my 24 year old amana refrigerator finely died and of course its just before new years eve so i did some quick research and ended up getting a https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frigi...ERGY-STAR/1000289717 it will be here Monday.So dose anyone have any experience with their plan ($209.00 5 yr) or is there something better out there?

I have no experience with the Lowe's plan, simply because I think extended warranties are generally a bad deal. Yes, it sometimes can work out in your favor, but the retailers don't push them because we come out ahead.

If you buy anything Samsung, you better buy the warranty.
Or pay more for something else and skip the warranty.

Dave Ramsey says not worth it

We have used it twice, two washing machines before we bought a Speed Queen.
They refunded full purchase price on both machines.
I would not leave there store without the warranty. New appliances are not the same quality as machines in the past.

^^^^^^^^^

If you routinely buy extended warranties and do it enough times, you are guaranteed to lose money. Lowe's is making money on them and the insurance company backing them is also making money. On average, you are not.

I'd suggest taking the $200 each time you are tempted to buy an extended warranty and putting it in a savings account for when an appliance fails prematurely.

quote:

I'd suggest taking the $200 each time you are tempted to buy an extended warranty and putting it in a savings account for when an appliance fails prematurely.

Margins on Extended warranty's are 50% to 90%. They may make more money from the extended warranty than from the item they sold!

Purchase your appliances with an Amex card. It extends the manufacturers warranty by 2 years. If it breaks, they reimburse cost to repair (or if necessary replace). I’ve used it once on an iPhone that was 18 months old, and used their purchase protection on a stove where someone accidentally shattered the glass top. Both instances were simple. Takes a couple weeks to process, but was pretty straightforward.

I’ve used the HD in house extended warranty on a washing machine. It paid for itself. We also payed for extended warranty on the replacement washer also from HD. Unit failed a few weeks shy of warranty ending.

For the unit to be replaced it did take 3 repair visits, which is required unless catastrophic failure is immediately recognized on first visit. Two “fix” visits and the third was to confirm replacement. Tech had to be on phone with warranty explaining need for replacement.

Once approved we were given option to receive credit at HD immediately, quickest way for replacement, or wait a week for a refund check. Which we could spend check anywhere or put in bank, it’s made out to you. Nobody needed broken unit returned. So u do have to trash it on your own. HD wanted to charge for disposal. So I loaded it in vehicle and brought to recycling place a few miles from house. Got a few bucks for it.

We did HD credit. Went that night and bought a new one. Easy. Sometimes it works out other times it is wasted money. The finance experts say waste of money. For me it depends on up front cost, chances of failure, cost and down time to repair and if funds would be available if it did fail without warranty.

I've used the extended warranty in a Samsung dryer three times. I'll continue to buy the warranty the next time I buy a dryer.

Refrigerator, not so much.

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Originally posted by Hammer1967:
I would not leave there store without the warranty. New appliances are not the same quality as machines in the past.

This is my opinion as well. We've had four ignitors replaced in two different gas wall ovens over six years.

The first thing an appliance repair person says when they come in is that they don't make the parts.

We’ve used them for wash/dryer and refrig several times.Only prob is this:

If not for wifes immaculate retention of documents, we wouldn’t be able to prove we had warrenties. Loews conveneniently “ has no record” of them every time we make a claim. On top of this, like many cust serv depts these days, getting the issue resolved takes hours. The cust serv dept is designed to frustrate, impede and hopefully convince the customer to give up in frustration. Complicated phone trees, dropping calls, long holds and irrelavant options are some of the techniques they use to avoid honoring their commitments. Everytime we need aervice, it takes hours on the phone. It always starts with “We have no record of your warrenty!”

We've bought one twice at Lowes. The first time on a Bosch dishwasher which, after 4 years, developed a leak which the Bosch mechanism detected and drained the water, saving our floors. We called about a repair under the extended warranty and, after a few days of checking, said they had no one who could repair a Bosch, so instead they sent a Lowes gift card for the purchase price of a new dishwasher. We bought another extended warranty with the second dishwasher.

When we bought our washer & dryer at HD, we bought the extended warranty. It was $130 for a 5 year plan. Manufacturer warranty is 1 year and the 5 year doesn't start until the first year has gone by. It's essentially a 6 year warranty. For $130 each appliance, I thought it was worth it considering they are $700 appliances each. I figure using it just once would make it worth it. With a family of 3 people and 2 dogs (their bedding), we do laundry quite frequently.

If was looking at refrigerators a month ago and I believe the Lowes extended warranty on refrigerators lets you buy the water filters at a 50% discount while the warranty is in effect. That pretty much pays for the warranty after a few years.

So I see Lowe’s is closing 2 stores near me. If they go under, who will honor the warranty, the 3rd party?

I just completed the 20th year of a 20 year level premium life insurance policy. I paid premiums once a year for 20 years. I didn't die, and am still alive even though the policy lapsed. In this case, the insurance company made 100% profit on me, and never paid a claim. Did I waste money?

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Originally posted by absolut18:
Purchase your appliances with an Amex card. It extends the manufacturers warranty by 2 years.

This was going to be my advice as well, but I'm not sure this information is accurate. I believe they double the manufacturers warranty up to two years. If the warranty on something is 90 days, Im not sure you get a years worth of warranty, I think they just double the manufactures warranty with limitations.

quote:

Originally posted by btanchors:
I just completed the 20th year of a 20 year level premium life insurance policy. I paid premiums once a year for 20 years. I didn't die, and am still alive even though the policy lapsed. In this case, the insurance company made 100% profit on me, and never paid a claim. Did I waste money?

Probably not. Loss of a primary income provider or your home would be financially devastating for most families. Some vehicles may meet that standard, but an appliance should not. It makes much more financial sense to "self insure" for some things.

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Originally posted by MNSIG:

quote:

Originally posted by btanchors:
I just completed the 20th year of a 20 year level premium life insurance policy. I paid premiums once a year for 20 years. I didn't die, and am still alive even though the policy lapsed. In this case, the insurance company made 100% profit on me, and never paid a claim. Did I waste money?

Probably not. Loss of a primary income provider or your home would be financially devastating for most families. Some vehicles may meet that standard, but an appliance should not. It makes much more financial sense to "self insure" for some things.

I was trying to use this to make a point about the product warranties. If you cannot afford to make a major repair, or it would be very financially "inconvenient" to pay for a major repair during the term of an extended warranty, then the extended warranty is worth it.

As others have pointed out, sometimes extended warranties come with other benefits as well, such as discounts on related products.

I often buy extended warranties on some of the Toyota cars I buy, even though they are arguably the most reliable brand of automobile made. The reason is the warranty is transferable to someone who buys the car from me. This means when I sell the car used, I can offer it with a transferable factory extended warranty. This has helped me sell two of my vehicles at the price I asked, which benefited me both in the selling price, and how quickly it sold.

How much is piece of mind worth to you? Sometimes extended warranties make sense, sometimes they do not.