Blueprint for Financial Prosperity reminds us that savvy consumers can take advantage of credit card companies hellbent on turning a profit. Most credit card companies will go to great lengths to keep their customers happily spending away. Use these tips to make them cater to your every financial desire:
warranties
American Home Shield Technician Likewise Unaware Of How He Stay In Business
By 9.10.07
HIM: “I don’t know.”
His complaint letter to the company follows…
Chrysler Introduces Lifetime Powertrain Warranty
By 7.30.07
Effective immediately, Chyrsler is upgrading its three-year, 36,000 mile powertrain warranty to a lifetime warranty. The warranty only applies to original owners and lessees, and specifically excludes rental companies and corporate fleets. Still, it’s a good news, right? The car experts at Jalopnik think it could be better:
Fewer Consumers Buying Extended Warranties For Electronics
By 7.18.07
Best Buy recently disclosed in its annual report that extended warranty sales as a percentage of revenue fell 12 percent during the past fiscal year. At Circuit City, warranty sales last year fell 8 percent as a percentage of revenue.
Man Expresses Disenchantment With Best Buy Refunds
By 7.11.07
Antonio Cangiano says he bought a brand new Aspire 5100 as a gift for his wife and barely touched it before a giant crystal liquid leak appeared on its screen. A Best Buy tech insisted it was customer abuse, but after an hour of arguing, he got them to agree to look at it in the warranty inspection depot. There is no lesson here, no takeaway, only one man’s vented spleen.
Reader Tries In Vain For 16 Months To Get Stainsafe To Honor Couch's Warranty
By 7.10.07
Adam’s mother has been trying for 16 months to get Stainsafe to honor its warranty for her ripped couch. SIXTEEN MONTHS. She’s documented the series in a time-line of ineptitude. She definitely deserves the warranty repair, but then some part of us is like, ductape?
By 7.6.07
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Man blogs effort to get Kia car that randomly turns off while driving it returned under Oregon lemon law.
Apple Gives Macbook Smasher A New Macbook
By 7.3.07
Apple contacted me over the weekend and arranged for me to pick up a new macbook on Tuesday…
Poll: Has Rooms To Go Honored Their Warranty?
By 6.29.07
Cratin ordered a micro-fiber living room set from Rooms To Go after being taken by an all-encompassing warranty. Five months later, Cratin began to notice stains on the fabric. Rooms To Go attempted to remove the stains on three separate visits, and then offered to re-upholster the marred piece. Cratin also noticed that the velcro attaching his couch cushion to the couch was coming undone. Rooms To Go again dispatched three technicians who could not resolve the problem, and then offered to reimburse Cratin if he decided to purchase additional velcro from a hardware store. Cratin is furious and wants to raise bloody hell, but to us, it looks like the Rooms To Go is doing their best. We ask you, The Consumerists, to decide who is right, after the jump:
Man Teaches Apple To Not Repair His Macbook By Smashing It With Sledgehammer
By 6.21.07
Michael coulda tried calling back again later and getting a different rep, or emailing Steve Jobs, or filing a dispute with the BBB or AG, or any number of different options. Instead, this seems to have been his most personally satisfying option.
XBOX360 Consumer Pwns Microsoft Using Level 34 American Express Powers
By 6.20.07
Remember Richard? Microsoft and numerous commenters mocked him for trying to get his XBOX360 fixed under warranty repair because he had a random tech pry open the box, thus voiding the warranty.
What Is "Lemon Law?"
By 5.18.07
Did you know that if something you own is defective and you get it repaired three times for the same problem, you may be entitled to a free replacement under “lemon law?”
RESOLVED: Geek Squad Fixed My iPod By Sending Me A Broken One
By 5.18.07
When Charlie’s iPod died, again, she took it to Best Buy, again, as it was under one of those extended warranties they push. What she got back in the mail was an even more messed up iPod. When she took it to the store, they were kinda jerks about it. After her complaint got posted here, Best Buy swooped in.
Cingular Charging Me $349.99 For Phone I Already Returned
By 5.14.07
Chris exchanged his messed up Blackjack with Cingular (now the new AT&T) under warranty replacement. Now Cingular (now the new AT&T) can’t find the phone that he sent back and keeps trying to bill him $349.99 for it. Repeated calls to customer service are unsuccessful and provide contradictory information.
Xbox360 Tells Customer "I Am Laughing At You" And Hangs Up
By 5.11.07
Is Xbox360 like the most fault-prone device in the history of video gaming or what? As if in a deliberate attempt to add injury to insult to injury, Microsoft provided only a 90-day warranty, AND staffed their call centers with a goodly numbers of jerks. To wit, this recent conversation Richard had when trying to get his Xbox360 fixed under warranty repair:
Best Buy's XBOX 360 Replacement Plan Is A Huge Hassle
By 5.8.07
Here at the Consumerist we tell you not to spend your hard-earned money on things like “Extended Warranties” or “Replacement Plans.” Why? Because you can get a credit card with extended warranty protection and double your warranty for free. Still, many people buy into the replacement/warranty plans and then are disappointed when using them is a hassle. Like Reader Matt, for example. Matt found out the hard way that Best Buy will go out of their way to sell you the plan, but are uninterested in helping you take advantage of it.
