New LCD television how reliable

[Geo]

WJS 1665W has the option to turn it off by pressing the temperature and spin speed buttons simultaneously.

[Invisible Man]

...and we do use a $ky HD box and have it connected to the PC network etc etc

[chrisj.doran]

I had that kind of deal from (I think) Currys on my first digital camera many years ago when they were very expensive. It died within the 5 years, but by that time it was cheaper to by a secondhand replacement on eBay. At the end of the 5 years I applied for and got refund of the "insurance". They didn't send me any reminder that it was due, and there was a very short time window to claim, so I guess they win by most people forgetting. I had set up a computer reminder.

Chris

[dennis]

My Samsung makes a tune at the end, it then makes another after about 10 minutes as it shuts itself down. There is a button to turn the sound off which is remembered even if you unplug it, I think. Damn thing can be so quiet I have been in to turn it on thinking I had forgotten.

[djc]

The point of insurance is not to get back what you paid in. Think of it as a bet which you would prefer to lose. You insure things because the potential loss is more than you could sustain. It is based on the assumption that a small premium buys peace of mind in the case of a major disaster; that most people will pay the premium but not need to claim. Unfortunately too many people think that they have lost out if they don't get back the premiums by making a claim, the consequence is that the premiums go up and insurance is poor value for everybody.

If its contents insurance, and you don't have anything valuble that money can replace then you possibly don't need it. On the other hand, unless you have the cash to rebuild your home if it burns to the ground, you almost certainly need buildings insurance. Public liability insurance is perhaps a corner case, your less likely to attract ambulance chasers if you have nothing.

The best way to cut premiums is to have policy with a high excess: it assures the insurance co you will not be making small claims.

[Mike Henry]

Indeed. No-one mentioned insurance. However it is how Richer Sounds' extended warranties system works. :-)

[Tim Streater]

This is all quite right and is a good summary.

[Norman Wells]

It's both.

Yes, since open fires went, and we don't smoke, the risk really is only of something going wrong while cooking or an electrical fault. You just don't see house fires like you used to!

True, but again the risk is very low, I'd have thought. You're most unlikely to lose the lot in one go.

[Norman Wells]

Fair enough, but the chances of having to rebuild everything and to replace all the contents must be exceedingly low. Normally, it's just a bit, and a small bit at that, isn't it?

[J G Miller]

On Friday, July 30th, 2010 at 21:42:43h +0100, Norman Wells declared:

Unless you live in southern California.

[Tim Streater]

Mr Invisible has calculated the risk and decided it's worth £180/yr to him avoid the various risks.

Insurance only really works when risks are fairly low. So if 1 in 10,000 houses burns down each year, and the average house is worth say £250k, everyone pays £25/year in fire insurance (plus a bit more). That means all 10,000 householders can cease to worry about that particular risk.

That's what you're paying the premium for - so you don't have to worry. It's for you to decide which risks you don't care about. To do that in a sensible way, of course, you'll have to do a risk assessment for each type of risk. That's what insurance companies do, and they're quite good at it (they go bust if they're not). Better at it than you are, at any rate.

And better than govt depts, too. Remember the postman who was told he couldn't deliver the mail to some folks anymore, because it involved climbing over a style and crossing a field (dangerous!)? The powers that be had identified that a risk existed (fine so far), and then done a shitty job at *quantifying* the risk. They'd rated it high (high enough to stop the postie doing his job) instead of low (number of accidents in previous 50 years on that round - zero).

If a risk is quite high (e.g. for a tanker going up the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war), then the premium is correspondingly high, and the notion of "insurance" ceases to mean very much.

[Peter Duncanson]

£180 is a tiny percentage of £1/4M+. In practice there is not just the cost of rebuilding and the replacement of the contents but also the cost of somewhere else to live while the house is being rebuilt.

[geoff]

In message , john hamilton writes

The only extended warranties I ever buy are from Richer Sounds - they are redeemable at the end of the warranty period, as long as you remember to do so, you have a month either side of the purchase anniversary

[geoff]

It is if most people forget

[geoff]

In message , Stuart Kenny writes

Not necessarily - I've done it without

That's the important bit

Interest on say £30 ? not really worth worrying about, is it

I've had a couple of DVD/HDD players go wrong within the warranty period, worth it for me

Yeah - I agree with that

I still get the richer sounds warranties though

[geoff]

Or ...

I'd like to return this which I bought last week, it's £10 cheaper this week

I presume there must be some reason

It is good in the morning before the "riff-raff" are allowed in

>

[geoff]

In message , Peter Duncanson writes

Maybe you were using it to make illicit spirits from beer ...

[geoff]

In message , Java Jive writes

Really ?

Would you like to remind up how much money you would have to put away for how long at today's interest rates to replace an item which cost, shall we say, £400 ?

[geoff]

In message , Alan White writes

What's the point ?

They are only sales assistants there to sell products for the store i.e. The goods and the extended warranty. It's not their product, not their store, they don't make the rules or choose what the store sells

[geoff]

Your house is unlikely to fall down or suffer expensive damage

HOWEVER ...

If it was to do so, could you afford to buy a new one ?

If the starter motor in your car died, could you afford to replace it?

Most probably - so IMO, parts warranty on a car isn't worth it

As someone else said, in general, only insure what you can't afford to replace yourself (with the exception of richer sounds extended warranties)