Hi All,
We were looking to buy a Sony TV from JB Hi-Fi (worth approx $2500) and they have offered us the 3-year extended warranty (on top of the 2-year already provided) so a total of 5 years. They are offering this warranty for $250. Just wondering if this is worth it.
Appreciate any help you can provide on this.
Update - Thanks everyone for your input and the poll options. We have decided not to go ahead with the extended warranty and will be ordering just the TV today.
Sorry, have added the cost of the TV is the OP. I thought the T&Cs were standard across all policies. Is that not the case?
I wouldn't bother for a $2,500 TV personally but you may want the peace of mind. It's a subjective choice.
Not all policies are the same. Some offer you refund option if it fails after 4.5 years, some free repairs only, some have stronger replacement policies with latest model at the time, some like LG appliances offer 10 year parts but only 5 years labour cover etc.
Based on what the saleslady said, the policy is with JB. So she said if there is an issue, JB would send people to have a look at it and do the repair that way. Either ways, I will have a look at the wording before signing it.
Each to their own, expencive tv is covered by warranty via ACL anyway. Did take it out on Corsair wireless headset, had a month left and battery died, they refunded under extended warranty
This TV is certainly expensive for me as I have always bought TVs under $1000. Hence the confusion.
expencive tv is covered by warranty via ACL anyway
I always look at extended warranty as "I'm paying you so you will meet your ACL requirements without argument"
It's
A) the JBhifi employee playing/pressuring on your emotional ties to your new purchase, similar to how car salesman take you through the options for paint protection, tinting etc.
B) The commission they make on extended warranty is something like 50% so they're inclined to sell you it.
ACL will cover you pretty much the whole way anyway, especially for a $2500 tv.
This!
Damn - 50%. Ok, you've sold me on why not to take it especially if ACL will cover it for the most part.
IMO extended warranties are not worth it. Many retailers don't even bother with it anymore due to ACL.
It's true. We do make extra commission on extended care, but it is no where near 50%.
In my experience getting companies to honour ACL is pretty challenging. Unless you're retired and have time on your hands it just gets really difficult.
I work at JB Hi-Fi and I can tell you that honestly my commission on a $250 fiver year repair warranty would be about ten dollars or so. To have five years from the date of purchase whereby you will get free repairs done within a ten business day guarantee seems worth it to most of my customers. It’s all about what risk you are happy to take.
the main issue with the extended warranties is that if the tv dies with the orginal warranty period they won't offer you a refund on the total cost. Just the purchase price.
Good point. You're paying more for the hbically less insurance.
the extended warranty is more like insurance. if you have home content insurance, it will be redundant.
I do have contents insurance so you're right, the extended warranty would anyways be redundant.
Home insurance doesn't cover equipment failure.
ACL is only 2 years extended can add another 3
They're offering a three year extended warranty past the 2 years manufacturer's warranty.
The ACL does not define warranty periods, it protects you for the reasonable life of the product. For a $2,500 TV most people would probably argue is 4-5 years anyway, so at best the extended warranty would offer a year of additional protection, or no protection at all over what you're already entitled to under law.
Not true at all. The ACL says that things should last a reasonable time for a product of that price.
It expressly does not set time frames.
You might be thinking of the precedent that was set when Apple was taken to court about their iPhone when they were starting to approach $1000. In this case I believed they ruled or got apple to agree to guarantee them for 24 months.
I can tell you now, if my $1800 iPhone 12 Pro has an issue 3-4years out I’ll be expecting it to be fixed under warranty.
Well they wouldn’t replace a iPhone 8 that is 3.5 years that cost $1k for me just last week, perfect condition everything works except won’t make calls.
This may or may not be helpful to you but I bought my Sony from Harvey Norman about 4 years ago. It broke early this year and my retail warranty was only for a year. So Harvey Norman can't help but can only refer back to manufacturer, ie Sony, which you can do on your own anyway. After a series of questions(they'll want to know model, date of purchase, retailer,etc), suspected the TV needed an actual person to look at so Sony hooked me up with their local Sydney contractor who then arranged for a technician to come onsite to inspect and fixed it for free. I guess what i'm trying to say is, I wouldn't extend the warranty if I can just default to the manufacturer.
In this case Harvey Norman has breached the ACL.
Your right under the ACL is to have the vendor you purchased from resolve this for you.
You do not have to go to the manufacturer.
It's good you had a positive outcome, but Harvey Norman is the responsible party here, as your purchase was from them.
I'd say for simplicity sake keeping Harvey Norman out of this would've made the process faster and more efficient.
I had a TCL TV and went straight to the manufacturer who sent out a repairman, fixed it in a couple of weeks.
Adding another middleman to an already convoluted process just slows it down as Harvey Norman have no skin in the game and don't profit from providing the service.
Not sure about ACL but the warranty with HN was only for a year so I guess they're not really legally bound, plus they did offer to refer me to Sony so, props to them.
JB are also shifty in that they will put up a wall and refuse to help you with legit ACL claims if the manufacturer's warranty is already up and you haven't bought their dodgy extended warranties. They will tell you to take it up with the manufacturer, pay for repairs or escalate it to a manager if you still want to pursue your ACL rights.
It's kinda like a protection racket, if you don't pay up we'll just make everything as difficult for you as possible. But I still wouldn't pay up for that stuff if I should be protected under law.
That's a breach of the ACL.
If that ever occurs, request a remedy via email and refer to consumer protection in your state.
The thing is I don't want to be there for an hour arguing with them over it. If I chose to do that, they'd probably honour their ACL obligations. The kicker is that they waste your time and make a big hassle to do versus if you'd bought the extended warranty.
Most people want a path of least resistance. In my case I went to the manufacturer and they acknowledged it was a fault with the product I bought, but I've heard plenty of cases (including here) where the manufacturer refuses to fix a fault for free when it's out of manufacturer's warranty too.
It really depends on your luck or lack of luck and the type of TV you buy. According to ACL, budget TVs should last 5 years, mid-range 8 years and high-end 11 years. So extended warranty (extra 3 years) may not be worth it for TVs as they should be covered under ACL.
Personally, I would classify this TV a mid-range; definitely not budget nor would it be anywhere near high end. So hoping that it would last around 8 years on average.
Extended warranty is a scam. We have very good warranty policies for TV's and well, pretty much all items to be honest.
For example, there are plenty cases where people have been able to get a repair or replacement for a 5 year old TV with out much hassle
TVs don't tend to die in the first 5 years, Sony less so. Don't forget that if you buy with a good credit card, that 2 year warranty becomes a 3 year warranty and also provides insurance for the first 90 days if you didn't fix it to the wall properly.
We pay the Australia tax for a reason and that’s in part due to our ACL. Make the most of it!
Only you can decide if it's worth it for you really. What's the value of the TV? What's included in the policy?