Who buys the service plan at bestbuy or futureshop?

[7thgenvic]

just curious,
when you beyonders purchase at futureshop or bestbuy, do you buy their service plans!

I always hate when they nag and nag at you to buy them.

what are the benifits and is there any real advantage to the purchase of one?

-jonny

[Das_Amaretto]

I'd only say buy it on big-ticket items. I got it on my big screen, when i bought in 2000, and have used the service twice already, totalling over $700 in repairs. One more time in the next 6 mo, and I get a new tv!

On smaller things, I never get it. just get it on tvs, cell phones, anything Harman kardon, and when they offer OTC xchange.

Visions is good too, cuz they give it back to you as store credit if u dont use it.

[KLCC]

Only on large item, such as projection TV ,High end HT speaker and such, anything less than 3000 dollars. Don't bother with the service plan.

[anarchy]

I've used it on my cell phone and it works like a charm. My phone was 370 when I bought it about a year ago, and I got a 2 year service plan on it. Basically you can bring it in, just explain real quick what is wrong with it (can be anything, like the light doesnt automatically come on when you flip it open etc), and they will exchange it for a brand new one. If they don't have your model, you will get the newer one or a different phone of same value.

I brought mine in within a year and it was still under warranty with the phone maker so they replaced it with a newer phone and my warranty is still in tact so I could still do the same thing within a year (you're only supposed to be allowed to use the warranty replacement once).

IMO, it's worth it for items worth a couple hundred bucks or more.

[lastprodigy]

I would ALWAYS reccomend getting it for cellphones, just got new better phoen for free after my old phone hit the shitter after a year or problematic service.

[statick]

i got it with my subs n amp 3 years ago....it was definitly worth it. i'd pretty much walk in there when summin went wrong, and it got taken care of right away.

[rockym20]

I bought it for my wife's MP3 player (a Rio). I read that the Rio's had a lot of problems, but the price was right and the service plan provides for free replacements. Sure enough, we used the service plan to replace it with a RCA one.

[wildrice]

Originally posted by lastprodigy
I would ALWAYS reccomend getting it for cellphones, just got new better phoen for free after my old phone hit the shitter after a year or problematic service.

This is actually pretty funny. When I was purchasing my phone at futureshop. They offered an extended warranty for 2 years - $40.
First year is otc swap and second year is repair or something like that.

I didn't bother getting it. 1 month later, my speaker craps out and I bring it to them expecting them needing to ship it off to get fixed, but I tell them what happened and they gave me a otc swap w/o a warranty.

[Fluidic]

PSP (product service plan) and PRP (product replacement plan) are so worth it. I've seen pissed off customers come in with a defective item, leave happy with an invoice to pick up a new TV a few days later. Try that with a regular warranty.

Cellphones, iPods, laptops, TV's and cordless phones, all worth it. Needless to say, I purchase a PSP or PRP on nearly everything I buy. It's worth it, less hassle, and no "I told you so" at the front counter.

:)

[Moonracer]

I guess I just have goodluck and don't have any troubles most of the time so I never get any extended warranties. But getting one on a big ticket item would be a good idea. I hope I don't have any problems with my plazma tv. :rolleyes:

[MaLwa]

i get the psp on almost everything, i like it because even if someth9ing isn't working as well as it should be, like when my sd400 didnt zoom in and out as fast as it did a few months back they fixed it for me, already called in two repairs in 6 months, two more and i get a new camera, still have 3.5 years on the psp :P samething with my ibook, got two screen repairs done.

....oh and my samsung plazma, the power button was stuck when they delivered it so i just called them and there bringing a new one in on wednesday....got free hd monster cables for cheap 2 :)

[bspot]

I still argue that the average person will come out way ahead by never purchasing an extended warranty.

Every fee that you pay for an extended warranty has to cover the following for the warranty company:

1. The cost of the average repair for the device you are buying
2. Commision for the salesperson who conned you into the warranty
3. Overhead for running a company. Office space, employees, utilities etc
4. Profit

What do you get if your device breaks? Just #1

I'll never buy one, and I'm sure I'll come out far ahead in the end.

[GTS Jeff]

There are a few things that are great with PSP...

-cell phones (you carry it everywhere and it gets banged around)
-mp3 players (same thing)
-TVs (only if you move lots, otherwise the factory warranty will catch all problems)
-computers (only if you're dumb at computers and don't have friends who can fix it for you)

Anddd that's about it. Everything else (home theatre, speakers, appliances, etc) don't really get moved around or don't have much in them to break.

