Can We Talk 2

Appliance Warranties

         My washer broke. Called the repair company. They tried to sell me a warranty for every appliance in the house for $50 a month: no charge for parts or labor for all household appliances. Lawn equipment and electronics not included. I did some quick math and figured at $600 a year, I would not get my money's worth. I don't have many appliances break down in a ten year period, and can replace them or repair them for less than the $6000 I would pay in 10 years. So he finally set an appointment for today. I had wet laundry stuck in the machine. Before hanging up, he wanted to set an appointment for a free carpet or cabinet estimate. Just not interested.


         Everything turns into additional sales. I'm told by friends never to order items from TV ads by calling in. You can't get off the phone, because they keep trying to sell related products or upgrading. One lady I know who really needed that back brace ended up saying,"Just forget everything", because they wouldn't finish the transaction. They had her credit card number, so she called the bank to be sure the charge would not go through since they never got her shipping address. These companies try so hard to get additional business that they risk losing the original sale.


         My personal feeling about extended warranties is that in some cases they are desirable. Price is the biggest factor. When I bought a child's I-Pad for my nephew on sale, the warranty was only $5 less than the I-Pad. But the warranty on the desktop makes sense because of power surges and children. I use a surge protector, but I lost one hard drive to lightning even with one. It made sense to get one on the printer; the price was low enough, and children can't keep their hands off of it. Still the retailers will hammer you on buying the warranties. Some clerks don't want to accept a "no".

         My washer was re-calibrated rather quickly. It's running smoothly for the time being. If it begins to fail again, buying a new one will be cheaper than getting the new parts that will be needed. No I don't want a warranty on all my household appliances, unless you can do it for, say, $10 a month.