This happens across all industries. From the ridiculous "home warranties" to the equally useless extended automobile warranties. Dennis Miller called them "Fear Pimps" in one of his rants. I couldn't agree more.
You're right Martin and I apologize if I appeared to attack you. As a technical professional this sort of thing really irritates me. I've seen too many folks who simply don't know any better taken advantage of in this way.
There are more possible pitfalls in this one than I have time to mention.
1) Best Buy? Technical support? Even the Magnolia types have proven [on average] only moderately competent.
2) Pay Up Front? - So $200.00/year, even when everything works fine? When things don't work as expected...