Note to Best Buy: The Extended Warranty Plan Makes Me Resent You

It makes for an unpleasant shopping experience to have someone earnestly telling me about the good features of a product, and then, once I've chosen the gadget that I want and decided to purchase it, to have another employee (or sometimes the same one), selling me the "just in case anything goes wrong, you can bring it back and get a new one for free, no questions asked" service plan for an additional $20.  Why do you do that to me every time I go into your store? (Make that 'every time I used to go to your store' -- I won't be going there anymore.)

Your business model should be finding and stocking merchandise that is not likely to break in the next two years, in the course of normal use.  If you have done a good job selecting and offering quality merchandise, the "extended service plan" is a poor use of my money, and you shouldn't be selling it to me.  If the gizmo you're selling me is a piece of crap, asking me to pay an additional $20 to replace it with an identical or slightly upgraded piece of crap when it inevitably breaks is not the ideal solution. 

Comments

[David Giacalone]

Many stores that sell gizmos play the exact same game. Why? Because they make a lot of money on the Extended Warranty programs. Savvy buyers have known for years that the Extenders are a rip-off (Consumer Reports has been saying so for perhaps 20 years.) Go to the store with the best price (or price/service mix) you can on an item and then, very firmly (and I know you can do that, Sherry), cut the Extended Warranty pitch off at the very start with, "I know I don't want it, so please finalize my purchase, so I can leave." It has been years since I've wasted more the a few seconds on these pitches. You don't have to be rude, just be firm.

[CM]

I always have the same conversation with those guys:
- Do you want the extended 1-year warranty?
- Why, is it going to break in the next year?
- Probably not, but...
- Because if it is I don't want to buy it.
- Well, it probably won't break, but...
- Then I don't need the extended warranty.

[boo]

I hate Best Buy for their obnoxious salespeople (the warranties are just one part of their offensiveness). So I just use them to browse and try various products, and then I go buy the product online from some other company. No hassle. And I've told this to the salespeople there, not that it seems to make any difference.

[anthony]

the problem is that many of Best Buy's customers - the masses - compare prices store for store and are extremely price sensitive. so Best Buy and its competitors bring prices painfully low. This results in razor thin margins.

Since the stuff basically never breaks, these extended warranties are pure profit. Salespeople usually make more incentive on the warranty than they do selling the product (also for the above reason.)

You, like me, are willing to pay the premium for superior products. Problem is, most people aren't. But they do scare easily, so these extended vapo-warranties help fill the retailer's coffers where margins on big ticket electronics may not.

:)

[D]

I bought an 8.00 remote control at Best Buy a while back, and they still tried to sell me the 20.00 warranty. I couldn't believe the guy was serious.

[BILL GATES]

I WAS RECENTLY IN CIRCUIT CITY. HOW HORRIFYING IT IS TO HEAR THAT PRODUCTS HAVE A SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER PROBABILITY OF DEFECTING NOW THAT EVERYTHING IS MASS PRODUCED. NOW THIS CHUCKLE HEAD WANTS TO ENCOURAGE ME THAT I CAN BUY WARRANTY AND REST. NEVER. NEVER WILL I SHOP THERE AGAIN.

BILL

[Heidi]

The Geek Squad guy told me that auto settings "mess up" on digital cameras, but then they blamed me for the problems.

[Brette Lea]

I bought a BEST BUY exended warranty on a carpet shampooer. In less than three months the product stopped working. BEST BUY had to ship it off for repair... FIVE WEEKS LATER, I got it back. The shampooer lasted (5), count 'em (5), days before it broke again and needed to be shipped off for another few weeks.

WARNING: I'm told the merchandise under extended warranty must be sent off for "repair" at least three times before it can be replaced. This is a simple case of BEST BUY trying to deter their customers from actually using the extended warranty. And they offer NO LOANERs during the five weeks your stuff is "being repaired." But they'll let you buy another product in the meantime. Ain't that sweet.

[Lillian Newman]

Best Buy extended warranty. They told me the same thing. If it breaks, they will replace it on the spot. That is why I bought the plan. Well, my camera broke down. They sent it out for repair. It came back, but with a new problem it had not had before. It's back with them for repair. The last note on it was 4 days ago "in repair". I use my camera for taking pictures for my business and the delays from Best Buy are very frustrating to me. I will be honest. Unless they get a handle on this problem, I will not be back to make future purchases from them. They should expedite these repairs or better yet, honor the extended warranty that was promised by the salesperson. Replace it on the spot.