[Neil4Speed]

I think everyone forgot the one thing thats really valuable to buy a PSP for, Ipods, I am sure glad I have mine.

Overall I think PSP's are worth it, if anythign for the peace of mind

[Weapon_R]

I think they're a waste of money, especially for items such as home theater. Buying a $50 PSP for a $100 phone is even worse. If anything, the phone will get lost before something happens to it.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
I think they're a waste of money, especially for items such as home theater. Buying a $50 PSP for a $100 phone is even worse. If anything, the phone will get lost before something happens to it. The trick is to shamelessly abuse PSP in every way possible. What I did with my cell phone was take it in near the end of the PSP term and got it replaced on the spot with a brand new phone. I wanted a fresh new battery and a fresh new layer of paint. They didn't even ask me what was wrong with the phone, though if they had, I woulda said that the reception started sucking.

Don't feel bad about scamming them either, cuz these companies screw lots of people out of their money with PSP.

[7thgenvic]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
The trick is to shamelessly abuse PSP in every way possible. What I did with my cell phone was take it in near the end of the PSP term and got it replaced on the spot with a brand new phone. I wanted a fresh new battery and a fresh new layer of paint. They didn't even ask me what was wrong with the phone, though if they had, I woulda said that the reception started sucking.

Don't feel bad about scamming them either, cuz these companies screw lots of people out of their money with PSP.

i guess i don't feel as bad either, i've done it twice now with my cell phone, and twice with my ipod!

the reason im asking is because were getting a couple news tv's for the house, 2 of which are plasma, so i didn't know if the purchase of the plan was a good idea

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by 7thgenvic


i guess i don't feel as bad either, i've done it twice now with my cell phone, and twice with my ipod!

the reason im asking is because were getting a couple news tv's for the house, 2 of which are plasma, so i didn't know if the purchase of the plan was a good idea Meh, I wouldn't.

If there's something wrong with the TV, you'll find out right away and be able to exchange for a new one.

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
The trick is to shamelessly abuse PSP in every way possible. What I did with my cell phone was take it in near the end of the PSP term and got it replaced on the spot with a brand new phone. I wanted a fresh new battery and a fresh new layer of paint. They didn't even ask me what was wrong with the phone, though if they had, I woulda said that the reception started sucking.

Don't feel bad about scamming them either, cuz these companies screw lots of people out of their money with PSP.

Is it really that easy with cellphones? I have the PSP on my phone but Iam hesitating if i should get it replace or not...

[QuasarCav]

I've never bought a PSP and I dont intend to.

Does anyone have some actual numbers of how much revenue that generates for the companies?

[Weapon_R]

Keep in mind that all electronics do come with a sufficient warranty period. If something is likely to go wrong with the item, it will go in the first 1-3 years and usually covered by warranty. If it does break down in 4-7 years (the usual PSP warranty coverage), is it really worth the extra dollars?

Consider a TV worth $1000. In 5 years, it'll be worth roughly less than half of that, $400. Now, a PSP for that TV will run you about $250-300.

If something does go wrong after the initial warranty period, you will have paid $250-300 to fix something only worth $400. Personally, i'd take that money and use it towards a new TV or a private repair company. If the repairs cost more than what I would have paid for the PSP, i'd rather scrap it and buy myself a current version, newer features and all the good ish, rather than meddle with an aging set.

[sputnik]

I only buy the extended plan for big ticket items (>$2000) and portable items (PSP, cell phone, iPod etc).

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by QuasarCav
I've never bought a PSP and I dont intend to.

Does anyone have some actual numbers of how much revenue that generates for the companies? It's about 90% profit.

[Nav13]

Alot of people are saying they buy it for their ipods and I am wondering if they realize that the 2 year warranty offered by bestbuy and futureshop are both useless, if you by with your cc. On ipods bb & ff both offer 2 or 3 year warranties. Now if you by the 2 year it starts from the date of purchase, so in reality you are only getting one additional year, and again if you by with you credit card, most of them offer an addition extened coverage of up to one year ( I know mastercard does this). Now the three year, I guess is justfied in that you are getting 3 full years of coverage, but at $70, I would rather invest that towards say the battery replacement service with apple or a independent shop, or hell do it yourself. And I guess since staff get it at 50% off, it feels like a rip paying full price.

