On Mon, Feb 19, 2001, Gerald Oskoboiny wrote:
> I could have bought it online instead for about $1000 USD [2],
> but a) I didn't have time before my trip, and b) it's kind of
> nice to have bought it locally in case something goes wrong with
> it. I might have bought it online if I had more time though.
I thought about the buying locally / buying online advantages, and my
view is slightly different. I think that the two main advantages with
buying locally is that:
- if something is wrong when you receive it, you can easily get a
replacement. If you buy it online, you need to call them, tell them
that the item is no worky, send it to them, and wait for the
replacement to come.
- if you don't know how to do something, think something is strange
with the product, you can have them have a look at it, which is
better than asking questions on the phone.
However, all the warranties nowadays are manufacturer's warranties.
The example is my laptop whose hard drive died after 6 months. We never
talked to the guy we bought it from, but to Sony who, by the way, were
pretty good with that:
- they were insisting that we fax them the invoice to check that the
laptop was under warranty; that is weird, I had to return my Palm
Pilot to 3Com once and they did not even ask for my invoice when I
told them that it was 4 month old. But once we did that, everything
went smoothely and fast:
- 2 days later, I received a cool empty box by UPS Next Day Air to put
my laptop in with instructions about what to do.
- I built the box, completed a form about the problem, put everything
in the box, took the UPS label that was attached and put it on the
box. We called UPS and a few hours later, it was on its way to
California by UPS Next Day Air.
- Less than two weeks later, I got my laptop back with a new hard
drive. I was actually unsure that it would happen because only Linux
was running so I had obviously not "run a Scandisk" which is their
criterion for borken disks.
So manufacturer warranty works pretty well.
[..]
> I paid an extra $300 CAD for an extended warranty (4 years parts,
> service, replacements), but I'm not sure that was a good idea so
> I might try to return it. (I don't know if they let you "return"
> the extended warranty, but if I try and they don't let me, I'll
> tell them I'll just return the whole thing including the camera;
> I have 30 days to do that.)
[..]
> What do others think, should I keep the extended warranty? (I need
> to decide by this Wed cuz I'll be in Boston after that.)
Usually, I don't think that extra warranties are worth it because by
the time your toy reaches the end of the warranty, it is obsolete so
if it breaks you might as well buy a new one. Basically, when my
digital camera breaks, I will buy a new one without thinking about it.
However, 3 months is not a lot, and this one is expensive, so I'd keep
it: I am not sure that if your camera breaks in 3 months' time, you
will be willing to get a new one.
The more I think about it, this "don't repair, buy a new one"
technique is the way to go nowadays. For electronics, getting
something repaired is far too expensive. You can get a watch for a few
bucks, and it cost me $15 for the replacement of the battery in mine -
well, that's a nice watch, so I would not throw it away.
And just yesterday, I bought some new inline skates instead of buying
new wheels and bearings. Wheels and bearings must be at least $50, and
I found a pair of K2 Catalyst (the 2000 model)[1] with 77.5 mm/78A
wheels and ABEC 5 bearings, that are worth $250, for $99.
1. Hmmm... I actually do not have a URI to provide because their Web
site[2] seems to be down.
2.
http://www.k2skates.com/
--
Hugo Haas <
[email protected]> -
http://larve.net/people/hugo/
- Hello, Mr. Thompson! - I think he's talking to _you_. -- Homer J.
Thompson