From: rrw@elden (Robert Wier)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,rec.video,misc.consumers
Subject: Re: extended warranties (longish)
Date: 8 Oct 92 06:43:34 GMT
Followup-To: rec.audio
Distribution: usa
Originator: rrw@elden.cse.nau.edu

From article <1992Oct6.171954.12696@tc.cornell.edu>, by chrisp@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Chris Pelkie):
> 
> Consumer Reports determined a couple years ago that extended warranties
> were darn close to the biggest scam going. Generally speaking, electronics
> gizmos break on warranty or not til they are real old, and you probably
> want the new thingee anyway. Save your money. Look for a consumer
> product with no less than a one-year warranty and buy it (make
> sure it's USA warranty if that's where you plan to have it fixed).
> The extended warranties are rarely needed, and represent a 
> juicy pot of extra money for the dealers who sell them.
> 
> In fact, has anyone ever got a dealer to honor one? What
> were your experiences? Was it worth buying?
 
  I had an experience along these lines which might be instructive.
  In 1987 I bought a top of the line JVC VCR - the HRS8000U - it had
  a lot of interesting features for the time like splitting the screen
  into 16 smaller squares and capturing the main image on subsequent
  frames into each succeeding square.  I couldn't figure out a use for
  it, but it was neat to watch and I'm a gadget freak...

  Anyway, it worked great up until about December, 1988.  At that point,
  it developed a speed stability problem.  If you recorded on the first
  hour or so at the 6 hour speed the picture would tear and roll.  After
  the take up reel in the cassette got a bit of tape on it, the problem
  would smooth out and the rest of the tape would be fine.

  Now the original warranty was 90 days labor, 1 year parts (I'm working
  from memory now - I might be wrong), but the seller (SILO - an electronics
  chain in the West (and elsewhere?)) had talked me into a 5 year extended
  warranty which added about 10% to the purchase price (which was fairly
  substantial).  To make a VERY long story short, I spent 3 years taking the
  unit in to be fixed 5 different times to 3 different shops in 3 different
  states.  All were authorized JVC service centers. NONE of the could fix
  the problem (and in fact, a couple of times the unit came back worse
  than when it had gone in - I figure they did a tension adjustment or
  something similar in order to try to get a "quick fix"). Now, SILO did
  pick up the repair costs every time.  After the 5th time, I was gonna
  hit 'em again, but they called a halt.  Initially, they said I would
  return it to JVC h.q. to get them to look at it.  But later on they
  decided that I could do a "re-selection" which meant that I could get
  a new unit which was comparable to the one which was un-fixable.

  The fly in the ointment was that they no longer carry the HRS8000U, nor
  anything really comparable.  The closest unit now is the 4700, which while
  super vhs has none of the neat features.  It was retailing last spring 
  for around $500 (a bit hazy on that price - that's the ballpark or 
  so +/- $100).  So I dragged the 8000U to the nearest SILO store in
  Phoenix and traded it in.  I had minimum hassel, but had to make SURE
  the store knew what I was doing, and it required a number of long
  distance calls with SILO headquarters to get things set up.

  So, the bottom line is that they DID honor their warranty and made a 
  good faith effort to fix the unit. On the other hand, from my
  perspective I had a VCR for 3 years (going on 4) which was only marginally
  usable and spent 5 months in the shop, and generated considerable
  aggravation for me.  SILO lost out because it spent $500 on repair
  charges, and gave me a $500 (retail) new unit on top of that. They
  probably lost money or maybe broke even.  I am somewhat miffed 
  in that I ended up with a VCR (years later) which works ok, but not
  great and is (depending on your point of view) worth only about half
  what I paid for. On the other hand, you could argue that the value is
  right given depreciation on the original unit.

  So, in this case I came out a whole lot better than if I hadn't
  bought the extended warranty (in which case I'd be out the $500
  repair costs and STILL wouldn't have a working vcr). I eventually
  found out that manyu people regarded the 8000U as a "lemon" and had
  a design problem which led to the speed instability as it aged.
  On the other hand, apprantly the normal service guys either were not
  told about it or didn't want to try to put in a fix.  I'm kind of 
  wondering if that might be the reason SILO was pretty easy to deal
  with regarding the final unit (if they knew they had an unfixable
  8000U).  

  At this point, I'd have to think carefully about buying JVC again, 
  although I know a lot of people like 'em.  But to be honest, I did
  not make a lot of noise about demanding my original money back, etc.
  (hard to do when you live 120 miles from the nearest store).

  One thing to watch out for, though, is typified by another extended 
  warranty I have/had.  I bought a Pioneer CD player way back in 1985.
  Got the 5 year warranty on that.  Fortunately I never needed service
  because the chain I bought it from was in Texas went bankrupt.  As far as
  I know the warranty became worthless when that occurred.  

  These days, I'm generally not  buying extended warranties, but am
  using one of the "double warranty" extensions which are attached
  to some credit cards.  You have to read them closely, though, since
  sometimes there are exclusions as to equipment covered, maximum time
  extension, and where purchased.

  THANKS

 - Bob Wier

  ---------- insert favorite standard disclaimers here ----------
                   College of Engineering
      Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona
  Internet: rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH