November 20, 2006 in Tools by Mark Levison

Adrian on Hardware 2.0 quoting a study from consumer reports says that you probably don’t need that extended warranty. However there are just sometimes when you really do need one. When you’re purchasing a mechanical device that’s prone to certain kinds of failure, its worth comparing the cost of the warranty vs. the potential cost of repair/replacement vs. the likelihood that some part will fail.

Just over two years ago we purchased a new front load washer from Sears Canada. The machine has done an excellent job and has easily saved its purchase price in electricity and water savings.  Just as the warranty came to an end Sears called us and offered us an extended warranty.  We choose to buy. Only two months later the machine failed: we needed a new door boot, drum assembly and supporting struts. We paid ~$100 Canadian for the warranty and saved 400-500 in servicing costs.

Now Sears Canada warranty service was very slow (they considered acceptable that it took 35 days to get the machine working again) and the call centre staff were rude and unsympathetic (with one notable exception). The one good person at the call centre arranged some gift certificates as an apology. So as bad as this story is for Sears it was better to have purchased the extended warranty than to have paid for the servicing costs.

BTW Alec Saunders Sears story has a far less happy ending.

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Update this post is featured in the Carnival of Customer Service by Sagar Satapathy. Thanks Sagar.