extended warranties/insurance, little porkies. worth it??

[davido140]

Every time you buy anything worth more than about £10 these days you seem to get offered thier extended warranty.

Got offered it on a BBQ the other day which comes with its own 10 year manufacturer warranty anyway!!

Anyway, I purchased a new digital camera yeterday, nothing special just a point and shoot £110 jobbie from Jessops. Got offered the insurance which not only gives the extended breakdown cover but covers "accidental loss or damage", I said "no thanks" as usual but the woman put a leaflet in the bag anyway.

I just thought, whats to stop me loosing it 18 times in the next three years? (besides the fact its fraud), there must be some enterprising soul running a camera shop on ebay getting his stock from these insurance co's.

So I had a read of the Ts and Cs, Turns out it doesnt cover loss at all, it just seems to "trip off the tounge nicely" when they are trying to flog you the policy. I would be a bit cheesed of buying one of these policies expecting it to cover me for loss and then finding out it doesnt.

They arent cheap either £42 to cover a £110 camera for 3 years!!!

Does anyone actually buy them?

[Jasandjules]

davido140 said:

I would be a bit cheesed of buying one of these policies expecting it to cover me for loss and then finding out it doesnt.

Would suggest that you put in writing that you will puchase said worthless piece of paper if it does cover accidental damage etc.. then if you buy it and you are not covered, the seller is liable for misrepresentation.

But yes, lots of people buy them for "peace of mind".......

[mickk]

I bought a £99 printer yesterday, they wanted £24 for an extended warranty for 3years.
Its guarantee is for 1 year, thats enough.

[Nolar Dog]

davido140 said:

Does anyone actually buy them?

I don't but I'm sure there are plenty of people that do.

More significantly I reckon there must be many hundreds of people that continue making the automated payments long after the product is "no more".

It's what the providers rely on.

[Dupont666]

if its worth enough why not just claim on house insurance?

[lingus75]

The Richer sounds one seems to be good as (although not read the t+c's) it states that if you don't claim on the policy, you get the money back at the end of the term.

[Simond001]

lingus75 said:

The Richer sounds one seems to be good as (although not read the t+c's) it states that if you don't claim on the policy, you get the money back at the end of the term.

and it's only 10% of the purchase price.

[jamoor]

Use it as a bargaining chip, tell them if you put the camera at £95, you will buy the Insurance, otherwise no.

Then go home and call the insurance company and say you dont like the terms and conditions and wait for your cheque to arrive in the post

[RobbieL]

I remember my parents getting stung on one of these policies by the T&C's. They bought a conservatory over a period of 5 years for example. This came with protection in case of unemployment etc.

My parents paid the laon off early after approx 2 years but somewhere in the in the small print the loan protection could not be paid off early and had to run for the full 5 years at the full price and couldn't be cancelled. So basically they were paying protection for a loan they didn' have.

Not long after I left school I worked in a call centre for a well known company selling this ste. We actually used to use lines such as "we will replace for example, if someone spills red wine on your sofa" however when people actually came to claiming on the stuff, they would get out of it by saying "you have voided the terms by being reckless and letting someone with red wine near it".

This loan protection/extended warranty crap is where most big businesses make their profits these days - read into that what you will.

[Jem Thompson]

I didn't buy one with XBOX 360, my dad said that if anything is wrong with it, it is likely to be a manufacturing fault, so will happen within a few months, Sure enough, a month later the power supply packed up. I swapped it for a premium XBOX free of charge. Microsoft extended the warranty due the RROD anyway.

[King Herald]

davido140 said:

So I had a read of the Ts and Cs, Turns out it doesnt cover loss at all, it just seems to "trip off the tounge nicely" when they are trying to flog you the policy.

Hmm, I bought a rolling insurance policy off Dixons when I spent £200 on a camera there last year. I was assured it covers me for ANYTHING, but I might go and read the small print myself. I may be paying £3 a month for nothing.

[H_Kan]

RobbieL said:

Not long after I left school I worked in a call centre for a well known company selling this ste. We actually used to use lines such as "we will replace for example, if someone spills red wine on your sofa" however when people actually came to claiming on the stuff, they would get out of it by saying "you have voided the terms by being reckless and letting someone with red wine near it".

So you used to scam people?

