One of the benefits of using a credit card for all of your purchases (and paying it off every moth, naturally) is the extension and sometimes expansion of a product’s original warranty. That’s what Cindy does, making purchases with her Discover card for protection and cash back. What she learned not long ago is that you can have the warranty extension, or use the balance in your cash back account, but you can’t do both.

Earlier this month, I purchased a set of Bluetooth headphones from Amazon. I always use my Discover card when I make purchases because of their Extended Product Warranty and Purchase Protection benefits, even though I’ve never used them. I received my headphones promptly and started using them. They were great!

Friday night, when I got home from the Y, I tossed my clothes into the washer. Yes, unfortunately, my three week old headphones were tangled in my shirt and they went in too. And of course, I didn’t realize this until after I pulled the mangled mess out after the cycle completed. After I got finished cursing myself for being an idiot, I remembered the Discover Card benefits. They would save me from my stupidity!

The Purchase Protection ‘automatically protect[s] your purchases against damage or theft for 90 days when you use your Discover Card.’ I went online and read all the exclusions and none of them applied.

I called Discover and talked to a very nice customer service person. Unfortunately, she couldn’t help me. It turned out that I could not submit the claim because I used Amazon’s new pay with your cash back bonus option instead of my actual Discover Card. The rep could see the transaction, but because it was not on the card itself, I was out of luck.

So, lesson learned. Don’t use the pay with cash back option if you want your account benefits to apply.

Good call. Be sure to waste that cash back money on silly things that need no extended warranties, like gummi worms and Golden Poo keychains.

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