, but the warranty still isn't worth it. I'm pretty sure I could eBay up a replacement with the same characteristics for under the $400 my warranty would have cost.

Where I can see accidental is in a narrow situation: if, say, an engineering student NEEDS an autoCAD machine for three years for his school work, has to buy one of those $2000 laptops, can only get his financial aid amount increased to cover a laptop once and has to show his receipt to do so, and will never have the money to purchase a replacement during those three years. I can't think of a comparable situation that an LCD tv buyer would be in.
 
Liver said:
we all know that the store (BB and CC) get certain points for selling the extended plans. I also believe the rep gets a certain kick back.

I almost always get the plan on TVs, such a large purchase and I would rather take it back to the store and get a another instead of dealing with the manufacturer. I have noticed with the extended plans, they are more apt (not 100%) to give you store credit for the purchase price.

Also, since it is pure profit for them, I can also negotiate a much better selling price. So the cost of the plan is sometimes a wash or just a few bucks more. Try it.
Click to expand...

The reps at Best Buy and CC are evaluated, but do not get a kickback, for selling the plans. The managers at CC had some form of compensation contingent on profitability of items sold (the plans are treated as almost pure profit, accessories are the next highest, the principle item which you go into buy usually isn't very profitable).

At least when I worked at CC, customers who bought a large item, a bunch of accessories, and a service plan could very easily negotiate a discount. Pick up the item and the accessories you want first and pretend you don't want the service plan because it's too expensive. They'll counter-offer at a lower price or comp an accessory because the plan still shows up as pure profit to them.

That is, if you really want to blow money on the service plan.
 
I do not pretend to know who gets the money or the kickback, but I have read that it exists (even if it means moving up the sales ladder faster).

I bought the Westy 37v1 when it was relatively new. When it was hit or miss on being in stock.

I was out the door for $2050 (rough) with service plan
It was about the same without the service plan. I was going to get the TV regardless, but they "negotiated" a better price because I bought the service plan. Meh. It was a good thing to have when I sold the TV, it was a nice selling point. Also I know now that you can do this, and then come back the next day and return the service plan. Dunno if things have changed.
 
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