New TV, Should I buy the Extended Warranty?

tryrrthg

I just purchased a new Sony KDL-40V2500 1080p LCD TV and was wondering if purchasing Best Buy's service/warranty plan was worth it? It cost $249 for four years. I know these things are usually a crap shoot and like any insurance you buy it hoping you never have to use it. I just don't know with this newer technology how well these sets hold up. If it were an old tube set I wouldn't have bothered...

I have 30 days to return the plan if I don't want it so I thought I'd get some other people's opinions...

Thanks.

bobman1235

I wouldn't. The warranties those big box stores sell are usually riddled with loopholes where they don't have to pay you, and they will do anything in their power to avoid it.

PolkWannabie

The manufacturers warranty should be sufficient ... The extended warranties are for the most part pure profit to the seller.

jhw59

your cc should double the manufacturer's warranty (Use AMEX if you can).

Ricardo

I normally don't; if you add up the cost of all extended warranties you could buy, that alone will pay for repairs in case some of the items you buy need it.

Also, as stated above Best Buy and the like have these warranties over priced; I bought a 5 years extended warranty for my last refrigerator because HHGregg offered it at $39.

Shizelbs

If you can talk them down, which should be easy enough, I say yes. Especially since Sony LCDs have a history of getting the green globs in the screen. Furthermore, read the fine print on BB's warranty. CC offers a superior waranty.

danger boy

+1 on all the above posts.. i have in the past bought extended warranties. but not anymore.

I did when i bought my tube tv several years ago. was like $79 for three years. I never used it. so it's $ out the door. THe only time i buy a extended warranty is for a used car. I've had to use it for my last two cars.. more than once.

jakelm

Yessss..absolutly. I bought my Mit in '04 no troubles until now. Thank heavens I bought the BBuy extended warranty. There is a reason (just like cars) why the manufactures have a limited warranty, because ussually right after the factory warranty ends, the peice of electronics break. BBuy's extended warranty was only $200 for 4years. My tv was $1699 so for $200 bucks more, I'm covers until '08. I'm having an issue with my Mit right now, if I didnt have extended warranty it would cost upwords of $400 for repair. No more factory warranty, but the extended warranty is fixing it. I'm glad I bought one.
Just my opinion

Jake

bknauss

Ask exactly what is included on the warranty. With my TV (LCD RPTV), the extended warranty included an extra bulb. I forget the price of the warranty off hand, but it was fairly equivalent to replacing the bulb, so I said what the hey and went with it. Overall, if there's something you expect to go wrong or has a limited lifetime on the product, get the warranty if it covers said issue for a reasonable price.

If not... well, its extra profit for the seller like everyone else said.

polkatese

I bought exactly the same LCD as yours (I love it, btw, the vivid color on HD native source is mind boggling, even compared to a Pioneer Elite PRO series, which is THE standard as late as last year....sorry, digressing) and thought about buying the extended warranty from BB. I agree to most that it is a waste of money in most part, so I decided not to buy it this time. Based on my experience, laptop/notebook has the most reason to buy extended warranty (worthwhile since HDD on notebook is a very common item to fail during the first 2 years, especially Compaq laptop like mine). Time will tell whether it is wise not buying it or not.

Did I mention that it is a very nice looking LCD?

edit: add link to owner's thread on AVS:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=739241&page=10&pp=30

tryrrthg

Thanks guys, I had a feeling these are the type of responses I would get.

polkatese, do you have any suggestions on settings? I put these setting from AVS and CNETin last night but I'm not sure about them yet. I haven't spent a whole lot of time tweaking it, too busy watching the glorious HD! (It's my first HD set)

dgt2n

I got one with my Samsung DLP TV (from OneCall), but only because you get half the money back at the end of the 4 years if you don't use it.

jabrax

When I purchased my Hitachi, BB was offering a 5 year extended warranty for a small price of 700 :eek:. I told them forget it, that I was going to purchase the extended directly from Hitachi for 350.00. They agreed to knock another 350.00 off the price of the television if I agreed to take their warranty, that when compared side by side was much better for me. Things like if something is broke they just bring me out a new one, and full replacement for things like power surges and lighting storms (check the fine print from manufactures or just ask them about this coverage).

Whatever you decide to do....G'luck

ND13

Don't forget, if you do decide to get a service contract, NEGOTIATE THE PRICE OF IT!!!! Most have huge mark-ups in them.

wingnut4772

I did. After all the difficulty I have had with DLP sets I wouldn't buy one without it.

ntculenuff

my mits has been down 4 months also bought in 04. been back to the repair shop twice and going back again and today i am going to kill some one when i get there...if it wasn't for the extended i would be up the creek and looking for a new tv...
as an ex electronics sales person buying the extended on tv's is like having insurance you may never use it but if you need it its there and with technology the way it is the one item worth the extended is the tv

univera

The one thing I think is important to consider is the fact that in four years, these sets will all be considerably cheaper. I don't know what repair costs are these days for HD sets, but a major repair in a couple of years might not be that much cheaper than buying a new set. I'm not saying that will be the case, but just something to consider. If it breaks once, you've likely paid for your warranty price...

Marell

If you want the piece of mind, and are going to get it make sure you check with Sony I believe they offer an Extended Warrenty aswell. It may be cheaper/better/ then some third party that the B&M offers.

Marell

opus

I got my extended warranty on my LCD from American Electronics for 3 years at $120 with 1 free bulb. And I got a brand new tv 2 and 1/2 years later when I had problems. They were very accomodating and held up their end of the deal. I guess it matters where you buy the service contract from. I wouldn't buy one without it but $249 does seem a bit high. Good Luck.

nadams

yep... it's time to pull this one out again!

polkatese

tryrrthg wrote:

polkatese, do you have any suggestions on settings? I put these setting from AVS and CNETin last night but I'm not sure about them yet. I haven't spent a whole lot of time tweaking it, too busy watching the glorious HD! (It's my first HD set)

tryrrthg,
here is mine, combi of many others and which work best on mine:

Picture Mode: Custom
Backlight 4
Picture 69
Brightness 45
Color 47
Hue G 3
Color Temperature Neutral
Sharpness 15
Noise Reduction Off
Black Corrector Low
Advanced C.E Off
Gamma Low
Clear White Off
Color Space Normal
MPEG Noise Reduction Low

Give it a try and see if you like it...

tryrrthg

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

bknauss

nadams wrote:

yep... it's time to pull this one out again!

Wow, that comic has changed a bit in the past 4 years!

cambir

I purchased the Sony 32" XBR1 LCD from Best Buy this year. Negotiated the extended warranty down considerably. There is a huge mark-up from some retailers. For the cost of repairs and/or replacement, I think it's worth it to have one, but only if you can talk them down. Consumer Reports suggests you shouldn't have to pay more than about 10% of the purchase price for the ext warranty.

univera

I also was coming here to post that Consumer Reports doesn't recommend the warranties and suggests there is a 50% profit margin on them, generally speaking. However; they do recommend them on "high priced" HDTV's since there is no long term data to suggest reliability.

ZIPNVW

I got a 5 year plan with my RPCRT HDTV. I worked it into the deal. FOr all it covered including pick up and drop off plus yearly tune ups. It was worth it to me.