[Moonracer]

I forgot to mention, I will always purchase most items with my visa witch gives me an extended warrenty. May not cover quite the same as a psp but good enough for me at no extra cost. :D

[7thgenvic]

Originally posted by Nav13
Alot of people are saying they buy it for their ipods and I am wondering if they realize that the 2 year warranty offered by bestbuy and futureshop are both useless, if you by with your cc. On ipods bb & ff both offer 2 or 3 year warranties. Now if you by the 2 year it starts from the date of purchase, so in reality you are only getting one additional year, and again if you by with you credit card, most of them offer an addition extened coverage of up to one year ( I know mastercard does this). Now the three year, I guess is justfied in that you are getting 3 full years of coverage, but at $70, I would rather invest that towards say the battery replacement service with apple or a independent shop, or hell do it yourself. And I guess since staff get it at 50% off, it feels like a rip paying full price.

actually that is very true! the two times i sent in my ipod, the first was through future shop, which took a Hell of alot longer, and the second time they just gave me a box and i had to send it to apple! fuck that PSP shit then

Im just worried with Plasmas that they do not last as long as a DLP Projector or what such, so im kinda afraid of something happeneing down the road

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
The trick is to shamelessly abuse PSP in every way possible. What I did with my cell phone was take it in near the end of the PSP term and got it replaced on the spot with a brand new phone. I wanted a fresh new battery and a fresh new layer of paint. They didn't even ask me what was wrong with the phone, though if they had, I woulda said that the reception started sucking.

Don't feel bad about scamming them either, cuz these companies screw lots of people out of their money with PSP.

:werd: I always get the PRP on the video cards I buy. Then, whenever they stop stocking the one I have, I overclock the shit out of it for a week until the GPU fries and take it back for a brand new (better!) unit.

Other than that, I never get the PSP/PRP on anything else.

[CryoCarnage]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSpl


:werd: I always get the PRP on the video cards I buy. Then, whenever they stop stocking the one I have, I overclock the shit out of it for a week until the GPU fries and take it back for a brand new (better!) unit.

Other than that, I never get the PSP/PRP on anything else.
hahah awesome. i used to do that too :thumbsup:

[Zero102]

I got the PSP on my cell phone, but every time that piece of S*** breaks I bring it in, and they send it away, and I'm phone-less for 4-6 weeks. It sucks. At this point I'd rather just buy a new phone, and considering it just broke for the 3rd time, I think I just might...

Then again, my G/F got the PSP on her laptop. After owning it for 3 years, it finally quit working about 3 weeks before the PSP expired, she brought it in, and since they don't carry it anymore, they offered her a replacement, she paid $1500 for her laptop 3 years ago, got it replaced with a new compaq one that retails for $1200, 3 years later... not too shabby considering the PSP only cost her $200.

[lastprodigy]

Originally posted by wildrice


This is actually pretty funny. When I was purchasing my phone at futureshop. They offered an extended warranty for 2 years - $40.
First year is otc swap and second year is repair or something like that.

I didn't bother getting it. 1 month later, my speaker craps out and I bring it to them expecting them needing to ship it off to get fixed, but I tell them what happened and they gave me a otc swap w/o a warranty.

Oh thats pretty good then. This wasnt at FS btw but thats besides the point. For the first year its a manufacturer warranty so techincally its at their discrection, after the year when youre into the companys extende warranty, theyll likely give you a new one OTC without any hassle at all! I dont mind paying 40-50 for 2 yrs after the manufacturer warranty, a total of 3 yrs...that way I can at least get a new phone of the value (purchase price) at least every year, if not less! I also got it for my toshiba laptop which is now a year old. So I have been looking for something to crap up in the next little while :D though i dont know what i can bs about the computer Vs. cell phone.

[ronaldo]

only on larger ticker items such as tv's
and cell phones

[hedge]

I never buy them, think it's a waste of money. For some things I think they are ok.

You have to ask yourself, if the company isn't making money on them... why do they push them so hard?

Digital Home Canada has a good article on it

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=34

[nambis]

I have a service plan at Telus for my cell phone... has anyone ever returned to telus? How was your expereince?

[abc1]

I have my mp3 player broke on me after a year of owning it. I had PSP on it so I sent it in for them to fix it (at no cost). In the end they couldn't fix it so they gave me a brand new mp3 player. I didn't like the one they gave me so they will let me choose which one I would want.
The one that broke on me cost 499.99, the one they were giving me was 399.99 so there is a difference of $100 that they said they won't refund me. So I decided to upgrade to a more expensive one and pay whatever the difference was instead of losing that $100.
The upgrade mp3 player is $649.99 and the difference was $26X.XX. $26X.XX? Shouldn't it be $16X.XX since the mp3 player I bought is 499.99 not 399.99. Even though I did paid 499.99 for the old mp3 player they minus 399.99 because that was the mp3 player I was suppose to get. So they screwed me out $100.
So they sent me the new player I got, didn't like the damn thing so I went back and got a refund on the new player (six hundred some dollars.) So in the end I only lost money on the psp with isn't much but the $100 isn't so great. So if you have PSP make sure it breaks before it's over.

