Best Buy TV Warranty Worth It?

[florad]

Hello. I'm planning on purchasing a Samsung LED DLP HL67A750 tv. Unfortunately I have most of the money wrapped up in Best Buy gift cards, so I'm stuck buying the tv there. Is it worth the $399.99 price for the extended warranty? Also, has anyone had much luck bartering with management on pricing? At my local store they "claim" they'll only match local pricing. Best I've seen is $1,999 for the set, but I want to get it lower if I can. Thanks!

[perjim1957]

IMO...No..although they can be negogiated down, if you get the right salesperson.,totally up to you and your $$$$ flow.

[Xerios]

when my father bought his HD TV there they werent running any specials like (get a blu-ray player for 100 bucks off or anything) however he made a deal because he bought the 4000 TV in cash they took 10% right then and there.. thats 400 bucks.. soo 3600 cash got him a TV lol hope that helps =P

[vsidhu]

As long as the store your price matching with is a local competitor, they have to price match (same price, minus 10% of the difference)...its store policy. You cant price match with certain stores, such as those liquidation events at convention centers.

As for warranty, it's kind of iffy. Depends on the product, is it known for failure. For example, I did buy the full warranty for my XBOX 360. Big surprise , the ring;they replaced it right away when it broke down. They even fix my controller when it jams/sticks. TVs are another story; a Sears TV technician once told me if nothing happens to your TV in the first 6 months, chances are that it will give you years of good service (keep in mind this was the CRT era). It's up to you...piece of mind or $400 worth of BDs . We are talking about nearly 1/4 of the price of the TV.

[Blu-Benny]

my sister and brother in law own a 50" samsung lcd 1080p tv. the circuit board just went out on it about a month ago. they had the extended warranty from best buy and they came out and fixed it w/o costing them a thing.

they asked the repair man what it would've costed if it wasn't covered by best buy's warranty, he said the part was $300 by itself, not including any drive time to the house or labor. even if the manuracturer covers the cost, drive time can be a killer depending on where you live and how close a repair man is.

[lnh_boy]

My wife and I bought a 52" Zenith DLP a few years ago thru Best Buy. We paid $2700 for the TV and wanted to protect that kind of investment, so we bought the warranty. About 14 months later, one of the parts that controls color started to go. The repair guy that Best Buy uses knew what the problem was over the phone and put in a work order. Long story short, about a week later, we brought home a brand new 50" 1080p DLP for free. The only thing we had to do was purchase a new warranty, which I did happily.

[phlydude]

There are a bunch of folks over on avsforum that have the same TV as I do (JVC LCoS) from 2 years ago. You may have heard about Sony's green blob on their LCoS sets and how quickly people were seeing them. We all thoughth that since the JVC sets didn't show this type of issue, we were in the clear. Well about 2 years in, people are getting the "yellow blob". It is due to a bad filter on the light engine. Guess how much to fix?
$1750
Yes, the Tv I paid $2000 for needs a $1750 part (plus labor) 2 years later.

Best buy warranty will replace the TV with an in store return...

So, some people might not feel that they are worth it but when the man. warranty is long gone and issues start coming up, having something like this makes you feel better about your investment.

BTW, JVC and Sony are both out of the LCoS technology...it's a shame because when this set was new, it had a GREAT picture with only a little silk screen effect (and a 56" LCD or Plasma was well out of reach $$$-wise)

[Johnny Vinyl]

Lemme chime in here....

1. Negociate, negociate, negociate! Almost every retailer will drop the listed price as long as you're persistant enough. If you get him to drop it by an amount equal to or close to the cost of the warranty, I'd say go for it.

2. DO NOT ask them to throw in the warranty! They won't do it.

3. If you're buying DLP or LCD rear-projection...definately get the warranty regardless of price.

4. If you're buying "private label" brands, such as BB's Insignia...get the warranty. Also buy a warranty if purchasing something like a Vizio or Viewsonic.

