Question:
I'd just like to make you aware of this so you don't get conned into buying one!
On Jan 1st 2004, i bought a dvd recorder from Currys, together with a Coverplan Warranty which i was told by the salesman, covered me for 3 years, + 1 year manufacturers guarantee, the DVD/RW cost me 200 quid, and the warranty a further 80 quid.
As usual, the bloody thing packed up a week after the manufacturers guarantee ran out - no prob i thought, i'll just claim on the warranty. I took it to my local store, where i was duly told yes it was under cover and would be repaired with 6 WEEKS - if i buy one at ASDA, i get a straight replacement!!!, still i asked about a loan recorder as i only used it to record my CCTV - no chance i was curtly told. 4 weeks passed, i thought i'd phone and ask about it - IT WAS STILL UNDER THE COUNTER!!!!!!! another 4 weeks passed and i decided i'd waited long enough, it was pointed out to me by a m8 that i coulld have claimed a new one after 6 weeks under the terms of the warranty GRRRRR!
I went back to the shop and they agreed that was right, but when i went to choose a new one i was told "No" I was only entitled to VOUCHERS and what was worse, they would only be issued to the current value of an identical model. Of course, the current price of an identical spec machine now is £95. Could it get any worse? YES, the vouchers could only be issued by post, which took a further two weeks, and to rub salt into the already gaping wound, my warranty was no longer valid after i claimed on it!!, so i work it out that i lost out to the tune of £180, and i STILL had to use the bloody vouchers in CURRYS, so i ended up forking out another £200 to get something that was actually any good, so in the end, i lost out to the tune of £380.
You might think my tale of woe ends here but no, as a final kick in the arsehole (as if it didn't already look like a chewed orange), i was asked if i'd like to buy a new warranty - "Surely you jest" i asked, "No i was told, "this warranty is much better than the old one - we scrapped the other one because of the complaints....."
The moral to this tale? - it's true - extended warranty is not worth the vouchers they're printed on - DON'T DO IT!
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The moral to this tale? - it's true - extended warranty is not worth the vouchers they're printed on - DON'T DO IT![/quote]
I didn't think anybody did buy these extended guarantees anymore?
It makes me laugh though, I bought a £9.99 CD player from Curry's and they tried to persaude me to take out the extra cover for a further 8.99!
Soo
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I've taken extended warranties with in the past, had things go wrong and found them sorted out pretty easily, they've twice replaced items too as they would cost too much to repair.
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I have appliance insurance from norwich union direct (ONLINE). Last year it paid for a sky callout and new box and repair to dish. This year it has replaced my 4 year old dishwasher. It covers appliances like TV, dvd, sky and washing machine, dishwasher etc. It does not cover pc's or central heating. Details here SORRY - just found they are not taking on new customers There are however other companies who do multi appliance insurance
e.g.
I cannot vouch for any but I am quite haooy with NUD and they say they may be reopening new policies soon
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The trick is to take the fuse out a week before the shop guarantee runs out, that way you get a new one with another years guarantee.
Been doing that for years never fails to work (if you go in on a Saturday its even better, Saturday staff dont really give a @#*$ about what goes on as they're only there for 10 hours a week)
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My flatmate had the exact same problem. He bought an xbox when they first came out and paid for about £400. He took out the 5 year coverplan thingy and a few months ago it stopped reading discs. He took it to a store and they said they'd send him vouchers as replacement and he was able to keep his old xbox. 3 Weeks passed and nothing so he phoned up and the woman instore had messed up so it would be another 2-4 weeks to get the vouchers. When they arrived Currys had sent him £80 for a new machine (when new xboxs cost about £100) and a voucher for £25 for another coverplan
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ha - like we'd want another coverplan eh?
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The biggest rip with extended warranties is that they cover the time in the appliance's lifespan when it's leart likely to fail. Electronic equipment usually fails in the first few weeks/months of its life, which is covered by your statutory rights to refund/replacement, or by the almost-universal 1-year manufacturers warranty. Either that or it'll fail after 5-10 years due to age, wear or electronic component failure. The warranty covers years 2,3 and 4 of its life, when it's quite unlikely to give you any problems.
With the very low price of electronic goods at the moment, the Likes of Currys and Dixons seem to make most of their money from the warranties. No wonder they push them so hard.
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Yes waste of money and always have been. Often people don't realise that they are covered by law even after the 12 months guarantee. So when that TV is dead after 12 months they are obliged to fix it or replace it depending on the fault.
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The biggest moral is not to buy from Currys!
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Not necessarily. If the item is at a good price (however some stuff in the big-name electrical shops is shockingly overpriced), then buy it, but avoid the extended warranty of course. It's good consumer revenge as they don't make much profit if you don't buy the warranty.
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It really is a con. Extended warranties now have to be covered by the Financial Standards Authority.
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my hubby is wanting to buy a tv at currys - its about £500 - he usually does take out the warranties for stuff as if they break we cannot afford to replace them with him being disabled and not working and im his carer - i currently have my washing machine on a coverplan and my computer is still covered even though ive paid the plan off - my hubby also has a cd player on a plan at 4.99 a month - so, if we dont take these out - say after about 2 years it breaks - what happens?
my washing machine is about 7 years old and this is an extended coverplan at about 6.00 month - this is due to expire soon - do i replace or do i hope my machine packs up in the meantime and i get a brand new maching after all this time?