[MaLwa]

Originally posted by Nav13
Alot of people are saying they buy it for their ipods and I am wondering if they realize that the 2 year warranty offered by bestbuy and futureshop are both useless, if you by with your cc. On ipods bb & ff both offer 2 or 3 year warranties. Now if you by the 2 year it starts from the date of purchase, so in reality you are only getting one additional year, and again if you by with you credit card, most of them offer an addition extened coverage of up to one year ( I know mastercard does this). Now the three year, I guess is justfied in that you are getting 3 full years of coverage, but at $70, I would rather invest that towards say the battery replacement service with apple or a independent shop, or hell do it yourself. And I guess since staff get it at 50% off, it feels like a rip paying full price.

ive used my mc extended warranty on my laptop, i had to pay for 3 seperate quotes from three different dealers (80 bucks each) and send it to mc, they paid for the cheapest quote..... so i basically had to $240 to get my lappy fixed.

[rinny]

The reason why sales people try to push it so much is that they make mad commission out of it. Something like 40%, and on a computer, or TV or whatever, thats quite a bit of money off one sale.

[blueripper6]

worth it, especially for cell phones. They give u exact value of ur phone when u boought it to and u can trade models and whatever.

Happened to me on friday, phone broke, went it, they made me wait, i bitched to manager said i bought the PSP. They gave me exact value of my phone.. heh. Now i have a nice phone instead of a piece of shit.

[MaLwa]

Originally posted by rinny
The reason why sales people try to push it so much is that they make mad commission out of it. Something like 40%, and on a computer, or TV or whatever, thats quite a bit of money off one sale.

i have a friend that works at fs ne, and its more like 12% on the psp.

ne wayz the only way to go with the warranty like it has been said earlier is to shamelessly abuse it, fs and bestbuy garuntee that the product will work 100%, just bring it in with complaints and they usually take care of it.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by MaLwa


i have a friend that works at fs ne, and its more like 12% on the psp.

ne wayz the only way to go with the warranty like it has been said earlier is to shamelessly abuse it, fs and bestbuy garuntee that the product will work 100%, just bring it in with complaints and they usually take care of it. The employees are also constantly harassed by management to sell PSP. You numbers suck? You get a talking to. They keep sucking? You get death threats. Then they fire you. That's how it works.

[GucciBoy]

Originally posted by Zero102


Then again, my G/F got the PSP on her laptop. After owning it for 3 years, it finally quit working about 3 weeks before the PSP expired, she brought it in, and since they don't carry it anymore, they offered her a replacement, she paid $1500 for her laptop 3 years ago, got it replaced with a new compaq one that retails for $1200, 3 years later... not too shabby considering the PSP only cost her $200.

She got lucky. Normally with laptops/computers its 3 different repairs of them having to send away or do inhouse before they do a new replacement. Wish it was that easy as just bringing it in one time.:dunno:

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by Das_Amaretto
I'd only say buy it on big-ticket items. I got it on my big screen, when i bought in 2000, and have used the service twice already, totalling over $700 in repairs. One more time in the next 6 mo, and I get a new tv!

Nope, pukure shop screws u on that bro. 4th time it gets replaced. Takes 3 failures, then the forth time the do the exchange for TV's.

EGmike just got screwed by pukure shop on this last week or so.

[egmike]

Originally posted by Hollywood


Nope, pukure shop screws u on that bro. 4th time it gets replaced. Takes 3 failures, then the forth time the do the exchange for TV's.

EGmike just got screwed by pukure shop on this last week or so.


yup...... tv going in for the third time for the same problem still hasn't been fixed, When I called them to see if its getting replaced they said it gets replaced the 4th time it goes in, and they just dont replace it, they get a quote to see how much it will be to get it fixed! They then will fix it or replace it, depends if its minor prob or major.

Its funny how the salesman tells you that the 3rd time its replaced cause its the 4th ... effen bastards!

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by egmike



yup...... tv going in for the third time for the same problem still hasn't been fixed, When I called them to see if its getting replaced they said it gets replaced the 4th time it goes in, and they just dont replace it, they get a quote to see how much it will be to get it fixed! They then will fix it or replace it, depends if its minor prob or major.

Its funny how the salesman tells you that the 3rd time its replaced cause its the 4th ... effen bastards!