[Tracy Schmick]

I have a good friend who bought a 1600.00 laptop last dec at Best Buy, he bought the ext. warranty on it. Fast forward to July of the next year ( he's had the laptop for all of 7 months) it quites on him on vacation in Las Vegas. When he gets home he called Best Buy, they took his laptop from him and quoted him 6 weeks (6 weeks!!!) before it would get repaired. Next thing they tell him is that the part that is defective is no longer manufactured AND that they found water damage in the computer which voids the ext warranty, so now he's stuck with a 1600$ door stop. I was with him when the laptop quit, there was no water anywhere near the thing. SOOOO after telling him they cant fix it....they lose it! So when he goes to get his 1600$ door stop from the store it's no where to be found! Needless to say my friend was FURIUOS with Best Buy ( wouldnt you be!) Finally after 3 months of going around and around in circles they offered to sell him a replacment for like 400 bucks, which is still lame considering thats probably what he paid for the ext warranty in the first place. I wont shop at Best Buy ever again and neither will he.

[Hugo Sanchez]

DON'T BUY THE EXTENDED WARRANTY AT BEST BUY.
I year and a half ago I bought a Toshiba notebook on sale for $400 and also bought the "Extended Warranty" for $200. I was sold on the warranty's great merits by the attentive extra salesman that came after my purchase. A month ago the screen cracked. Guess what? they considered this a customer caused problem and not warranted. I paid 50% of the value of the computer for this garbage warranty. I had to pay to haved it checked by them, I had to pay for shipping it back. The warranty by BEST BUY is garbage, it pays for the things that the manufacturer covers anyway. Also it took over a month to get my computer back and broken returned. By the way, their estimated cost of repair: $950, more than twice the original value?

[K Dekreon]

Best Buy's Extended Warranty is theft.
We purchased an extended warranty, with our HP laptop, from Best Buy. We were told at the time of purchase that if our laptop had three major problems it would be replaced with a store credit for another lap top at the first sign of new trouble. Since then we have had two hard drives, one CPU, one key board, one DC jack, two AC adapters and a defective battery. This is not to mention the 15 plus times that the operating system was installed. In the mean time we have had to suffer through every kind of abuse from the phone support and the in store repair/support. They told us that there was nothing wrong, they told us we didn't know anything about computers, they charged us $89 to back up our hard drive and then gave us blank discs. Best Buy maintains that they don't have to give us a new laptop because altho five of those problems were "qualifying events" they only happened on three of the repair invoices. Apparently, if we would have waited a week between the first new HD and the CPU or a week between the new keyboard and the DC jack we would have been up to four tickets by now. It doesn't matter how many weeks we have ben without this pile of junk or that we had to buy a new laptop last week because after 13 days in for repair our laptop was not back before my boyfriend went on an a business trip. Did I mention that this computer actually sparked once? At this point they want us to come and pick up our little darling with her brand new hard drive. The moral of the story is that HP makes and sells garbage and that Best Buy sells you lies and heart ache. Thank you for listening.

[Phil]

I just had a canon s230 camera die. I bought a 4 year extended warranty from Best Buy that expires in 13 days. Tomorrow I go in to make them fix it. I'll let you know how it goes. I mostly buy stuff on-line now. No sales tax, better prices, no sales pressure for add-ons - ext. warranties, acessories etc.

cheers

[Russ]

In March 2007 I bought a DVD from Best Buy for a friend that had been in an accident. I thought it would be a good idea to purchase an extended warranty just in case a problem developed. In June 2007 a problem did develope. I returned the DVD fully expecting the promise of the sales person that it would be replaced. On checking the customer service person stated that they no longer carried the item. He went on to say they would be happy to replace it with a better item if I would be willing to pay an amount that was close to the original price of the broken DVD. When I refused to do so he in an angry voice said that was the best he could do for me. I am still working on resolving this. One thing for sure, I will never shop at Best Buy again.

[Flash]

I bought an Insignia 42 inch plasma (Insignia NS42-PDP) from them, which is their in house brand. After just 6 months, the television turns off on it's own, has a fuzzy whtie line along the top perimeter of the screen, has a huge red spot in the middle of the screen that radiates to the right of the screen. Ironically, before this I had purchased another Insignia LCD that lasted about 8 months before they replaced it for this one, but not until I had to make a vocal stance inside of the actual store after being given the run around for two and a half months.

This time it is the same maze of lies, evasive conversations, and constant stories of "what has to happen" which always entales another 3 to 5 business days each time I speak to them. Every day you call you recieve the famed, "We will get back to you in 3 to 5 business days" or "We will contact you in 24 to 48 hours". Needless to say I am yet to receive a single phone call from anyone at Best Buy! I have always had to call them myself and that always results in the previously mentioned responses that lead to another week's wait.

I have the "in-home" service because it is Insignia, but they still refuse to replace it even though the technician said he could order parts but it was a shot in the dark. Instead, the would rather I be without a television for 3 to 4 months. They are truly pathetic and any time you ask for the manager or head supervisor there is a long pause followed by an excuse why you can't speak to them. In addition, they always give you the famous "they're not available" or "they will have to call you later" responses.