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Have a look at the John Lewis site.They provide a free 5 year guarantee with large tv`s.
I would think that they would be more likely to honour a guarantee then Curry`s as well.
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Quote:
my hubby is wanting to buy a tv at currys - its about £500 - he usually does take out the warranties for stuff as if they break we cannot afford to replace them with him being disabled and not working and im his carer - i currently have my washing machine on a coverplan and my computer is still covered even though ive paid the plan off - my hubby also has a cd player on a plan at 4.99 a month - so, if we dont take these out - say after about 2 years it breaks - what happens?
my washing machine is about 7 years old and this is an extended coverplan at about 6.00 month - this is due to expire soon - do i replace or do i hope my machine packs up in the meantime and i get a brand new maching after all this time?
As the Americans would say, "Do the math."
The CD player is costing £60 a year to insure so, if it does break after 2 years, you'd already have paid £120 for its replacement - how much did it cost originally?
And you've already paid nearly £600 to insure that washing machine!
Putting that insurance money into a building society account (and not touching it unless the item in question needs to be repaired or replaced) would be better value.
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Took the advice right out of my mouth April2! Totally agree with you. Another option is to purchase on a credit card so a) they are jointly liable with the retailer and b) get it on 0% to pay off slowly over time to make it more manageable c) some offer FREE extended warranties on appliances bought on them. (beware barclaycard used to do this and heavily marketed it, but this has now been withdrawn).
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Ok, i have some serious issues with you lot skitting the cover. I have purchased coverplan on my laptop which i have to say has proved invaluable. Not only is the service second to none, but i have sent my laptop back 4 times, each time its been picked up on say the monday, and if i have not recieved it by the friday, i have the laptop back fully working by the monday. I have no complaints to make about it. Yes you have to pay about an extra £300 for the cover on a £1000 laptop, but dont you think its worth it?
Everyone who slates cover has not really used it. If you had bothered to phone coverplan up yourself you would have noticed that you dont take the products back to the store as there is no guarantee that they leave and when they return. You should mail them off yourself. Dont forget that you only have to pay for the phone call you dont have to pay for any postage.
Recenly i have started working for dixons, which i know you are going to call me bias but i have had the same feeling for some time before i started to work for the company.
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I have used Coverplan on several occasions and have always found them to be utterly hopeless. A few years ago my VCR packed up. Coverplan (or Mastercare or whatever they're called) came out to fix it. My mum let the chap in and told me later that he'd looked at it, that it was dirty heads that had caused the problem, that he had fixed it and charged her £30.00 for the call out. i was a bit miffed but thought "oh well, guess its my fault then" until I tried to use the VCR and found it to be still not working! I can't quite recall how long it rumbled on for but it was weeks and weeks and three call outs before they sorted it. Later, the manager of Dixons said "oh you should have brought it back to the store, I'd have swapped it straight away".
Failing to learn from my mistake, I brought a new PC and later a laptop, both with expensive coverplans and both times they went wrong and both times they were frustratingly awful in their service. When my monitor went bang I was without it for SIX weeks and my lap top has been back three times for a dodgy power supply which took them ages to diagnose.
More recently, the modem broke. They had it for two weeks whilst they fixed it. After having it back a few weeks, it broke again. I noted that in those few weeks the Coverplan had expired ( I had not renewed - lesson finally learned) but since their repair had lasted only a month or so, I figured that they might feel obliged to put it right, but no chance "computer says nooo" was about all I got from them.
Dixons/PC World/Currys - terrible customer service from all of them.
(I did recently get the chance of revenge against the youth who sold me my laptop in Dixons when I used my physical advantage against him when our paths crossed in a local football league match. It cost me £8 for the booking so no Hereexpert there but it was worth it)
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I would not normally pay for extended warranty but did so when I bought cd walkman for my daughter. Car broken into when on holiday, car insurance did not cover it, household didn't either. Had brainwave to check warranty and it covered it, got a full value voucher and replaced. So they might be worth getting for this alone.
Peter.
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Quote:
Ok, i have some serious issues with you lot skitting the cover. I have purchased coverplan on my laptop which i have to say has proved invaluable. Not only is the service second to none, but i have sent my laptop back 4 times, each time its been picked up on say the monday, and if i have not recieved it by the friday, i have the laptop back fully working by the monday. I have no complaints to make about it. Yes you have to pay about an extra £300 for the cover on a £1000 laptop, but dont you think its worth it?
Everyone who slates cover has not really used it. If you had bothered to phone coverplan up yourself you would have noticed that you dont take the products back to the store as there is no guarantee that they leave and when they return. You should mail them off yourself. Dont forget that you only have to pay for the phone call you dont have to pay for any postage.
Recenly i have started working for dixons, which i know you are going to call me bias but i have had the same feeling for some time before i started to work for the company.
i used to work for the link (also part of dsg) and sold the coverplan on mobiles, faxes etc and would NEVER buy it now purely because of the hassle people had who bought it from me had clamining on it, since they came to the shop as the first port of call when something went wrong
although this was approx 6 years ago since i worked there i cant see much difference in what i was selling and the patter i was giving the customers and what i get now
imo sorry but i will take the chance, in fact just yestersday i bought a laptop in currys and declined the salesman trying to sell me the cover, yes there may be benefits to buying it but i dont really need them