5. When buying "brand", such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, etc....and for Plasma/LCD, I wouldn't advise a warranty, unless you negociate, negociate and negociate.

Of course, warranties are a personal matter and if one feels strongly about protecting their investment, do it. It'll be money well-spent for that peace of mind.

Warranties and yes, even Gift Cards, are some of the biggest money-makers for retailers and store managers are constantly called up on the carpet when they underperform in those sectors.

Hope I didn't get too carried away with my "chime", but I thought it was worth mentioning my thought for the day! LOL

[SellmeyourDVD]

Originally Posted by florad

Hello. I'm planning on purchasing a Samsung LED DLP HL67A750 tv. Unfortunately I have most of the money wrapped up in Best Buy gift cards, so I'm stuck buying the tv there. Is it worth the $399.99 price for the extended warranty? Also, has anyone had much luck bartering with management on pricing? At my local store they "claim" they'll only match local pricing. Best I've seen is $1,999 for the set, but I want to get it lower if I can. Thanks!

try sqaure trade or maybe even the manufacturer, sometimes you can purchase a extended warranty through them.

[Bluzombie]

Keep in mind that most salespeople will gladly take $ off the price of the unit if you agree to take the warranty - in my expierience at least. For instance, when I went to buy my LCD (three weeks ago) it was on sale for $1299 down from $1599. Great deal. So I went into the store, tracked down a salesman and said "I'd like to buy this TV" The salesman asked - as he was writing up the deal, "Do you want the extended warranty?" Before I had the chance to run the numbers through my head, the salesman added "... I'll do the TV for $1098 if you go with the four-year service plan".

So, yes. It can be done. In my case, I didn't even have to haggle... might not be same same in al cases. You just have to rememeber that the profit margin in TV's is slim at best - at least is used to be when I sold them - and most salespeople make up their commission by selling warranties; that's why they're pushed so hard on you. So go in there, tell 'em this is theTV you want and ask if there is anything they can do with the price if you take the service plan. Good luck and enjoy!

[TENSE]

yeah its a no brainer not getting the extended warranty!

[SS316SRV]

The extended warranties on projection sets are a must. If you go into the store and demand a better price, they will not touch it. The more you buy, the better the price. The earlier in the day, the better the price. The slower the day, the better the price. Do no think that they are entitled to lower their price.

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

my sister and brother in law own a 50" samsung lcd 1080p tv. the circuit board just went out on it about a month ago. they had the extended warranty from best buy and they came out and fixed it w/o costing them a thing.

they asked the repair man what it would've costed if it wasn't covered by best buy's warranty, he said the part was $300 by itself, not including any drive time to the house or labor. even if the manuracturer covers the cost, drive time can be a killer depending on where you live and how close a repair man is.

Not only that, they do a one time bulb replacement. Those DLP bulbs can cost close to that $399 alone.

IMO, look at it as you are pre-paying for a bulb and a warranty should some other problem occur. The peice of mind is worth it. DLP's are known to have some quirky things that CAN happen down the line, IE Light engine failures/wobbulation/bad boards/powersupplies etc.

[BTBuck1]

PS, bby employee's can look in their system (RSS) and find out the lowest they sold that TV for in the last 30 days. If you have them check, they will usually sell it for that to you. YMMV

[RIPSeanTaylor21]

Originally Posted by BTBuck1

PS, bby employee's can look in their system (RSS) and find out the lowest they sold that TV for in the last 30 days. If you have them check, they will usually sell it for that to you. YMMV

they really arent supposed to do that....

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by John72953

Lemme chime in here....

1. Negociate, negociate, negociate! Almost every retailer will drop the listed price as long as you're persistant enough. If you get him to drop it by an amount equal to or close to the cost of the warranty, I'd say go for it.

2. DO NOT ask them to throw in the warranty! They won't do it.

3. If you're buying DLP or LCD rear-projection...definately get the warranty regardless of price.

4. If you're buying "private label" brands, such as BB's Insignia...get the warranty. Also buy a warranty if purchasing something like a Vizio or Viewsonic.

