Surviving Warranty Logistics
Warranties seem like a good idea, until you realize they can be expensive and time consuming to activate. Here are 7 tips to help make sure your warranty is worth your money.
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Warranties! I hate warranties. I bought a disk drive for my computer. “Would you like a 3-year extended warranty on that?” the salesperson asked. “Why? Should I expect it to break within 3 years?” I asked. “Er, no,” the salesperson replied. “Then why should I buy the warranty?” I asked. “Because … things happen,” she said. “So I should expect it to break within 3 years.”
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In the 1950s, companies discovered that if they made shoddy merchandise that didn’t last very long, you would have to replace it and give the company more money. This would be good for the company. Since then, we’ve elevated this technique to business gospel, bestowing upon it such exalted names as “recurring revenue.”
After a while, we all got used to shoddy merchandise. We expect things to break. And the companies discovered a new way to make money: they charge us to protect us from their poor quality. They call it a warranty, and expect us to feel good about paying for it.
I hate warranties, because they just encourage manufacturers to produce shoddy products. If manufacturers rented their products instead of selling them, they’d produce far higher quality. AT&T used to rent their phones. The phones were so sturdy you could drop them out a window and they’d bounce. Now, I feel lucky if I buy a phone that doesn’t break within a year or two.
For expensive or hard-to-replace things, I’ll still get a warranty, just in case. In my fantasy world, that means everything will go smoothly if I need my item fixed. Unfortunately, I’ve learned the hard way that before buying a warranty, you should always make sure it will really save you time and money by asking for all the details up front.
Here are my 7 Quick and Dirty Tips to get the most out of your warranty:
Tip #1: Find Out How to Activate the Warranty
Some warranties require you to keep original packaging, UPC codes, and deliver the product to an authorized service center at your own expense. Even though you’re buying your new 619″ plasma screen TV from an authorized dealer, they may not be an authorized service center. Your closest authorized service center is just 419 miles away; you’ll pay more for the gas than you would to replace the whole unit.
Tip #2: Find Out What Proof of Coverage You Need For Service
If you need to provide your original receipt to prove you own the product, now’s the time to save it in your warranty file. If you have an automatic warranty that comes from purchasing on a certain credit card, make sure to save the information needed to activate that warranty, too. See the Get-it-Done Guy segment on How to File Receipts for optimal receipt tracking.
Tip #3: Is the Return Procedure Realistic?
T-Mobile has the best return policy – ever! If your phone has a problem, they send you a replacement phone in the same packaging you can use to return your broken phone. They give you a prepaid mailing sticker so it’s super-easy to do the shipping.
My hot water heater broke. To activate the warranty, I had to return the hot water heater—in person—to the place where I bought it. Really? I have a bad back. I’m supposed to toss the hot water heater into my Zipcar to drive it back to the store?
Which brings us to the next point…
Tip #4: Make Sure They Pay for Labor!
Taking a hot water heater back means uninstalling it. That requires mucking around with the gas hookup. Only a licensed plumber can do the job. To use my warranty, a plumber needs to uninstall our old heater and install the new one. The hourly cost adds up to almost half the price of a new hot water heater…which would come with installation included.
Make sure you know who pays for the labor associated with your warranty. If reasonable labor to fix stuff would cost as much as replacing the item, as wasteful as it is, it makes more sense to skip the warranty and replace the item if it breaks.
Tip #5: Get a Warranty That Guarantees Speediness!
[[AdMiddle]How long are you willing to go without use of your product? I purchased the on-site Dell service contract for my Dell computer. The computer broke in a very strange way. Then I had to convince the phone representative that my problem warranted an on-site visit. After about 2 weeks and 20 hours on the phone, they sent him out. He verified the problem, called to authorize an exchange, and the phone support person said, “I don’t believe it. It’s too strange. I want you to call the normal support line again and redo the diagnostics before I’ll authorize a replacement.”
So I returned the computer and have never purchased from Dell again. Don’t lose 2 weeks’ worth of work due to a broken computer! “On-site” isn’t enough; your warranty needs to guarantee speediness.
That’s one reason I’m now a Mac user. I have an Apple store just a mile away. I bought a service plan for my Mac. My hard drive crashed. With one quick phone call, I made a 20-minute service appointment for 4 pm. They spent exactly 20 minutes with me, issued a diagnosis, and the next morning, I had a working computer. It was the smoothest customer service experience I’d ever had.
Tip #6: Know the Consequences of Call-Center Support
The other problem with Dell was that I had a different support person every time I called. Yes, they had access to my record, but my computer’s problem was very strange. So we had to discuss it each time. And each rep had to lead me through the diagnostic procedure that they thought made sense.
If it’s possible, verify that during any warranty service, you’ll have one person handle your case from start to finish.
Tip #7: One Organization Should Take Responsibility
You not only want one person to deal with, you want one organization. My hot water problem was a nightmare because the manufacturer and contractor pointed fingers at each other. “Nyah, nyah, it’s not my fault. It’s their fault!” I don’t care whose fault it is. I just want a working hot water heater. I had no experience with broken hot water heaters. It’s absurd for me to be the go-between for two companies that do business together regularly. I wanted either the manufacturer or the contractor to say “We’ll handle it” and work out all the details with the other party.
Warranties sound like a great idea until you realize at best, they’re an attempt to fleece you, and at worst, they’re an indicator of how little faith the manufacturer has in their own product. In those cases, exercising the warranty can suck up more time and money than just replacing the product. These tips will help you make sure if you need a warranty, you’ll go in with your eyes open to possible hidden pitfalls before you buy.
I’m Stever Robbins. I work with executives to help them reclaim their time by aligning their commitments behind their top goals and providing accountability to those goals. If you want to know more, visit Stever Robbins.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES:
– /productivity/organization/how-to-file-receipts – Get-it-Done Guy episode on how to file your receipts.
– Extended Warranty – Stever Robbins article on extended warranties
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
