Buy the Extended Warranty for Your Flat Screen

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Buy the Extended Warranty for Your Flat Screen

Submitted by: Barry31 10/20/2008 8:48 AM

I normally don't buy the warranties offered as most of them are useless, but when I am buying a big ticket item, like a TV, I usually shell out the extra $100 to get the warranty as figure these new flat screens tend to crap out a lot.

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Case in point, 3 years ago I spent $2000 on a 46" 1080 LCD at Best Buy and bought the 4 year extended warranty. Man, am I glad I did! 3 years later the screen is totally green, so I bring it back to Best Buy to see if they can fix, no luck. So they give me a store credit of $2000 to buy a new TV and I walked out of there with a brand new 50" TV and a new 4 year warranty.

With the shoddy craftmanship nowadays, if I spend over a grand, I get the warranty.

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Comments:

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Don't buy the warranty.......buy a high quality tv. Case in point, Buy a sony and it will last a decade, buy a magnavox it may last a year. the salesman make a commission on the warranties. Many folks jump at the lower prices instead of doing their homework on the reliability of their purchases. A few tidbits. Higher quality electronis are normally heavier (better metals). Places like costco beat the price and extend the warranty on a flatscreen lcd to two years (thats where i bought my sony 46 inch lcd ararguughhh=manly grunting). You can also research your credit card company or credit cards in general (creditcards.com) to see if they will extend your warranty. I check out the hardware i'm purchasing at sights like cnet.com or consumerresearch.com=the poor man's consumer reports!!=free. Long story short, if it cost money, research it.

Posted by Don Cummings on October 23, 2008 4:04 AM

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This is a great idea. My parents bought a *name brand DON* Sony television at Best Buy and purchased the extended plan. They had it for a MONTH and it went out. Best Buy couldn't fix the problem so they got a whole new tv out of it, thus the 200 dollar warranty definitely paid for itself when they didn't have to buy a new 1700 dollar television

Posted by marmar on October 27, 2008 6:15 AM

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I would think that if they only had the tv for a month the regular manufacturer's warranty would kick in - not the extended.

Posted by Sue on October 29, 2008 3:36 PM

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most gold and higher credit cards double the mfg warrenty,if you really think you need to buy a warrenty buy it from a third party at the store .there is probley a 200% markup at the store they make more on the warrenty than on the product.I consider a warrenty on items costing over a $1000 myself less than that I take my chances

Posted by James Bowers on November 06, 2008 11:00 AM

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@marmar,
The normal warranty is typically for at least 3 months and that is what covered your parents bad TV, not the extended warranty. Your parents got rooked for an extra @200.

Folks also keep in mind that the extended warranty isn't an extension of the original warranty, it goes into effect on the day of purchase, so if your normal warranty is for 3 months and the extended is for 2 years, then you paid full price for a warranty that is only 1 year and 9 months.

Posted by Stephen on November 23, 2008 10:36 PM

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I just purchased a Samsung from Best buy and they game me a 30 day warranty if I didnt purchase the extended warranty not a 3 month?

However when my PS3 was puarchased December 1st and it crapped out on January 24th they honered it with a no cost holiday extended warranty that lasted til January 26th.

@Stephen and its not called Rooked for an extra 200 its called piece of mind because if it was indeed one day past the 30 day warranty they would have been out 1700 dollars.

Posted by Doug on December 05, 2008 3:53 PM

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You can't generalize on the extended warranty time frame, marmar.

I just bought a Samsung T260HD TV/Monitor from Sam's Club. It's a 26-inch 1080p HD TV/computer monitor. It came with a Samsung warranty good for 3 years parts and labor. (Note, the Samsung TVs only carry a 1-year warranty, but the computer monitor line carries a 3-year plan.) I purchased the 3-year Sam's extended warranty which starts at the END of the manufacturer's warranty. That means this item will be covered for both parts and labor for 6 years. Not a bad idea to have such a safety margin, for the slight $39 cost.

Posted by anonymous on December 26, 2008 3:45 PM

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Buy from Sam's and you will not have this problem. Great warrenties there and return is excellent with no problems.

Posted by Francine on January 08, 2009 10:49 AM

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Buy a reconditioned TV for a third of the cost of new with a one year warranty. Look for deals with companies like Tigar Direct because stores like Best Buy are on their last gasp and the warranty is only good if the company is in business. No company, no warranty. just ask the guys that had extended warrantys from Comp USA.

Posted by Bobbquackenbush on January 13, 2009 8:45 PM

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