5. When buying "brand", such as Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, etc....and for Plasma/LCD, I wouldn't advise a warranty, unless you negociate, negociate and negociate.

Of course, warranties are a personal matter and if one feels strongly about protecting their investment, do it. It'll be money well-spent for that peace of mind.

Warranties and yes, even Gift Cards, are some of the biggest money-makers for retailers and store managers are constantly called up on the carpet when they underperform in those sectors.

Hope I didn't get too carried away with my "chime", but I thought it was worth mentioning my thought for the day! LOL

I would excercise some couth in your approach when coming in to ask for a discount etc. I can tell you from personal experience that the guy who comes in immediately wanting to discount and such gets very annoying to most sales people, and they get turned off at the idea of even helping you.

Just as sales people try and build rapport with their customers, I reccomend building rapport with your sales person. Come in and ask a lot of questions, be friendly and treat the associate like a friend. Also, don't play it to close to the chest, because I know for me...if you come in there and say "I just want the TV" i'm less apt to want to discount anything because quite frankly you aren't leaving me much room to work with IE, robbing peter to pay paul...etc.

My best suggestion is just come in, be friendly and try not to come off as an uber cheap skate & Don't be "Whiney" about. Just ask something along the lines like this:

"Hey, so I am really interested in getting this TV & probably the protection plan and a few other things, But I Saw this TV several hundred dollars cheaper. I can't remember if it was here or Circuit City. I would prefer to buy it from you guys as I buy all my electronics here, But I definately want to make sure i get the price I saw before. Can you check your system and see what it was a couple weeks ago, and ask your manager if I can buy it now for that price?"


That line would easily work at my place of business.

Goodluck....

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by RIPSeanTaylor21

they really arent supposed to do that....

There is a huge grey area that most of the world is living in right now with this economy. Come on in!

[metsfan1545d]

i bought mine for 180 when i got my set last yr but i did it mostly for peace of mind

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by BTBuck1

I would excercise some couth in your approach when coming in to ask for a discount etc. I can tell you from personal experience that the guy who comes in immediately wanting to discount and such gets very annoying to most sales people, and they get turned off at the idea of even helping you.

Just as sales people try and build rapport with their customers, I reccomend building rapport with your sales person. Come in and ask a lot of questions, be friendly and treat the associate like a friend. Also, don't play it to close to the chest, because I know for me...if you come in there and say "I just want the TV" i'm less apt to want to discount anything because quite frankly you aren't leaving me much room to work with IE, robbing peter to pay paul...etc.

My best suggestion is just come in, be friendly and try not to come off as an uber cheap skate & Don't be "Whiney" about. Just ask something along the lines like this:

"Hey, so I am really interested in getting this TV & probably the protection plan and a few other things, But I Saw this TV several hundred dollars cheaper. I can't remember if it was here or Circuit City. I would prefer to buy it from you guys as I buy all my electronics here, But I definately want to make sure i get the price I saw before. Can you check your system and see what it was a couple weeks ago, and ask your manager if I can buy it now for that price?"


That line would easily work at my place of business.

Goodluck....

With all due respect BTBuck1...I don't think I ever once mentioned coming in and approaching any salesperson like a bull in a china shop. You obviously missed the gist of my post.

All I said was to be persistant...

And for the record....I've been in sales for almost 40 years and very successfully at that I might add. So I don't need any lessons from anyone, especially if they misinterpret and make assumptions.

[BTBuck1]

Originally Posted by John72953

With all due respect BTBuck1...I don't think I ever once mentioned coming in and approaching any salesperson like a bull in a china shop. You obviously missed the gist of my post.

All I said was to be persistant...

And for the record....I've been in sales for almost 40 years and very successfully at that I might add. So I don't need any lessons from anyone, especially if they misinterpret and make assumptions.

whoa whoa whoa....i was just adding on to your reply.

I wasn't trying to punk you out or tell you how to do what you do.

Just giving friendly advice to the other posters.

You need to relax.