Extended Warrenty???

I basically agree that most extended warranties are not worth buying. Most people NEVER use them and as such, they are "free" money aka "high profit" for the seller.

Having said that, some extended warranties are worth purchasing. I would recommend them for laptop computers. Big screens are also another one, but that is somewhat conditional. How long the warranty is, who performs the service, what you're recourse is if the unit can't be repaired correctly, has repeated problems of if the repair can't be done on a timely basis, etc... Since these devices DO go out of alignment from movement, vibration, etc... having it cleaned and calibrated once in a while can be a good thing. This is not to mention that if you are the poor soul that buys that "lemon", you'll be covered.

My sister bought a large Pioneer tv and it gave her nothing but headaches. Luckily, the extended warranty saved her as she had some very expensive modules go out after the factory warranty. This happened to her twice, so the warranty more than paid for itself.

I did buy the extended warranty on my Mitsu big screen. Although i have confidence that it is a well built product, i had very little to loose. The dealer that sold it to me offers a 75% store credit if you never take advantage of the warranty. As such, it will either pay for itself if i do have to use it or it will have cost me VERY few pennies per day for complete piece of mind. Given the fact that i like to shake the entire house when watching sci-fi movies, i'm sure that it could use re-aligment as we speak : ) Sean
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Kelly - its no assumption on my part. I guess the word "sanctioned" I used was inappropriate as these stores known as the Sony Store are owned and operated by Sony Canada and the staff are employed by Sony Canada. Do you not have these Sony Stores in the good ole US of A?

rgd: i am iunaware of sony having such stores in my area of the usa. they did operate a "service center" close to where i live but they closed that and all others just last year. -kelly

I think Homer Simpson said it best, "Extended warranty! How can I lose??!? Woohoo!" Most of the time you are throwing money away on an extended warranty. Though with some items, it is justified, especially if the extended warranty is thru the OEM. Laptop computers, and cars with fancy engines come to mind. If you can get a 3 or 4 year extended warranty on a laptop computer, get it. You probably end up busting the screen sooner or later. And a couple cars that come to mind that NEED an extended 100k mile warranty WERE the older Ford Taurus SHO models with the yamaha V6. Another were the older mitsubishi/Eagle/plymouth 'DSM' 2.0L turbos (ecplise/talon/laser). The trick was to MAKE sure your engine blew BEFORE 100k miles, and you were set!

A TV, IMHO, falls into that 'gray' area. I guess it would depend on if the warranty will cover a full failure, and if you believe the set may very well fail with five years.

Hi My opinion is a little biased as I sell big screens and I do recommend getting something extra. The average service call on a rear-pro tv is about $300. This is what our service dept told me. It is kinda like life insurance-its better to have and not need than need and not have. Make sure it involves in-home everything. Also, Most stores have to contract out to outside service instead of the store`s own serv.dept. So if there is a dispute over something, you will be dealing with the outside business instead of the store from which you bought the tv. Fortunately where I work we have our own dept. so we take care of our customers a lot better. Now Ultimate says they have their own dept but they still have to send out. It is just a facade. In the end it is your decision. I would get it if I could afford it. Hope this helps Dan Rdlr