Which futureshop was it?

[egmike]

Originally posted by Hollywood


Which futureshop was it?


26st N.E

[D. Dub]

Originally posted by hedge
I never buy them, think it's a waste of money. For some things I think they are ok.

You have to ask yourself, if the company isn't making money on them... why do they push them so hard?

Digital Home Canada has a good article on it

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=34

exactly...99% of the time it's a rip off for a consumer to buy extended warranty.

The only winner is the company selling the warranty.

[nambis]

it's a total ripoff, just like a casino. future shop wouldn't be pushing them so hard if it wasn't extremely profitable.

[Pihsiak]

You have to remember, FS ppl are commission based. so they will push the 4 year plans over the 3 years.

I was at FS looking for a vid card and saw how one of the sales person was just bugging the shit out of a customer about the plan that they just gave up and left. I'm betting she walked over to Best Buy to get it there for the same price.

There was also a time where i was looking for cameras at Best Buys and some guy brought in a camcorder saying there were problems after he put it away for like 3 months. the sales person asked if he had bought the PSP and when the guy said no, then the sales person said he had to either find the nearest authorized repair center and if it was not in Calgary then he would have had to send it out to Vancouver or Toronto depending on where the sevice center is.
I got the PSP on my camera that day. Freight to and from vancouver would have already paid for the PSP already.

And that thing about Master Card covering your product for an extra year is crock. It's just the manufacture's warrantee that they extend. Apparently the PSP covers alot of crap they don't. My first camer's zoom stopped working and when they said that it would cost 150 to fix it because it was "user wear" plus the shipping to and from the repair center, I was like fuck it, I'm getting a new one. The sales guy said that the PSP covers buttons and stuff like that. I wanted to make sure so I called that 1-800 number they have in the PSP pamphlet and the chick said they do which i think is alot better.

[Khyron]

I got it on my fridge, because that's not exactly something you can send away, nor do without, and my rear projection TV. The TV plan was cheap, covers the 1K guns, and gave me a free in house calibration. The rest? No way. Even if 1/10 of my devices need repair, I'm still ahead because I want a newer unit anyway.

And a lot of times those extended plans get denied. Our company paid like 500 bucks to cover 10 digi cams, and after about 2 years things started breaking. Almost all denied due to "wear" or "external damage".

I just bought 2 Canon 520 cameras from Best Buy and both broke within 3 months (Canon has a defective lens window problem). Phoned Canon, gave me authorised shop address, drove them over and in 3 days all fixed with new lens units. And saved 150+ bucks on the plan.

Khyron

[nambis]

yea, i also figure that if you spend money on a plan, by the time it breaks your item is so out of date that it's not worth the price of the plan anyhow. you may as well pay a bit more and get a brand new, more modern item.

for example, i bought a $75 service plan for my cell phone, i think it lasted 3 years. it never broke. but if it did, they fix my original phone anyhow which means that instead of paying $150 for a brand new phone i just paid $75 for a 3 year old phone with a shitty battery and all scratched to hell on the outside.

don't think i'll buy service plans anymore.

[calgary350z]

gts jeff
maybe i should come to your work and act like a jackass because your a dick. Did you ever think maybe your yelling effects the people you treat like shit.

[Hollywood]

Originally posted by calgary350z
gts jeff
maybe i should come to your work and act like a jackass because your a dick. Did you ever think maybe your yelling effects the people you treat like shit.

I tear a strip off of all companies who try to rip me off! I almost made a women cry in superstore for a $20.00 item. The thing is dont fuck with me, be the better company and that stuff wont happen, cause I start out extra nice.

The best company for returns is Costco. The worst company is futureshop. I think futureshop is the devil. I only buy games there cause I already know its "open software" and cant return it, so I have no expectations on that stuff.

[jaylo]

Originally posted by GTS Jeff
The employees are also constantly harassed by management to sell PSP. You numbers suck? You get a talking to. They keep sucking? You get death threats. Then they fire you. That's how it works.

I just started there 2 weeks ago and being a n00b that I am there I sold a laptop w/o PSP ($360)or tech services (antivirus, setup, optimize, customize, spysweeper ($190).

I had a 1hour session with one of the management there on how to sell and the next time I showed up he told my supervisor about what happened and I was paired up with an experienced guy.

Another 1 hour session with that guy and after that I was sent out in the back to do more training.

From what I understand you literally "scare" the customer that something bad will happen the second u use your computer and PSP and tech services is the only way to go to prohibit this from happening.

Anyways, buy stuff from me! Or I will get fired!