Should I pay OneCall $39 to extend the warr (by 1yr) for my new HK525? (1 Viewer)

[John Pine]

I just bought a new AVR 525 from OneCall. Normally I don't buy extended service contracts but I know HK has had some Q.C. issues in the past. Is it worth the $39 to extend the coverage for one year(unit has 2yr manuf. warr). Also, I'm not familiar with NSI, anyone had any dealings with them? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Mike Boniferro]

I'd say go for it...
it's only $39 and you've got a pretty expensive receiver. Odds are you'll want to upgrade in not much more than 3 years anyways (sorry ) so why not spend an extra $39 to make sure you're worry free until that time (that way if you do have a problem at 2 1/2 years, you will have a working unit to sell and buy your upgrade)

 

[John Pine]

Mike, thanks for the feedback! That's the way I was leaning. But, I had never heard of NSI and the fact that I'd be paying $39 for one year of coverage was keeping me from pulling the trigger.

 

[Mike Boniferro]

Well I'm not familiar with them, I just tend to believe in a little extra protection on big purchases. I would just read the fine print in the agreement, make sure that the guarantee is underwritten by an insurance company (so that if the seller goes out of business your not SOL), and that there are no provisions that would block them from performing a repair that you would assume should be covered.

 

[Philip Hamm]

No extended warranty is ever worth the money IMO. The companies that offer them make a killing on them. I vote no.

 

[DanielGM]

It's an odds game. Think about it this way: If the average cost of repairs to units in their 3rd year was more than $39 bucks then the company wouldn't be selling the warranty, or else they would lose money..

Besides, if you hold on to that receiver for more than two years you are better than most of us i think

on a side note my HK 525 is coming tomorrow, very exciting!

 

[Mike Boniferro]

If the average cost of repairs to units in their 3rd year was more than $39 bucks then the company wouldn't be selling the warranty

Although that might be true, it is not necessarily true. The fact is that most people who buy the warranties never use them when they have the right to, that is where they make there money. People either sell their equipment or forget about them. But I would assume that most enthusiasts who take a ton of time researching/purchasing their equipment would remember what they purchased.

Also, you can look at it from the fact that you as the consumer can't average, as you only bought one. on average, consumers on that product as a whole may lose... but for $39 to make sure you get the whole 3 years out of it really isn't horrendous, considering the cost of the receiver...

 

[DanielGM]

Yes you are right thats not the end of the story. Another thing to think about may be that the warranty company employs their own workers or gets discount repairs, so $39 average repair is from the company's perspective, not from the consumers perspective, as most electronics places charge 35-50 bucks just to look at your broken gear.

It doesn't really matter that the consumer can't average because the odds are in his favor. Imagine what vegas would be like if the odds were in the player's favor

I think it comes down to whether or not he plans on keeping the receiver for 3 years. My HK will probably be out the door between 1 and 2 years from now so I'm not really worried, besides mine is used.

 

[Rich Wenzel]

you do realize, if you paid around $650 for the receiver, you are insuring at 6% of the total cost of the receiver...not present valued?

thats similar to saying, that you expect that your receiver in that one year, will need $39 plus interest, worth of work...

personally, i wouldnt do it...also given taht a $649 receiver now, will be worth about $300 after 2 years, if i was given the choice of paying about $4-45 to fix it, that would involve shipping and not include the shipping cost, I would say bag the receiver...

Rich

 

[John Pine]

I called NSI and asked if the unit needed service who could I take it to in the Atlanta area. She said they ususally use the manufacturer's "Authorized Service Centers" from their website. I confirmed Norman's Electronics in Atlanta would be the "carry in" center of choice.

Daniel: I probably will keep it about 2 to 3 years. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I'm enjoying mine!

Rich: Good point about the value of the unit 2-3 years from now.

...............Now I'm soooo confused!..............

 

[Yogi]

I never get these expensive (yes sometimes they are) exended warranties on any audio gear. All I do is stress the hell out of the components in the early 2-3 months like play them continiously for a few days. My Proceed and B&K amps played for 3-4 days continuously (24/7) and were subjected to reference level movie output every day for those few days. I watched a lot of movies and played loud music for few more weeks. If something were to break it would have broken in those few weeks/months. If it passes those few months its never going to break in its lifetime unless lighting strikes and then nothing can protect it anyway. In your case though since the extended warranty is not expensive you might think of getting it if it gives you the extra peace of mind. But like mentioned earlier read the fine print.

 

[AndrewKC]

I got the AVR525 with a 5 year warranty for 60 bucks (that's 20 bucks a year of extra coverage over the HK 2 year warranty). Their deal is that if you don't use the warranty by the end of the 5 years, you get a 50% credit on what you paid for the warranty to use at onecall. So to me, that was a worthwhile thing to add to my purchase, considering my old HK started acting up around the 4 year mark (the repair shop would have charged me 290 bucks to fix a receiver that was probably barely worth that much). I also got a great price on the 525, so I was more willing to go w/ an extended warranty.

 

[John Pine]

Andrew: That is a good price! You got that price from OneCall? Recently?

 

[Kevin. W]

Personally I'm all for the extended warranties. Currently I have one for my Panasonic RP82($50, +2yr ), Rotel RMB-1095($50, +4yr) and Panasonic 47wx52 RPTV($350, +3yr). For me if I don't use the warranty in the time frame it becomes a credit towards a purchase in store. So I get piece of mind as well as a reason to upgrade down the road.

Kevin

 

[AndrewKC]

John, yes, I got it a little over two weeks ago. It was a deal I found on gotapex.com using the onepass in conjunction with an already low price. I think it was 559 or so, then added shipping and the warranty.

 

[Steve Adams]

If your buying HK, definantly! they are riddled with problems...the x25 are better in quality than the x20 series but they still crap out sometimes....

 

[Shane Martin]

Personally I think the $39 is worth the piece of mind. With Warranties its a risk and if you don't mind spending the money to fix it if it breaks or replace it then go ahead but most people that will repair their unit will have just paid for the warranty 2 fold.

It's a value judgement only you can make.

 

[PatSloan]

Check your credit card. Many credit cards have exteneded warantees for free on products pruchased with them. I know my Amex has a one year extention to the manufactures warantee for free.

Also Visa it self has a pretty cheep alternative. I recently purchased a 55 inch rp tv and an extended warantee direct from visa for it was ~139. Sears wanted ~350 for only 3 years. Visa's warantee is based on purchase price, so the value may vary. I got an exceptional deal on the tv, so the purchase price was pretty low.

 

[MarkB]

I would vote no.

I remember seeing a study before that showed that when consumer electronic equipment does break down, 95% of those breaks occur within two weeks of buying the product. I guess it depends on whether you want to protect against that remaining 5%.

As was mentioned earlier, a vast majority of extended warranties are never used. That's why they are sold. It is a great way to add pure profit to what are normally low margin deals in electronics.

My .02, do what you feel most comfortable with. My theory is to never buy an extended warrenty. If and when I do have to fix something, the money I saved by never paying extra should cover the repairs.

Mark

 

[Angelo.M]

I also vote "no," for the reasons MarkB mentions.