extended warranties on electrical items

What a con!!!! I only insure the house and cars.

Our fridge-freezer died a few weeks ago on the then hottest weekend of the year. It was just under 4 years old, and 2 years out of guarantee. It was definitely not a budget appliance! On the Monday an email went to Customer Support, asking why an expensive "reliable" machine had gone wrong in such a short time. The email was answered by return and with much concern. To cut a longish story short, I was offered a brand-new FF at 50% discount, and a further year's guarantee (over the two years standard) free of charge. I consider that very reasonable as, being out-of-guarantee I could have been told to get lost.

One other point. Because we needed a fridge in the short term, on the morning the FF failed I bought a budget one which works perfectly well, but I have been totally unable to register it over the internet for its one-year guarantee. I fill out the form and it just sits there "confirming" the info endlessly. It's no more than I would get from my consumer rights, anyway, so I gave up.

The whole concept of insuring small losses is obviously barmy. Maybe it makes sense for people who are so broke and out of credit they can't afford to replace a small appliance, but otherwise the process of insuring adds the cost of layers of administration and profit onto the expected cost of replacement. It's bound to be cheaper to self-insure.

I don't take the extended warranty out on anything.

As you say, the first year (or more) is covered and statistically failures tend to follow the bath tub curve. It will be dead on arrival, fail soon after you purchased it or fail at the end of its "normal lifespan" Things like fridges and freezers tend to be very reliable.

Furthermore, if you are that worried about extending a warranty you will probably find that by shopping around for this type of insurance from a third party is much cheaper than obtaining it from the manufacturer or from the retailer from where you purchased the item.

It is a familiar business model of offering vastly overpriced customer support contracts on things sold cheaply. You will almost certainly find that in the month running up to the first anniversary of your purchase they will try again with an even more "tempting" offer.

The droids at the checkout always look a bit hurt when I decline the optional ripoff insurance deal they are obliged to push on consumers.

Depending on the cost of the device it is almost certainly far cheaper to save the money you would have spent on such insurance for buying a replacement if the thing dies. I reckon a freezer is typically good for a decade if you don't do stupid things to it. Our VH manages to kill the odd fridge by people moving them too brutally and then not letting them settle before powering up again (or some other means).

Actually I think it ties in to a whole mentality which is somnewhat like the TV rental market used to be. I want a product, but not te reposnibility of ownerhsip.

So cars are contract hired.With AA style support.

Appliances are bought on credit with a guarantee. If they break then they are fixed FIC.

Household maintenace is on fixed annual price call out.

It's all about people who can understand monthly outgoings, but not how to budget.

Further up the income scale, they simply buy new on fault.

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought under EU law appliance had to have a minimum two year guarantee. Certainly anything like a FF bought from John Lewis gets a minimum of two years.

Add to that that the 'life expectancy' of a major appliance is considered to be of the order of six years and you would certainly have a strong has under the CRA if it failed much before that and had not been abused.

Mind you try telling that to an irk in Expensive World!

You don't have to register it for the 1 year guarantee. The retailer is responsible and the purchase receipt should be enough.

Manufacturers only want you to register on line so they know what address to send the reminder about your warranty running out and to point out the danger of not paying them lots of money to extend the warranty. The small print may say that they cover parts but not labour.

I renewed my car insurance last Friday, no change in cost from last year and unlikely to be beaten elsewhere. During the call to renew, the droid tried to up-sell with offers for extra cover for any tools and equipment I might have in my garage. There is a hell of a lot of tool money in there, but chances of anyone breaking in and walking out with anything useful - nill. It just doesn't happen here, besides they would need a truck to get away with much and people might notice.

Does anyone remember the very first video machines? the Philips 1500 and

Can you imagine how much this must have cost? Admittedly the machine, which had a timer directly of a cooker, cost over 300 quid and only ran a tape for an hour and you could keep your breakfast warm on the top, but it did work surprisingly well. Indeed when the 1700 came out with a whole 2.5 hours recording time, and a crisper picture and a digital clock. I had the old

How long an item lasts really should be defined somehow. Half the aggro is the argument that a particular bit of gear should have lasted longer than it did for the amount paid for it. Strangely, cheap stuff like a tessco cd radio tape player went wrong after a year and they just replaced it, into argument and it only cost 40 quid.

The cd player went ping one day and shot several little ball bearings into the works of the unit! Brian

I keep being rung up and told my boiler insurance is about to expire and I need to "renew".

My boiler was installed in 1988 and has never been insured.

That may be true if you live on Lundy, but I'm rather sceptical elsewhere.

I'm just trying to remember what pride comes before.

Norman Wells formulated on Sunday :

Two large dogs provide better insurance and they never complain that they '...don't cover that'.

When they stole my mates pickup they used a two truck. The next door neighbour made the drivers of the tow truck a cup of tea.

Norman Wells formulated on Sunday :

I insure the car, because it is a legal requirement. I insure the house because I could not afford to replace it. I self insure everything else, including myself, with the money I have saved in not paying for extra insurances and extended warranties. I save a considerable amount by also paying cash for everything I buy. Having spare cash available also helps make everything much cheaper to buy. If I see a genuine bargain, I can buy it there and then.

Agreed. These extended warranties are in my view always a con. But enough people get taken in that they account for a significant amount of profit for the manufacturer and, of course, the insurance companies involved.

It's also an explanation for the difficulties of the Brexit negotiations, where there's an attempt to separate trade in goods and services. Both are broadly speaking covered while we are a member of the EU, but if we leave - who knows? The problem is that lot of the value of the supply of goods comes from a service element. And not just in consumer purchases: if a business buys a software package it will probably also buy a software update service, and at the highest levels, if you buy a frigate or an airliner you expect that a servicing contract will be included in the deal.

Jim K wrote on 29/07/2018 :

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

By 'cash' I mean funds in the bank, so 'cash' = cash and cards. Cash available to use, means you can often get a 10% discount on a posted price in a shop, especially true if they are offering interest free credit on an item.

Cash available means you can spot a bargain and buy it if it is something you want /need there and then, before bargain is bought by A N Other. Cash means that if your washing machine dies and is not economical to repair, you don't need to borrow money at high interest rates to replace it, or go to the likes of that high street retailer who let you pay twice as much for spreading the cost over a year or two.

I mentioned nothing about tax evasion, or anything else illegal - just simply not paying more than you need to for things.

I remember buying a cheap kettle (£15) from Comet many years ago and being offered an extended warranty on it for £9 per year. I explained to the assistant that if it failed during the first year I would be back, if it failed during the second I would buy a new one. So worst case scenario I would be £3 up on the deal. She did not understand my logic !?

Jim K formulated on Sunday :

Only if the authorities force them to admit it..