08-17-2010, 03:25 PM | #46 | |
DRM hater
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Location: Michigan
Device: Nook ST glow, Kindle Voyage
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Quote:
The Consumer Reports link I posted above explains most of the reasons why buying an extended warranty is a bad purchase. If nothing goes wrong (most likely event)...you've literally thrown away money. Let's say you spend $40 on an extended warranty (pulling number from nowhere). 18 months down the road, your Nook dies. Have fun being on hold, talking with customer service, packing and shipping your nook back, and waiting for it to show back up. Meanwhile, IF my nook has died, I've ordered a new Nook 3 for $100, with no holding on phone, no shipping, and no hassle. I think that is more piece of mind than the warranty repair method, personally, and $100 isn't a giant financial hardship. Let's put it this way. There are 2 people. One buys every extended warranty for every purchase. One buys none of them. One gets a few things replaced under warranty. The other replaces or fixes the one or two things that have a problem. Guess who spent more money? That's right, the person that bought every extended warranty. You're financially better off saving every $20 here and $40 there on every warranty than the one or two warranty gambles that might "pay out". These things are a big profit center for a reason - they generally get unused. That's why these things are a profit. They're a safe bet by the house. Insurance/warranties should be reserved for things which create a financial hardship if you need to replace or fix them yourself. Otherwise, you're just losing more money than you're gaining, in the long run. Last edited by GreenMonkey; 08-17-2010 at 03:32 PM. |
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08-17-2010, 03:32 PM | #47 | |
Hillbilly
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an ancient technology competition ?
Is that what this thread is turning to - a listing of ancient technology ?:
Quote:
In the dark ages, I remember using 180k floppy-based Z80-based machines to read and/or communicate 'online' in text mode ONLY, via 300bps acoustic connection on monochrome screens - but wait ! That was AFTER learning on mainframes using teletypes ONLY. And so what - who would care that I am older than dirt ? (Shall we now start an age competition too ?) And so I have an E-ink reader now, because it was cheap enough for me to get it when the silly little JB had quit. A happy accident, so far. But I posted this thread about positive experiences with added warranties, so all this chatter about reading from granite slabs is very... !!! Now back to our scheduled program...or not... |
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08-17-2010, 03:42 PM | #48 | |||
Hillbilly
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As I've said all along...
Doing this sort of thing VERY selectively has SAVED me plenty:
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For me, $100 is 1/2 a month gas/groceries and I have none extra. This would make a great sitcom: Quote:
I do not, nor have I suggested that anyone else ALWAYS buy EVERY one of these things. I have suggested that they are a grand idea for young technologies, a very good idea for handheld electronics - and I have explained rather completely how judicious use of these things has been beneficial to me personally. Apparently it must be a personal affront to some that this could POSSIBLY be a positive and/or beneficial idea and those same folks feel they MUST tear any such idea down and PROVE what a BAD IDEA it is. To each their own I say - and you will not find me tracking down something that you consider positive JUST for the purposes of exuding negativity and tearing down your ideas...for a multitude of good reasons ! This all HAS been quite amusing to watch however. |
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08-17-2010, 04:24 PM | #49 |
Wizard
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I'm one of those people who, once buying a device that meets my needs, tends to keep it as long as it still works. For me, long term warranties usually make sense, especially if they include accidental breakage.
