Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 2

Hi,
I am new to PDA's and purchased a Visor Deluxe from CompUSA (my second one, but that's another post). The sales people are pushing their $99 2 year replacement policy. Is this a good deal? In real life use do people tend to drop them? (That's the pitch) Has anyone delt with CompUSA and replacements?

Thanks in advance,
Amanda

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

I can't quote a source, but I've read somewhere that these programs are a good idea - only if you are the store selling them.

Seriously - protection plans / extended warrantees are like overpriced insurance policies. Sure, it costs $85 to replace a broken screen. But I've gone over a year with my Visor w/o breaking it, and it's even got a small divot on the corner where I dropped it on pavement with no other damage.

I know some people here, especially people who bought early Visors directly from Handspring, have had problems with fragility. I have not.

Think about it this way - would CompUSA be selling these plans if they weren't making money on them? Would the sales people be pushing them if the store lost money on average?

Take your $99 and open a christmas club account at your bank. If you break your Visor, raid the account. If not, buy a cool module at the end of a year or two!

Have fun! Hope this helps.

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Jeff

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 3

Amanda, those policies are just a way to get you to part with more of your hard-earned money. First of all, at the rate the technology is changing, you probably won't even own the same Visor at the end of two years, so you're insuring something with a very limited life-span. Second, between Handspring's own warranty and various repair paths available, it probably wouldn't cost you that much to fix a problem in the unlikely event you have one. Even if the worst happens a year from now, you're likely to decide that's a good time to upgrade to a newer model instead of fixing the old one.

Also look carefully at the wording of the warranty contracts. There have been a lot of scams with those warranties because they exclude normal use or wear-and-tear, and will nickel and dime you should you try to make a claim.

Tamiris

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

I work at the Shack, and can tell you that all sales generate commission. Selling any service plan gets a bonus of 10% automatically. There are times when you don't make commission, but you ALWAYS get the bonus, even on top of base hourly rate.

And as someone else pointed out, do you think they'd sell them (and push them so hard) if it were a good deal for you instead of good deal for them?

Jim

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 2

Thank you both for your quick and thoughtful replys!

I really appreciate the insight. I will just be extra careful and probably upgrade in a year or two. One note, the sales person was telling me that what some people do to upgrade is to drop and break their PDA on purpose when a new model becomes available. Then when they go to use the warrenty they get an upgraded version per store policy (since the warrenty is store credit for your purchase price)! He was encouraging me to do this as a cheap way to upgrade in a year or two! I'm just not up for cheating the system like that.

Thanks again,
Amanda

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

Pardon me, but that shows you how desperate the salesman is to get you to purchase the service plan.

Sure, I'll explain the benefits of no-questions asked repair or replacement, no deductable, care-free use, etc, etc.... maybe even feeding them horror stories of people who didn't buy it and should have... but I'll never go so low as to suggest that the service plan is the same as a plan to get a new one by intentionally breaking the one I have. Geesh!

Jim

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

i was completely against "extended" warranties of any kind. Got one for my nokia 6160 though for $25 for 2yrs from good guys.

that was a well spent $25.

i broke the antennae and took it back for repair work. they returned it after a few weeks, during which i had a loaner, with the ant still a little wobbly. i instantly sent it in for another repair job. kept my loaner. after about 9months, i totally lost track of time , i went back to see if they had my phone. i had broken the ant on my loaner. well they couldnt find my phone so they gave me a new one.

$99 doesnt seem too much considering the prism cost $487 including tax and 2years of no questions asked insurance.

i'm going in tomorrow and sign up for it.

maybe buy a backup module too. hrm.

-jasyn

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 33

For most of the stuff I buy, either computer or stereo, I do not get the extended warranties. Mainly this is because I will either fix it myself or something I plan to do to it will void it anyhow.

The one thing I did get a warranty on was my cell phone from Radio Shack. It was a bit expensive, but it did give me free replacement of the phone, even if it is stolen, and 3 free batteries. The batteries is the real reason I did it. Those 3 batteries would more than pay for the warranty itself.

But most stuff it is pointless to get it since by the time it would run out most people would have replaced it by then. As for that salesman, it would be interesting to tell his boss that he is encouraging people to cheat just to get a new model.

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It's a John Woo movie. Even the soundtrack will be violent.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Posts: 34

$100 for their extended warranty? It was only $20 for me from CompUSA for their TAP one year unconditional replacement warranty.

Back in May, I bought a Vdx without the warranty. I got it home and dropped it the same night causing a nice shattered effect on the screen.