[VxDuncan]

The thing is you still have significant rights under the Sale of Goods act. It does depend on what is defined as "reasonable", but there are many cases stating that a "reasonable" person could expect 5 years of life from a TV for example, therefore if your new TV fails 2 years after you buy it you stand a good chance of getting it sorted. It varys according to what it is you've bought, but the Sale of Goods act (if you are prepared to quote it and potentially go to small claims) should cover you for longer than an extended warranty.

Not only are the warranties a con, it's worse than that, you are effectively paying for insuring the retailer against any risk. Not only do they make a killing, but you are also saving them money on returns!
Edited to add: (an example)
http://www.ralpharama.co.uk/item.php?itemid=428&am...

Edited by VxDuncan on Sunday 24th May 13:29

[davido140]

King Herald said:

davido140 said:

So I had a read of the Ts and Cs, Turns out it doesnt cover loss at all, it just seems to "trip off the tounge nicely" when they are trying to flog you the policy.

Hmm, I bought a rolling insurance policy off Dixons when I spent £200 on a camera there last year. I was assured it covers me for ANYTHING, but I might go and read the small print myself. I may be paying £3 a month for nothing.

Yup, better check, the policy they offered with jessops is with a company called domestic and general.

[Ian_S]

VxDuncan said:

The thing is you still have significant rights under the Sale of Goods act. It does depend on what is defined as "reasonable", but there are many cases stating that a "reasonable" person could expect 5 years of life from a TV for example, therefore if your new TV fails 2 years after you buy it you stand a good chance of getting it sorted. It varys according to what it is you've bought, but the Sale of Goods act (if you are prepared to quote it and potentially go to small claims) should cover you for longer than an extended warranty.

Not only are the warranties a con, it's worse than that, you are effectively paying for insuring the retailer against any risk. Not only do they make a killing, but you are also saving them money on returns!
Edited to add: (an example)
http://www.ralpharama.co.uk/item.php?itemid=428&am...

Edited by VxDuncan on Sunday 24th May 13:29

I wrote to pc world after my 27month old LCD tv failed, claimed under the SOGA for durability and they refunded the repair costs in full. there is no need for an extended warranty these days.

[HUW JONES]

I believe most things go tits up within 1st year and so covered by manufacturers' warranty so I never bother.
ps...slightly off topic perhaps...don't ever bother with insurance being sold to cover sickness IMHO.

[wiffmaster]

The only thing I have extra insurance on is my mobile phone. Covers it for accidental damage, loss or theft, and of all my electrical gadgets, it's the one where I'm most likely to need to claim. Never bother with insurance on anything else though.

[davido140]

wiffmaster said:

The only thing I have extra insurance on is my mobile phone. Covers it for accidental damage, loss or theft, and of all my electrical gadgets, it's the one where I'm most likely to need to claim. Never bother with insurance on anything else though.

I'm the same, I tend to loose or break a phone once a year, really must remember to take them out of my pocket before moving furniture, working on the car or falling down the stairs.

The accidental damage and loss are a must for me.

[Dupont666]

davido140 said:

wiffmaster said:

The only thing I have extra insurance on is my mobile phone. Covers it for accidental damage, loss or theft, and of all my electrical gadgets, it's the one where I'm most likely to need to claim. Never bother with insurance on anything else though.

I'm the same, I tend to loose or break a phone once a year, really must remember to take them out of my pocket before moving furniture, working on the car or falling down the stairs.

The accidental damage and loss are a must for me.

But surely that is covered by household insurance?

Or is the increase in premiums astronomical?

[davido140]

Dupont666 said:

davido140 said:

wiffmaster said:

The only thing I have extra insurance on is my mobile phone. Covers it for accidental damage, loss or theft, and of all my electrical gadgets, it's the one where I'm most likely to need to claim. Never bother with insurance on anything else though.

I'm the same, I tend to loose or break a phone once a year, really must remember to take them out of my pocket before moving furniture, working on the car or falling down the stairs.

The accidental damage and loss are a must for me.

But surely that is covered by household insurance?

Or is the increase in premiums astronomical?

I dont have "away from home" cover on my household policy, but if you did, then yes it would!

Not sure about policy increase, I havent claimed on home or contents insurance for the best part of a decade. the no claims is a bit of a recent (last 4 years?) addition to home insurance IIRC, dread to think how they would rape you if you did claim.