I have gone as far as employing the services of an attorney to bring action against them. I think that we as consumers need to make a stand against Best Buy. Too many people suffer through this with them, and it will never stop unless something is done.

[Webterractive]

I never purchase warranties after an incident that I had with Futureshop in Canada. I bought a CD burner for the first time in '99 and a $90 warranty extension. When the burner started shooting out error discs, and didn't burn like it should, they said that its for data only, not music. Even though I had burned music with it before, its all of the sudden only data. At the end that guy said that its LG's problem not theirs. So that same guy was red faced when he asked me if I wanted to purchase an extended warranty 4 years later for an opened item, I reminded him about our previous encounter, and he just walked off.

[Mike]

What a joke! Best Buy's PSP specifically excludes coverage for "accidental damage, intentional physical damage, condensation, fire, viruses, loss or damage to stored data, or computer hardware that is added to the original purchase, spilled liquids, insect infestation, rodents, misuse, abuse, missing or altered serial numbers, rust, or damage caused by non-authorized service personnel."

What else is there that could cause failure? Their warranty covers NOTHING. I learned this the hard way, and will NEVER EVER EVER do business of any sort with Best Buy.

Circuit City's protection plan specifically INCLUDES coverage for accidental damage, spills, etc.

[marvin]

Bought a insignia 26" combo TV, at Best Buy at Fededral Way, WA May 21 2007. less than 3 months sound went out, called Warranty Service 1-888-237-8289, Aug.-21-07 They said 2 or 3 days will call me for service rep to come to the house to Fix. 3 days no call, I call, they told me Sharper TV service would call to set up time gave me there Ph # no call, so I call Sharper. explain problem, 1 they said we don't do factory warranty, and 2 they happen to be in another State, Portland Oregon 270 miles from my home, in Kent WA. So I call Best Buy Warranty Serice, so again please give us 2 or 3 days to find a service co. to fix, 5 days later no call, so I call Best Buy Warranty Serice. go through again, whats wrong, who I am. Best Buy said, Sharper TV Service said they could fix the same one as before, I told Best Buy they are in another State and had no one in Washington. after 5 minutes of explaining, Best buy Said Sorry for the problem, but give us 2 or 3 days to find a Service Rep to come fix, I said you told me that 5 days ago, so I am now on hold again, and will hold my breath, waiting the 2 or 3 days for Best buy to call. Maybe, Maybe, Maybe. I think Ill write a song Maybe Best Buy Maybe, Maybe.

[Lionel Rodriguez]

Number one if you don't want it you don't want it. Number two we don't live in a perfect world things will break or something wont go completely the way we want them. So because of their return policy you can only bring things back with in thirty day or ninety what ever many people who insist to return it afterwards to the store when its not their responsibility anymore the store isn't to blame for what happens to your product. The store doesn't fabricate Sony or Sharp Compaq Hp etc.. So for people who do try to bring products back to the store after the return date and had a problem then the store is providing us with something they call their responsibility which is the extended service plan... I have bought a service plan for everything i hold valuable in many cases yes they did break. Did i have a hassle getting my money back or replacement no cuz they cover trip charges they cover replacement parts. Maytag a company known to be one of the best and fabricated in america for more than an hundred years, won't cover the trip charge so if your stuff breaks you pay 100 dollars just for the trip and then you'll have to pay the repair costs, all of which you could of avoided if you paid the additional 69.00 for two extra years or 99 for four.. Grow up people you bought what you bought we don't buy a car and not get insurance for it cuz we all think we're good drives we buy it to insure that if anything happens we will be covered....

[Mreyes]

Lionel,

Sound like you work for BB or something. Majority of the people here aren't complaining about buying an extended warranty they are complaining about the lack of support and most importantly Fraud committed by Best Buy when they turn their back on us (the customers) and or when they blame us for breaking the item.

I've had my fair share with best buy personnel. Yes laddies and gentlemen I have purchased extended warranties for a few select items and in most cases I actually do use my extended warranty. So when I take my electronics for repair or "on the spot exchange" they try to blame me with their usual non technical lingo on how I broke it, Their common words that come out of some of bb reps are physical damage and the one they use the most is water damage. My usaul response is Yes Sir I took my _____ (fill in the blank) to the bathroom and gave it a shower. Luckely I am a Electronic Tech so when they try to feed me their usual bull crap I tell them how it is and ask them to prove it. Normally their speechless. In most cases it does take them five and sometimes 8 week to replace my product but I usally get it replaced. What's really funny is when I exchange the item they usually ask me if I would like to purchase an extended warranty!!!