I meekly called up the next morning and told them of my problem. They told me if I were to come in with the unit, buy the TAP warranty, they'd gladly exchange it.

I've since become a believer in these extended warranties.... assuming that I've read all the fine print and can live with their Ts and Cs.

Cheers

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 31

extendedwarranty

i have always subscribed to the school of thought that extended warranties benefit only the store....until last month....i have a toshiba laptop which i purchased from circuit city....when i bought it i got them to discount the extended warranty for a song...little did i know that i needed it...shortly after the l yr warranty expired (13 months after purchase) my hard drive failed... i got a new toshiba hard drive no questions asked....on electronics i am now getting the extended warranty !!

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 63

Well I know from a reliable source in the insurance biz that these plans are 80-90% pure profit for the stores. He told me that if you buy a service plan, there is a chance of around 95% that you won't use it(the majority of times its used, its for total replacement of the item, meaning greater loss to the store, so the profitability goes down, meaing that its not 15% that end up using the extended service plan, its more like 5%). Now people come on here and tell stories aobut how it saved them so much money. But look at the figures, this is what I like to call "lottery syndrome". Yeah you saved money by buying it for that one device, but you also bought plans for 10 other devices, your still in the hole big time. If you buy plans on all the electronic gadgets you buy and you end of using it on 5% of your products, in the long run you'd have been better off just pocketing the service plan money, and replacing the items yourself.

The only service plan I've ever bought is a cellphone plan from Bestbuy, and I've used the hell out of it. It allows me to upgrade to new phones for the difference. So everytime their is a sale I go in and exchange for a new phone. Once I excahange for a new phone for a 20 buck difference, then I sent in the rebate and got 50 bucks, I pocketed 30 bucks, which ended up paying for the service plan, and now I have the latest and greatest.

-Visorholic

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 1

I purchased an extended warranty for my laptop from CompUSA and had the devil of a time getting it honered. The warranty stated "repair or replace with equal or greater value.

After about a 1.5 years, the modem gave out on my laptop. I took it in to have them repair it, and was told that the modem was attached to the motherboard, and that they would have to replace the entire motherboard. After a couple of weeks, they advised they could no longer get parts, and they also did not stock that laptop anymore. They advised me that they would give me the purchase price back toward a new computer. When I pointed out that the nearest comparable computer was 3 times the price, they advised that the purchase price was the most they would refund me.

I read the warranty to the store manager, specifically "replace with equal or greater value" who said he should not be expected to hand me another computer costing 3 times the price. It took me complaining to their corporate office, before they finally agreed to ship the computer off to some other repair facility who did have the parts, but cost a whole lot more then CompUSA's in house repair.

I still have 2 years warranty left and I am sure that if something else happens, I am going to have the same problem again. Yes the warranty finally paid off, but it took a lot longer then it should have.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 1

Insurance Plans

I never would buy an insurance plan from those types of stores. To be honest that's how they make their money. If your afraid you're going to drop it you probably should buy a nice case for it something. As far as reliability and stuff if electronic devices are going to die they will probably die in the first 30 days or so. Save your money! Go spend the $100 on a Springboard Module!

Tony

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Interests: Women, Drums, Visors, Computers, Home Theater and any cool gadgets.
Posts: 138

Re: Insurance Plans

quote:

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Originally posted by t2k2c2h1
I never would buy an insurance plan from those types of stores. To be honest that's how they make their money. If your afraid you're going to drop it you probably should buy a nice case for it something. As far as reliability and stuff if electronic devices are going to die they will probably die in the first 30 days or so. Save your money! Go spend the $100 on a Springboard Module!

Tony

---

I have to add my 3.5 cents here. Damn inflation.

I agree that a lot of the times these things are worthless.
Many times I get to a checkout and have to tel them 2 or 3 times I don't want it!

I have a theory though. I will buy them on some items usually over $500 like electronics if the warrenty isn't too much. I won't spend $100 or more on a warrenty.

I had a nice Sony Amp I bought at Best Buy. Added 4 years of warrenty for only $30 I believe it was at the time. It wasn't even 2 years ago. Anyway I turned the amp on one day and nothing, dead amp. The Sony warrenty was only a year so best Buy's kicked in. Took it to Best Buy and they sent it out to Sony for me and it was taken care of. I got it back within a week. That would have cost me a lot more than $30 in time alone to get it fixed. I still have 2 years left on it.

For that alone it was worth it. Though I didn't want to be without an amp for a week so I upgraded to another Sony amp but one model line up in quality.

Anyone want a Sony amp

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