Have we really got time for extended warranties?

I’ll pass your suggestion onto our news and investigations team wavechage. And I would imagine that problems being reported on forums could form part of the evidence of a problem – as long as it’s the same problem that you’re experiencing.

It would be very helpful to know where to get an ‘expert’ opinion for my Kodak looking online for engineers, most don’t deal with Kodak (could there be a reason for this?) and in any case take the view that domestic inkjet printers are not worth repairing. But over and over the consumer is at a disadvantage because by the time you’ve paid out for an expert opinion and court costs you’ve spent as much as a new printer costs anyway. I’m pretty sick of the way the government fails to protect its citizens.

Interesting comments in this and I must agree that, for the majority of UK users, warranties are over-priced as most consumer goods these days are ‘throw away’ with a life expectancy of about 5 years.
In support of them (warranties) and one in particular, Currys etc., I would say that they are excellent value if you are intending to take your purchases abroad. We live in Greece, on a small remote island, and the cost of an engineer visiting would exceed the price at which the appliance would likely be written off. Although it would be a nuisance that they will only supply a voucher to replace the item(s) with, at least we do have a Currys subsidiary in Greece and the voucher would be valid there.
Why don’t we buy from the Greek shop(s) in the first place? Well, we have to come back here every year anyway, by car, so buying here isn’t a problem. The real reason though is that the goods aren’t available there and/or the prices are greater than buying here. Unfortunately the average UK consumer doesn’t seem to realise that the UK is actually very cheap as far as most consumer products are concerned. You may find the occasional bargain abroad, but because the majority of purchases here are being made on the internet the prices are very competitive.

I would like to see Which? examine extended warranties on offer, both single item ones and multi-item versions. Some may like the peace of mind they bring.

Personally I’d like to see longer life appliances, and have Which? begin to look at the durability of different brands/manufacturers to see just how we should get best real value for money – not normally the cheapest. If we do have longer warranties they must be sensible – not silly exclusions. One of my appliances came with a 10 year parts warranty, but only if the manufacturer’s repairer fitted them – and at a high price. All appliances should be open to be fixed by independent repairers.

Many products qualify for a longer guarantee or warranty if registered, though it is not always clear which applies and these terms are often used interchangeably. For clarity it’s probably best to refer to a manufacture’s guarantee or an extended warranty.

In order to qualify for an extended manufacturer’s guarantee, some companies insist on registration of products within a month of purchase, or other specified time.

I purchased a Humax Freesat receiver on behalf of a friend a week or two before Christmas 2016. To avoid the uncertainties of Christmas post it was bought from a Currys shop. (Had it been for myself I would have chosen a different retailer.) When it was about a year old a bright horizontal line appeared on the screen and the owner assumed that the TV was faulty. I disconnected the Freesat box and the TV picture was fine, demonstrating that the fault was with the box and not the TV. The product had not been registered but as the purchaser I managed to register it to extend the guarantee to two years.

This morning I rang Currys, explained the problem and was told that I would have to contact the manufacturer. I have been there before, even with products a few months old. I explained politely but firmly that the product had a two year manufacturer’s guarantee and that my legal rights were against Currys, the retailer and I would like to return it to the shop for repair or replacement. The unexpected reply was ‘OK’. 🙂 I was not expecting that, based on previous experience of dealing with Currys, even when goods were less than a year old.

I wonder how many take advantage of registering products to benefit from free extended guarantees/warranties, especially where products are received as gifts. Why do we have to register products to quality for extra cover at no extra cost?