I know what most people are thinking why pay for a extended warranty when your an electronic tech you should be able to repair it well sometimes electronic parts can cost more than half of what your equipment cost.

I typically only buy an extended warranty on high dollar items. Plasmas TV car stereos and Laptops.

I wouldn't buy an extended warranty on
cheap printer AKA throw away Lexmark printers :O) and desktops

Extended warranties can be almost cat. as gambling sometime you'll use them sometime you won't.

[Monica Aulich]

I just got off the phone with a lovely Best Buy service department individual. I had purchased a Gateway laptop to the tune of 1499.99 plus a 400.00 and change extended 4 year warranty. I was told at the time of purchase, that LCD screens are easily damaged and then the salesman pointed out how easy by punching in the back of the computer cover. He said that the screen would be covered no matter what happened, if I purchased this warranty, so I did, thinking I'd be good for 4 years. Well, after 1 day, the laptop had to be replaced because the screen had dead spots. I found 2 more spots on the new one within a few months, but decided to live with it until they became large enough to be bothersome. I just got a call, saying it wasn't covered because of "intentional damage". Yeah right. I'm a photographer who cannot afford to be without a laptop for 6 weeks. In short, I have to pay over $300 for a new screen, my operating system is shot, and the laptop is now worth $0. I also paid the same for my daughters warranty on an HP laptop...same screen problem, and I'm sure it won't be covered either. She babies her computer so I doubt it would be intentional, either.

[mike]

I bought a 50" plasma tv for my livingroom wall In March 06. I also purchased a 4 year full serviceplan. A week before christmas It (zenith) made a loud poping sound and the picture hasent been seen since. I called 1800bestbuy and setup for a tech to come out. he did. walked in and hit the power button and said yep its broken i will have to order parts, stating he knew what it was. I called a week later to see what was up and they said parts were backorderd. After several calls and finally talking to a supervisor, she said after 45 days of the technician being there, if the parts are still not in, they will give me a voucher to get a replacement tv at the store.. today is feburary 3/08 and i hope the parts dont come in by the 12th. Horrible experience dealing with those idiots..

[someonw who cares]

just so you know if stores only stocked the "perfect product" noone would by there b/c the PRICE would be better at some other site or store. the fact is that consumer electronis are prone to problems do to "normal use" if you want a product that would never brake you would pay exponetially more for said product. i assume noone wants to pay 7000 dollars for a laptop and that is why you are paying 100-300 dollars for said warranty. i hope this doesnt fall upon def-ears b/c its true.
ps. sorry for poor grammar

[jack]

people are extremely stupid.
#1 if you dont want it shut up and dont buy it.
#2 technolody is technology it F*ckin breaks
get over yourselves and accept it for what it is.
#3 how many of you people have bought something and it breaks outside of what the best buy normal warranty policy and it breaks brings it back into the store demanding a new one. all of you because you are all morons.
#4 lets say you buy a camera from sony. they warrant your camera for a year. oh wait... only if you register it with them.. your cameras screen blows out after a year you are screwed. and out 400 dollars.
lets say you buy best buys plan a 4 year plan for 39 bucks on a 400 dollar camera. your screen blows out, bring it right into best buy you of course have to wait a couple weeks lets be realistic here. we are not all magicians. whoever thinks we can repair a camera in 2 minutes is an idiot. \
anyways your camera will be repaired and if it cant you will get a replacement. i hate idiots

[Giacolone THIS]

I work for a retailer, specifically in the service dept, (where service plans are honored) I didn't like it because most customers with defective/broken product are morons. Now I am a salesperson and know exactly what is covered and make sure that I am very thorough when I explain the service plans, subsequently I sell more of them than anyone in the store.

The problem lies not with lying salespeople, it lies with ignorant salespeople. Best Buy, as a corporation, likely does not spend any time educating their everyday salespeople on what those service plans cover, they just demand that they sell them.

The fact that most of you sit here "zinging" sales associates tells me that you are likely the same morons that drove me from the service area to the sales floor. I love they guy (David Giacolone) that asks the salesperson if its going to break, then tells them that he won't buy it if it will break, the way you wrote it was as if you were celebrating some sort of witty intellect. you sir, are the king of the morons and I hope your _____ing product breaks.

My time working in a service area that handles service plan repairs has tought me to buy PSP on EVERYTHING I buy, because I do see the value in them. Many of you complain that it excludes essentially all acts of person or god, however, laptop hard drives have a life span of 1.5 years, if it goes out without a service plan then you are out $300 to have a skilled tech replace it and your os.

Service plans still cover more than warranties do, you people just want to be able to squat on it, take a ____ and hope its covered. I have always felt that they need an IQ test at the front door of any american retailer, however if that happened they would lose 3/4 of their business and staff.

For every one person who complains there are 40 more who are perfectly happy with the performance of their service plans.