SCAM ALERT: Mobile Device Insurance and Extended Warranties - Comments Page 2

Personally, I never buy any sort of Extended Warranty (whether it be electronics, cars, boats etc.) purely on the basis that if you are buying a brand new well-known brand item & it has reached the point of sale, then all should already have passed the factory-based checks. Have a bit more confidence in the supplier - they want to keep you as a customer.

Sure, you might be the unlucky person that gets the one in a batch of millions that is a 'dud', but that will be evident long before the standard warranty expires.

As Bob says, as well as being costly & having a variety of deductibles, people tend to ignore the Terms of Condition & Exclusion Clause (that the sales-person fails to highlight!)

Let's face it, if your stupid enough to be texting while in the bathtub, on a roller-coaster, driving etc, then you deserve to be out-of-pocket.

Bob,
Thanks for all your good advice. Keep up the good work.
I am the exception to the rule. I recently bought a Panasonic 50 inch Plasma TV. I loved it. 16 months later, it fried itself. Of course the warranty was 12 months & I did not buy the extended warranty. So what. I figured 4 months past the warranty was nothing and Panasonic would pro-rate some kind of warranty work. I was wrong, again. Panasonic was hostile and basically said "tough sh*t". Best Buy (Worst Buy), where I bought it, was the same. Too bad! for me. Both Panasonic and Best Buy have lost a loyal customer forever. Now I'm watching my ancient tube TV which still works great after 20 years. I've started reading more, which is a good thing. TV is 90% re-runs and 50% commercials.

There was a time when all of the warranties on laptops also covered batteries that dropped below 50% of their capacity. The price of the warranty was about the same (often even less!) as replacing the battery. So, I would buy the warranty thinking in my mind I was just pre-paying for a new battery and getting anything else attached as a dessert! But, the last time I bought a laptop a couple of years ago, they had changed that policy:-( But I would look through the details just in case.

1. I have never bought a used car. and always buy the extended coverage bumper to bumper and NEVER regretted the investment.
2. Normal personal experience is the coverage expires 1 day to 1 week before It is needed (again). That maybe the BOB law.
3. I purchased the Note 2 last year (ATT 2 year) with the insurance. (Bye Bye Blackberry - finally)
4. In August I dropped the phone and shattered the screen. I researched replacing myself and decided no. Went to local ATT store where I purchased phone and was told to call Asurion. That was on a Sunday and by Tuesday I had a new phone. There was a $200 deductible which I thought was very high. The response is that a "new" unlocked phone would have set me back $700. I thought I could switch to another vendor, but with the 2 year contract that made no sense.

I think I made a wise $6.95/mo investment.

I purchased an extended warranty on my smartphone that would cover the last 2 years on my 3 year contract. At the end of the second year, my smartphone started having issues that couldn't be attributed to anything I had done, so I called only to be told that there's nothing they can do... that phone is obsolete so they would give me a new phone and new 3 year contract without penalty. I said I didn't want to get into another 3 year contract at this time, I just want the warranty I paid $150.00 for honored, and they said, then sorry, there's nothing they could do. I wanted a new phone but to continue on with the rest of my 3 year contract or at least pay the same for the next year as I currently was and the last 2 years of the new contract at the new price, and they said no... it would all have to be at new contract prices. My contract is at an excellent price and the new one would have been quite a bit more money. I asked for a refund of what I paid for my warranty if they weren't going to honor it, and they said, sorry, thats not their policy. After arguing with them and threatening to phone a number of places to report their scam, they did give me $100 back. So beware when technology becomes obsolete so quickly. This was a major mobile phone carrier that refused to honor the warranty.

While I normally don't buy insurance, I felt that it was a reasonable precaution for our smart phones. It's all too easy to drop a phone and break it, and then you're out several hundred dollars for a replacement (which you must have, because you'll still be paying monthly charges for the remaining time on your contract). Still, the $11/month insurance from Sprint was adding up, what with three Galaxy S3's for my two daughters and my wife, and a Galaxy S4 for myself.

This story has a tragic interlude, when one daughter died of cancer in July. After I informed Sprint of the death, they extended their condolences and canceled the remainder of her contract. That left us with a spare phone. I could have sold it for a modest amount ($150 to $200 on eBay), but instead decided to keep it and cancel the insurance on our remaining three phones. The spare phone is our "insurance" in case any of the other three gets broken (I could make do with an S3 if my S4 was damaged). That saves us $396 per year, so it is very cost effective. And the spare phone is immediately available to switch one of the other numbers to.

That last fact is an important consideration. How long can you afford to be without a cell phone if yours is broken? How long will it take to buy one on eBay and have it delivered, versus sending your phone in to Sprint to have it repaired or replaced under their insurance?

So if you were planning on buying insurance, it might actually be cheaper to just buy a spare phone and have it sitting around in case it's needed. That's especially true if you have a family plan with more than one of the same kind of phones. (As a minor bonus, I keep our spare phone charged up. That way I have a fully charged spare battery available if another phone needs it.)

Following up on my earlier comment, it occurred to me that my sister had a family plan in which she was paying insurance for three iPhones for her teenagers. I talked to her a little while ago, pointing out that she could buy a used iPhone on eBay for $150 to $200 if any of those three phones broke, and she agreed that it made sense to cancel all that insurance.

So thank you, Bob, for raising this topic and causing me to ruminate on it. It will have the direct effect of saving my sister $396 per year. Even more, actually. While I was talking to the Sprint representative I asked if there were any other discounts available. They have 10% discounts on primary cell phone bills if you're a AAA member -- which my sister is -- or a credit union member, and even larger discounts available if you work for some large companies. My company qualifies me for a 22% discount.

So again, thank you. This turned out to be a very lucrative article for our family.

Extended warranties on electronic gadgets are likely to be a scam. But for mechanical gadgets with moving parts, it's a different story. My Predator gasoline-fueled electric generator failed 22 months into its 24-month extended service plan. Harbor Freight traded a new one for it.

Well, Bob, since you introduced the health care issue ...
We must understand that "insurance" is a poor name for financing health care. Unlike electronic devices, which rarely fail, human bodies are almost certain to fail before perishing. Insuring against accident and illness is a poor risk. We need to pool resources to cover the inevitable. People who insist on "taking responsibility" and who denigrate people who need help are due for a big surprise. All it takes is one diagnosis to enlighten one on the need for pooled assistance. To those who are healthy and immune to accidents: your turn is coming.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, I never mentioned health care in this article.

ALL major credit card companies give a FREE warranty extension -DOUBLE the mfg warranty up to one year, if you purchase the item with their card.

Sorry Bob, but you did mention health care in the first paragraph. But thanks for the useful information.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Quite right, I thought the original comment was on that current day's article. (10 Things Not To Buy in 2015)

Bob, you are so right. What I say about all warranties. It's just a license to argue; or run head-on into exhausting and frustrating disappointment.

As for those that think they are smarter than Bob. YOU should pick you favorite dog food now that you'll be eating when you are on a skimpy social security check and no saving, when you hit retirement age.

Bob keep up the great work...
cheers!
~t

If you have a Wells Fargo credit card, and pay the entire wireless phone bill with it every month, they offer a FREE warranty on your device.....$25 deductible, then up to $600 reimbursement per repair, 2 claims are allowed a year.