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Thu 15 Nov, 2007 01:13 pm
So I'm thinking of finally getting in on this flat-panel HDTV thing. I found a sweet deal on a 32" LCD HDTV at Circuit City, and I think I'm going to buy it.
However, I have a couple questions.
1. The protection plan: to buy it or not to buy it:
The regular manufacturer's warranty covers you for parts and labor for one year. Circuit City offers the "Circuit City Advantage Protection Plan," which covers everything for three years. But it's $89 more. That's almost twenty percent added to the price of the damn thing, and I figure, if it lasts a year, it'll probably last three years. If anything is wrong with the stupid thing, I'm pretty sure I'll find out before a year is up. So I'm leaning against getting this protection plan. Does that sound reasonable?
2. Will this lesser-known brand TV last?
This TV is not a very well-known brand, and even though I have looked around on the internet and found nothing but high praise from people who have bought this model, a friend of mine has planted a seed of doubt in my mind by telling me that I should spend the extra money for a big-name brand TV, because, she says, TVs that are less expensive are probably not going to last that long and I'll only end up having to replace it again in a couple years.
Now, my experience with TVs is that they last. I have never had a TV quit on me after such a short time. In fact, I've only had one TV ever stop working for me, and that thing was a tube TV that lasted about twenty years before it went.
But maybe they are making things not to last anymore. Is there something to this theory of hers? I'll probably still take the chance on the cheaper one, but I'd like to hear some objective opinions on it.
Thanks.
I'm sure the smart people will be along any moment, now.
In the meantime, I'll just say that any time I've purchased a protection plan, nothing has gone wrong with the item. Every time I've decided to skip the protection plan, something has gone wrong.
So, for me, the protection plan makes some kind of weird sense.
Read the very fine print in the extended plan to make sure it is full replacement without loopholes.
Contracts are very long funny things with big words. Only funny when you don't get screwed.
Most extended plans (in my experience, of course) are a way to get more money from you while you are in the store with your wallet open.
And still waiting for the smart people...
The protection plans are very profitable for the stores. I refuse to buy "insurance" for something that should work.
I never buy the protection plans, period.
i never bought protection plans until now. now i do. if i had a protection plan for my computer, it would have saved me $500. Well, minus the plan itself, which was about a hundred, so let's say four hundred. Things do occasionally go wrong. They tend to do that in the year 3, just before the plan would be up to kick you in the shin and remind you that you didn't buy it...
I'd say $89 is well worth the three years of the protection. But that's just my recent experience speaking.
Ah, good, it seems like we have a pretty good consensus here then. I would agree that maybe with a computer or something like that with a bigger price tag it might possibly be worth it, but yeah, I think I'm gonna forego the protection plan on this.
What about the idea that a lesser-known brand is more likely to have problems and or break completely? I don't think buying a more well-known brand guarantees anything, but who really knows? It's a risk no matter what brand you buy. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
thankee
Rockhead wrote:Contracts are very long funny things with big words. Only funny when you don't get screwed..
Try reading them s-l-o-w-l-y, RH.
Brand name isn't nearly as important as quality. So, you should spend extra on a brand name only if that means you are getting a higher quality product.
Ummmm..... we are still waiting for smart people. (you didn't think it was him did you?)
Join Consumer Reports for the month (it's like 5 bucks and you can cancel anytime). I've done well using their testing information. My TV is going on 18 years and my VCR is almost 20, niether has ever had a problem. In fact, I think my husband is going to break the VCR when I'm not around so he can justify buying a separate DVD thingy.
Here's the site:
Consumer Reports
Quote:"Consumer Reports magazine found that only 9% of 25- to 27-inch TVs and just 7% of countertop microwaves needed repairs in their first five years.
9% in TVs? That's almost one in every ten TVs needing repair.... Dunno. That strikes me as still rather worthwhile to have extra warranty. Perhaps not from the retailer... the makers often offer extended warranty themselves. probably cheaper, too.
What's the brand? Perhaps someone here owns one.
As well, why is it so cheap?
Damn, the sale price they had yesterday is gone now! ****. I was going to go buy it after work tonight! Dammit, now it's about seventy bucks more. Anyway, here's a link to it on a comparison shopping website.
http://www.nextag.com/olevia-32-2-series-lcd-hdtv-232v/search-html
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