Pay for a Warranty and They Won't Fix It
Jan 27 '00
We have been beguiled a number of times in the past into buying warranties for various products. Every single time we bought a warranty, when we tried to get the item fixed, it "mysterious" wasn't covered for that particular problem.
We had a ten year warranty on a hot water heater that leaked after only two years. We tried to get it fixed under warranty only to find that the warranty ONLY covered the liner inside the hot water heater and not the pipes leading into and out of the heater, and that was what was leaking.
We bought an extended warranty to cover tire alignments on our car. Paid a higher price at Montgomery Wards shop and we were SUPPOSE to get free tire alignments for as long as we owed the car. Well - golly gee - EVERY time we took the car in for alignment they were NOT able to align it because there was something worn or broken in the front end (springs, tie rods, etc) . If we let any one else fix the problem, it would break the warranty and if we let them fix the problem - we were in for a HUGE bill just to get it to the point where we could get our so-called free alignment. We finally started taking it in and NOT telling them it was under warranty until we went to pay the bill. They got mad because we were suppose to tell them BEFORE they worked on the car if it was under warranty. But - strangely enough - they were always able to align the car if they thought they were going to get paid for it.
We bought a really good used car from a dealer and paid for a very expensive extended three year warranty. A number of things broke down during those three years. Not one of them were covered under the warranty. We took it to the dealer each time - thinking it would be under warranty, then got stuck with really large bills because the dealer prices for fixing things were quite high. We had the heater stop working, the switch had gone bad. $300 later it was fixed but even the heater was not under warranty.
Companies only warranty the things that never break and the printed warranty is really not clear as to what to expect.
Bought a computer a year ago from BEST BUY and the clerk literally wouldn't let us out the door without buying a warranty for it. He was extremely pushy about it and even came up to us in the check out line to ask again, even though we had already said no about five times.
While shopping for Christmas presents this year, I noticed that KMart had gotten into the warranty act. We bought one of those inexpensive vibrating seat covers for a gift. They wanted us to buy a warranty on that. Think it was about $7. This is hooked into their cash register system so that whenever you buy set items, the cashier tries to sell you a warranty on it. Got tiring hearing them ask about warranties.
Most items come with a limited warranty. I figure that if it is poorly made , it will break down in that short time before the manufacturer's warranty expires. I keep all receipts for electronic equipment or large ticket items and most stores have been quite good about replacing things that break down in the first few months.
Extended warranties are a money making racket. It is a way for stores to increase profits with little extra work. We have found very few companies that actually "honor" these extended warranties and we have still got stuck with the bills. If I am going to have to pay to fix the item myself, why waste the money on an extended warranty?
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Epinions.com ID:
blue439
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Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 4 members
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