Watch Out For Best Buy's Extended Warranties [Empty Promises]

Watch Out For Best Buy's Extended Warranties [Empty Promises]

via Consumerist by Chris Walters on 7/30/09

HD Guru took a deeper look at the extended warranties and service plans Best Buy pushes on customers who buy expensive electronics like hi-def TVs. You probably won't be surprised to find out that the fine print negates a lot of what the person or pamphlet on the sales floor will try to promise you—but you might be surprised at just how useless these plans can be when you get right down to it.

Here are just a couple of examples from the HD Guru report:

Sales Pitch: Their Geek Squad Black Tie Protection pamphlet says that if your product requires 4 repairs, "we'll make sure that you get a new one."
Truth: Contract says "new" can mean refurbished or rebuilt, at Best Buy's discretion.

Sales Pitch: Pamphlet says on TVs 30" and up, you'll get a loaner if they can't fix yours on the first visit.
Truth: There's no mention of a loaner TV anywhere in the contract, so you'd better hope your Best Buy honors pamphlets.

Sales Pitch: If they can't repair your TV, they'll replace it with a product of equal value, or reimburse you fair market value for it.
Truth: "Fair market" means what they determine it's worth at the time of the repair. As an example, HD Guru points out that this past April Best Buy recalled a house brand LCD HDTV that sold for "up to $1000" and was less than 3 years old. The fair market value compensation it gave out: "gift cards amounting to $500 or about half of the original purchase price."

Click over and read the full report for more details on the truth versus fiction of Best Buy's warranty programs, and to read the company's official response to HD Guru's questions.

"Extended Warranties: What You See Is Often Not What You Get - An HD GURU Investigative Report" [HD Guru]
(Photo: Robert Scoble)

Power Washer Company's Warranty Policy Sucks And Blows [Power Washers]

Power Washer Company's Warranty Policy Sucks And Blows [Power Washers]

via Consumerist by Phil Villarreal on 7/24/09

Jim bought an industrial-strength Karcher power washer new on eBay a few months ago, didn't open it until recently and found that the pump didn't work.

When he tried to warranty it out through Karcher, he was denied because he bought the washer via eBay. Jim writes:

Karcher, which bills itself as the biggest seller of power washers in the US, is playing games with people who buy their products and then try to get warranty coverage.

I bought a Karcher power washer in late February, unboxed it yesterday and found it is defective (pump doesn't pump). So I called their 'customer care center' to get a replacement unit (they say their warranty is good for one year). They asked the model number, the purchase date, and then, where I bought the unit. I told them it was bought, brand-new, via eBay.

Their response — they don't warranty their products unless they are purchased from an "approved retailer," and they specifically deny all warranty coverage to products bought on eBay.

Aside from this being a dumb policy, there's no way for consumers to know this before the fact, and they don't mention on their website that if you don't buy from an authorized outlet they will deny all warranty coverage. They simply say that you aren't eligible for what they call their 'Rapid Exchange Program'. Nowhere do they disclose that this is their only warranty program, and that the rest of us are left out in the cold.

Disreputable business practice!

Even though months have inexplicably passed since the eBay transaction, it's still worth contacting eBay and the seller to see if he can return or exchange the washer. It's disappointing that Karcher won't stand by its product, though.