One of the computers in my house came to the end of its useful life recently. In my house, that means ordering a new computer from Dell. Since I’m a tech guy and have techie friends, I’ve heard time and again how I can save money by buying cheap components and putting the PC together myself. But I’d rather leave it to Dell to put the system together and pay a little extra, but not too much extra. I prefer to buy online, but the Dell web site didn’t allow me to make all the choices I wanted. This meant having to make a call to Dell. This also meant having to turn down all the high-margin items available as add-ons. I was pleasantly surprised when the salesperson didn’t press me on an extended warranty after I turned it down; she just went on with the list of other choices. However, when we came to the end, she began a script: “You know sir, you’re buying an expensive computer...”. For a mere $119 I could extend the standard warranty from 1 year to 2 years. After I turned d...

Trying to get a business to honour its warranty can be a frustrating experience. A friend of mine who I'll call Kevin encountered problems with the paint job on his car, and this has led to a type of run-around that I hadn't seen before. When Kevin bought his car, he paid for an extended warranty on the car's paint job. We can debate whether this type of warranty is worth buying, but in this case a serious problem did come up with the paint job on Kevin's car. It turns out that paying for the warranty worked out well in this case, or so Kevin thought. When he took the car to the dealership where he bought it, they told Kevin that he'd have to contact the insurance company that holds the policy first to get authorization to go ahead with a repair. You might think that the dealership should handle this detail given that Kevin never dealt directly with the insurance company in the first place. Kevin phoned the insurance company with his copy of the warranty c...

We’re used to getting the hard sell for extended warranties on many of the things we buy. When I bought my latest television, I had to say no three times before the salesman finally gave up. It was the usual deal: the manufacturer warranty lasts for a while and I was offered a two-year extension for “only” $149. This magically dropped to $79 in less than 30 seconds. None of this is very surprising, but I did get a surprise while buying a replacement battery after my car key finally died. At first I could unlock my car from 50 feet away. This distance began to shrink until finally the battery in the key died completely. This is actually my second car key battery replacement, and I confidently got out a tiny screwdriver to remove some tiny screws to get at the battery. The guy at the electronics store had no problem finding a replacement battery after I handed him the old one. Store guy: “How long did your battery last?” Me: “What? Oh. Uh, 2 or 3 years.” Store guy: “That’ll be $5...