Panasonic Extended Warranty

[jasta]

My local Best Buy wants $200 for an extended Panasonic E-30 warranty. Can you get an extended warranty from Panasonic, or do you have to get it from the seller? Is it better to buy from a local seller, or is mail order ok?

Thanks

[Styro]

Here are some of my rules for purchases - If it costs more than $100 and has moving parts it will be bought locally from a store with liberal return/warranty policies. If it has moving parts and is a brand I don't trust I get an extended warranty from the store. Getting an extended warranty from the manufacturer is nice, but only if an authorized repair depot is reasonably close. Anything bought through mail-order that will have to be shipped back at my expense for replacement/repair will not be bought. Everything is a manufacturing defect if you believe the manufacturers engineers are talentless hacks that haven't planned for every possible event. An extended warranty should not cost more than 25% of the original purchase price (not incl. tax). If it is going to take more than 4 days to repair then I want a new in box replacement from the warehouse right now (damit!).

I generally don't get ripped-off.

-- Styro

[mkelley]

Here's a rule of thumb about extended warranties -- never buy them.

They are for suckers only (sorry, not to mince words here but I've worked retail). They are pure profit for the stores, and they *love* to sell them because the margin is so incredibly high.

Modern electronics nearly always either fail DOA or last beyond their warranty period. Yes, there are *always* anecdotal stories, but for every one whose "aunt had a machine and it died one day after the warranty and ended up costing her $10K" there are 500 people who never have any problems. It is the absolute worse kind of insurance you can buy.

However, if you do have lots of money and time/convenience is more important to you than saving dollars, by all means spend as much on these things as possible. You will have the ability to simply return it and get another one (assuming that is in the warranty) despite the fact it will never happen. But you can sleep better at night.

("Extended warranty? How can I lose?" My favorite Homer Simpson line).