Quote:
Originally Posted by Babubhat
Many credit cards would double the manufacture warranty .
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In the past 20 years I have bought several TV's from Costco, in three different states before settling in The Villages. Two failed, one within the manufacturer's warranty and one not. Costco replaced both, immediately, at the store. With no Costco near TV, I bought an 82" Samsung from Best Buy, thinking I would get the same service from BB. My mistake. The TV failed at 14 months, 2 months beyond the factory warranty.
BB would not even look at the TV. The manager said they had no repair services; however, if I had paid the extra $200+ for BB's own warranty, it would replace the TV. He went on to tell me that he didn't know how to contact Samsung.
I then turned to the warranty provided by my Visa card. That was an adventure. The bank's website proudly described the warranty, but failed to provide any information on how to make a claim. After hours "on hold" on the phone listening to bad music with interruptions about how important my call was to the bank, I was connected to a live person. After describing my problem, she transfered me to another department. This time, I waited only 15 minutes before being connected to a live person. After explaining my problem, the person said I needed to present my claim to a separate business which handled all such claims for the bank. The call was then disconnected, without being told how to contact the business which handles these claims.
The next day, I went through the same process although, thankfully, the time on hold was reduced to 20 minutes. I was given the name and phone number for Card Benefit Services. Its phone system had a recording that, due to the high volume of calls dealing with airline delays, I would be on hold for a lengthy time. After that lengthy time, the first person I spoke with said the computer showed my card did not provide an extended warranty and that I needed to contact the bank. She, promptly, disconnected the call.
Eventually, this was straightened out with the bank. The person at the bank told me to submit my claim to Card Benefit Services via their website. The claim form on the website is confusing and the responses it allows do not directly relate to my claim. My last contact was by phone to ask about some of the questions. After discussing my claim, the person told my my claim would likely be denied as I had put the Samsung in the trash and the claims examiner would, probably, want to have it examined to see if it could be repaired.
I replaced the Samsung with a Sony from Costco. Costco extends the one year factory warranty to four years at no additional cost. The TV was delivered by Costco at no charge. The price was $200 less than those quoted by Sam's Club and Best Buy. I will receive a 1% refund on all our Costco purchases at the end of the year. To my surprise, Costco also sent me a $100 gift card.
To make a very long story short, buy Costco!