However, the comment is still missing my point. I STILL say that these policies are nothing but a scam (I would expect Dan here to disagree with me since he works for the company I am complaining about) and you are better off sticking with the manufacturer warranty.

If you are worried, put the money you would have spent on the extended warranty into a savings account. Then, if you need to do something, use that money, plus the interest earned to buy a new one of whatever.

1) Our warranties generally kick into effect after the manufacturer’s warranty. Otherwise you would have double coverage in the first year, and you wouldn’t be covered for as many years.

2) We offer different types of warranties. Some cover accidental damage, which sounds like the kind of coverage that you needed. Others only cover electrical and mechanical failures–they are cheaper, but don’t cover you in the circumstance you were talking about. If you’re worried about your product being dropped or bumped, I would recommend purchasing accidental damage coverage on your product.

3) You are completely correct–many stores oversell warranties, claiming that they cover much more than they do. We do our best to discourage this, but there is definitely opportunity for improvement. In the meanwhile, I recommend that you always check out the terms and conditions or available marketing materials so you know exactly what is covered under your warranty.

4) Credit card warranties typically have different terms and coverages than an extended warranty–often they are only a 90 day warranty, which as your mentioned is still under manufacturer’s warranty. Credit cards are best used to cover loss or stolen items, which we normally wouldn’t cover.

5) I’m not allowed to say much on this, but take it from someone with a lot of data on the subject–products haven’t gotten more reliable.

6) Again, from someone with a lot of data on the subject, even we (with all our bargaining power and knowledge) rarely repair an item for less than the cost of the warranty. There are also other benefits to having an extended warranty. For one, unexpected repair costs are much more difficult to accommodate than an upfront warranty cost. For another, we take all the work out of deciding where to get the product repaired. And we have relationships with service centers so we know which ones give good service and can avoid ones that don’t. Our company is in business to make money, of course–but I genuinely believe that warranties offer a valuable service, and I wouldn’t work here if I didn’t.

7) In this case, at least you’ll have a working product that you can sell to offset your new purchase. And if your product cannot be repaired and we opt to replace it, it will typically have better specifications than your old product.

Ultimately, Bankers Warranty Group’s goal is to make sure our customers feel they’ve made a smart, high-quality purchase, and we don’t like to see articles like this from frustrated customers. Hopefully this information will help someone–or even you, Garrett–know what to expect with their next warranty purchase.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at dkaschel at bankerswarrantygroup dot com.

Thank you,

Dan Kaschel
Manager of Quality & Process