Watch your receipts at Sam's Club.

[AndrewF]

I was at Sam's today and filled two shopping carts with things for the new apartment, and the total came to over $900.

Two of those things were Lasko 18" stand fans, but the computer asked if I wanted an extended warranty on them for $8.99 each, and I hit the option to refuse, but then the receipt printed out and it stuck me for two extended warranties on the fans for a total of $17.98.

I went to member services and complained.

I told the lady I never buy extended warranties because they're usually just a cash cow for the store selling them and having a fan break down isn't the end of the world financially so I don't see the logic in an $8.99 plan on a $52.99 fan.

You are basically adding 20% almost in case the thing breaks down.

By the time you actually use an extended warranty you'll have paid for so many that you never used that you'll never come out ahead.

They took them off but I think it's dirty to force the customer to consider a "protection plan" on minor purchases.

The other day I had Walmart ask me if I wanted a protection plan on a pack of AA batteries.

Forget tipflation. Protection plan fatigue should be a name for what's going on and costing people money they never see again.

Even on a car, Dave Ramsey says forget the plan and put what it would cost you in a high yield savings account.

[crystal626]

I always watch my receipts everywhere.

When we go to Sam's I do the Scan n Go so I would notice if there was a plan added right away and get it taken off.

I rarely take an extended warranty myself. I did it for my Mac Studio and eBay got me for one with SquareTrade for my Apple keyboard because it's the most expensive keyboard I've ever had (I wanted the Touch ID convenience) and the extended warranty was only like $3 but typically I reject them. 

I disagree with the idea that you shouldn't buy a service contract or extended warranty for your car though. It was so nice having 5 years of never having to worry about paying anything extra when I took my car in, plus it covered work at the actual dealership, which would have been far more expensive than the service contract was otherwise. Your choices are either take it to the dealer, where you can be sure that if they screw something up you still have your warranty because they're the only ones that have ever serviced the vehicle, or roll the dice with another company that could cause you to have to fight to get warranty service down the line. It cost me like $2K to add Ford PremiumCare to my Fusion and covered pretty much everything except tires in that 5 years, even windshield wipers whenever I brought the car in and the dealership saw I needed them. If I ever buy a new car again, I'll make that choice again for sure. The payment plan was even 0% interest for it. 

[AndrewF]

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@crystal626 wrote:

I always watch my receipts everywhere.

When we go to Sam's I do the Scan n Go so I would notice if there was a plan added right away and get it taken off.

I rarely take an extended warranty myself. I did it for my Mac Studio and eBay got me for one with SquareTrade for my Apple keyboard because it's the most expensive keyboard I've ever had (I wanted the Touch ID convenience) and the extended warranty was only like $3 but typically I reject them. 

I disagree with the idea that you shouldn't buy a service contract or extended warranty for your car though. It was so nice having 5 years of never having to worry about paying anything extra when I took my car in, plus it covered work at the actual dealership, which would have been far more expensive than the service contract was otherwise. Your choices are either take it to the dealer, where you can be sure that if they screw something up you still have your warranty because they're the only ones that have ever serviced the vehicle, or roll the dice with another company that could cause you to have to fight to get warranty service down the line. It cost me like $2K to add Ford PremiumCare to my Fusion and covered pretty much everything except tires in that 5 years, even windshield wipers whenever I brought the car in and the dealership saw I needed them. If I ever buy a new car again, I'll make that choice again for sure. The payment plan was even 0% interest for it. 

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Car warranties can be good if you get a new car extended warranty right from the manufacturer, not a third party, the manufacturer.

This is especially true if you have an unreliable luxury brand or something.

They're very high tech and they know their customers lease or trade, so they make them to impress not to last.

If you get a used car "service plan" they usually word them to take your money then stiff you and pay for your own repair after they soaked you for $3,000 rolled into a high interest loan.

Mom got a used car service plan at Southwest Auto in Fort Wayne on one car and it covered everything and she was very happy with it because they did what they were supposed to.

The next time she bought a car they charged her for a plan, but they changed companies and this one got her for $3000 plus high bankruptcy loan interest and it didn't cover jack squat.

So you need to be very careful because these things go to the company that gives the car dealership a huge kickback not the one that necessarily pays for stuff.

This lot also did incompetent rust repair and used bondo and painted over it and then resurfaced the headlights to look great for about a month.

Then the headlights turned orange and the car started swelling up with rust bubbles within six months.

It looked good on the lot.

These people are like Matilda's dad. Maybe not sawdust in the transmission but yuck.

Who wants to finance a car at 20% interest that turns out to be a Bondo Buggy with a worthless service plan?

In my opinion this is the kind of crap they pull on poor and bad credit people because they have lawyers wording things just so and they know you probably can't read the legal mumbo jumbo and wouldn't know how to go after them if you could.

[crystal626]

You definitely have to be careful. Hubby went to a Honda stealership and bought a new ADV160 scooter. He didn't know what he was doing (it was his first time buying new and he didn't consult with me before buying, just came home with it after work one day) and they sold him third party junk and a service plan that requires him to get all maintenance from that specific dealership rather than Honda Care.

Fortunately, it's a scooter. Not a lot of maintenance to begin with and he can do the bulk of it himself. Still really irritated me when I was reading through the paperwork and seeing how badly they screwed him though. Let's not even talk about his interest rate... I was so mad when I realized that he walked in with higher scores than me since he doesn't open new cards often and walked out with a loan at 11 or 12%. 

We don't really talk about that mistake he made. I did tell him though that he better bring me next time, especially as he's been talking about buying a new car.

[bs1234]

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@crystal626 wrote:

I disagree with the idea that you shouldn't buy a service contract or extended warranty for your car though. It was so nice having 5 years of never having to worry about paying anything extra when I took my car in, plus it covered work at the actual dealership, which would have been far more expensive than the service contract was otherwise.

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I think expert opinion is probably against this, but it depends on your comfort level and what sort of financial shock would be doable!   Obviously the companies sell them because they make money, so they are not, on average, net positive for the consumer.   But like any insurance, paying a small amount (upfront or lump sum) against a potential (but not that likely) expensive risk may make sense even if, on overage, you pay more than you are getting.