extended-warranty
—>We all know that most extended warranties are wastes of money that generally go unused, so why do people buy them? According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, guilt-racked and nervous consumers are willing to shell out the extra cash to buy a little peace of mind... More »
—>Sports Authority is pushing a new "Extended Coverage Plan" for footwear that runs for one year after Sports Authority's 30-day warranty expires. The extended warranty, which costs between $4.99 and $15.99, supposedly even covers normal wear and tear. So how is this profitable? More »
—>Reader Alex bought an Acer laptop with a 3 year extended warranty, and honestly, we lost count of how many times he's sent it in to Acer for repairs — but every time Acer sends it back it seems to get a little bit less functional. Now he's finally had enough and is demanding a replacement. This has lead to a 5 month stand-off in which Acer is refusing to send him a replacement because it would be a "downgrade" from his current broken laptop. Alex has already replaced the laptop and was going to give up. We're his last hope... More »
—>Umar bought a DLP in 2005 with a $400 Best Buy Performance Service Plan. The TV keeps blowing through expensive bulbs (Umar has replaced 7 $275 bulbs in 3 years,) and rather than wait 2 weeks for a technician every time this happens, Best Buy provided a telephone number and told him to order and replace the bulbs himself. Now, because he followed their directions, Best Buy is refusing to cover the TV under the "lemon" provision of the service agreement. More »
Not surprisingly, the car dealers who sell the extended warranties disagree. A spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association likened the warranties to insurance for which, of course, policy holders as a group pay more than they get back to protect against the rare problem that is ruinously expensive. More »
—>It freezes. It crashes. It gives you the red light of death. Well, you're not alone. Microsoft has admitted it. Early Xbox 360s are defective and will be repaired free of charge...providing that you purchased yours before January 1, 2006. More »
—>14 months back, Steve picked himself up a dandy HP 6210 all-in-one printer from OfficeMax. He was confident that it would break almost immediately; that's what cheap printers do. More »
—>Here at Gawker Tower (actually, a giant disused school bus turned vertically that was used by local teens for sex parties until the smell got too bad), we really love the circle jerk. So it was nice when our geeky, mouth-breathing colleagues over at Kotaku took time out of their busy schedule of writing about video games and wondering what it might be like to touch the soft mound of a woman's breast while she was conscious to pass on a reader email, indicating a new protection plan scam from our buddies at Best Buy. More »
