You gotta be nuts to buy one of these things...Most of the time
Jan 26 '00
Listen up and listen good, I sold electronics and Appliances for 7 years for Huge retailers, and I gotta tell you, on most Items the service contracts are not worth it. The retailer makes more on the contracts than on anything else in the store, and so does the salesman. Depending on the contract, as a salesman, I made 10-25% commission for taking your money, and I was damned good at it. 10% of my sales volume on the average was extended guarantees.
As a Manager, I put tremendous pressure on my sales staff to sell these guarantees, because there was tremendous pressure put on me by the higher ups in the corporation. If my salespeople couldn't sell extended guarantees, they couldn't sell for me, or for these large electronics companies. I gave weekly seminars to hundreds of sales people on how to take your money by selling you extended guaranties. I had a way to overcome any objection a consumer had in order to make them buy an extended guaranty. I would beg, plead, or even scare the consumer into buying a guaranty, and they never saw it coming. All so my company could make their 70% profit.
O.K. this opinion tells you a little about me, and the electronics business when it comes to extended service plans, but the important stuff is in this paragraph. If you use an extended guaranty once, it pays for itself, and there are a few items you should purchase them on:
Camcorders---Nothing in electronics breaks down more than a camcorder.
Large TV's---Any TV 35" or larger is prone to have problems, an you don't want to have to bring it to a service center (only purchase a service plan on one of these monsters if you are getting in home service).
Refrigerators----They rarely have problems in the 1st 10 years, but if they do go down the food you lose in the refrigerator usually costs more than the price of the contract, as they tend to be really inexpensive (only buy a service plan on one of these if they cover food spoilage).
The most important thing to remember is that theses extended guaranties are huge money makers for retailers. Before you purchase one on anything, get the terms and conditions in writing, make sure the contract is returnable, and try to negotiate a better price on the product if you agree to buy the guaranty. Believe it or not, some retailers will give you a much better price on the item you are buying if you buy the guaranty. Since managers, and salespeople are bonused on the percentage of warranties they sell, you can often times get at least half the price of the warranty taken off the price of the unit you are buying.
Retailers this will work at:
Almost every time---The Wiz, P.C. Richards, Topps, Good Guys.
Sometimes-----------Circuit City
E-mail me for more help with this type of stuff--Jammma1@aol.com
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jammma1
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