What bites my backside (beside tall dogs) is when advancing technology forces me to replace a perfectly good device before its time. I have a 7 year old HP LaserJet 1300 printer that works just great except HP discontinued support for it several years ago. Besides the trouble with finding replacement toner cartridges that haven't expired (they are chipped to discourage refilling, a bad idea anyway since the drum is part of the cartridge and tends to fail after the initial toner fill; an expired cartridge blocks access to the tool box which tells the amount of toner left and allows access to certain settings), it will not work with anything higher than XP (one reason why the new computer I bought a couple of years ago to replace the dying 7 year old one came with XP instead of Vista). My Epson flat bed scanner also works as well as when I got it 7 years ago (which isn't anything to write home about but it does meet my needs) but will not work with anything higher than XP, again because it is no longer supported. My first netbook died 2 months out of warranty at a very inconvenient time so I replaced it with another one just like it and it died three months later, again at an inconvenient time. It was under warranty but since it had proved to be an unreliable brand (Acer Aspire One; I learned after getting the second one that the Aspire Ones had a high failure rate), I decided to replace it with an Asus which has had better consumer reviews. It also has XP because the Windows 7 Starter that comes with netbooks now is a piece of crap and because some of the software I have will not run on anything higher than XP. I probably will run XP until its last, dying gasp in early 2014 for that reason. Win7 is much better than XP but XP still meets my needs. My cell phone is a 4-5 year old Oystr (sic). It makes and takes phone calls. The battery always was gutless when making or taking phone calls, about an hour or so worth, but will last for months between charges as long as I don't leave it on. I turn it on only to make a call or if I'm waiting for a call, neither of which is very often. I don't text and I don't need to be connected at the lip to someone 24/7 so it meets my needs. |
08-17-2010, 04:26 PM | #50 |
Wizard
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08-17-2010, 05:37 PM | #51 | |
Interested Bystander
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Quote:
Insurance is a good idea if the cost of replacement would be difficult to come by, or cause personal hardship. This will obviously be a different price point for different people. For me it is house and car, but not iPad or washing machine, for example. If you can afford to replace an item if it breaks, it will be cheaper long term not to buy the insurance. I think the quibble is not with whether it is a good choice for you personally, but whether it is suitable advice to give to everyone else, whose circumstances may well be different to yours. |
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08-17-2010, 06:08 PM | #52 | ||
Hillbilly
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A wonderful way to explain it, thanks !
I salute you Murraypaul, you have said this so wonderfully!:
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The only other point I have tried to make is regarding value vs. maturity of tech vs. warranty. But I think you have summed it up better than I have. Again, to be very clear: Quote:
Thanks for your wonderful post, and Best Wishes. mark |
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08-17-2010, 08:08 PM | #53 |
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08-17-2010, 09:57 PM | #54 | ||
Hillbilly
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Device: EZReader
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Must be a very unique SOH I guess:
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That $20.99 (if it had stayed in my pocket) would still only be $20.99. (Bought a whole 2 in 2009 and collected nicely on both too.) Deliberately inaccurate quoting can be made to look like anything, really. What I did say was: Quote:
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08-17-2010, 10:13 PM | #55 |
Connoisseur
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Device: Nook
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I would also like to come in to say that Bestbuy has plenty good warranties, they try to fix it if you like but they offer you a new one or something of the same value...I got a 2 year because something tells me I will break this in about that time and by then I can probably walk in and get a Nook2 or whatever is out at the time as a replacement(I am guessing this will be gone by then :-/)...So that whole buy a Nook3 idea is kinda dead in this situation greenmonkey imo.
I used them for my past mp3 players...Good policies. Actually upgraded to a 16gb from a 4 in the time it lasted...so I got a better player because of my 20 dollar warranty. Last edited by MangaEbooker; 08-17-2010 at 10:17 PM. |
08-18-2010, 02:42 AM | #56 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
Many people have significantly different circumstances due to much stronger consumer protection laws here in Europe. In my country, for example, extra warranty is practically unheard-of. We have 2 years warranty by default. And the warranty is transferable. You can also return anything you buy from the Internet within 14 days for a full refund. (Then we wonder why things are much more expensive here than when purchased in USA ;-) ) I am talking about transferable warranty because one Mobilereader has complained that Barnes & Noble refuse to honor warranty for Nook for anyone else than the original purchaser. |
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08-19-2010, 07:47 AM | #57 |
Banned
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08-19-2010, 07:50 AM | #58 |
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Any electronic equipment that does not include moving parts (typical e-readers) rarely fail unless you drop them, put them into water or use them at extreme temperatures.
I never ever broke such a thing. Extended warranty would be a total waste for me. |
08-19-2010, 08:39 AM | #59 |
Chocolate Grasshopper ...
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Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW
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ereader issues often occur with their fragile(ish) screens ...
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08-19-2010, 08:42 AM | #60 |
Wizard
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You have been lucky. There have been many reports of e-Book failures on MobileRead. I have a Mentor that has locked up on me.
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Tags |
ebay, kmart, mentor, newegg, warranty |
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