What is Digg?142 Comments
- bremstrong, on 11/13/2007, -1/+37It's a tax on those who can't do math.
- formergthing, on 11/13/2007, -1/+25Laugh now, but when all my mousepads wear out, then I'll be the one laughing!
- Hipple, on 11/13/2007, -1/+22I hope they start offering insurance at the grocery store...
- forthegift, on 11/13/2007, -2/+19Friend of mine worked at 1 of the chains. Said they got pressure every week to sell the insurance. Claims he sold a warranty to a guy who bought a couple extension cords. The managers loved it, gave him some kind of bonus and employee of the week award.
- str3ama, on 11/13/2007, -2/+19they make a commission not only on selling it you, but on selling a certain amount each week, month or in some rarer cases - a day. Like you get 10% of insurance sales if you get 1 or more, 25% if you can sell 20-30, and say 50% if you can sell more then 40. So it's in their best interest to try and coerce you into shelling out money on an insurance plan for that mechanical pencil you bought.
- Spamcan, on 11/13/2007, -0/+15Would you like to buy insurance on that? Would you be interested in our loyalty card program? Just give us all your personal info and we'll give you a $5 gift certificate! Would you like fries with that? Would you like insurance on those fries? You know the fries are free if you sign up for the card. You spent $50, would you like free magazines that amount to junkmail for a year?
Companies wonder why consumers get so upset when they're asked these questions, it's because we're now subjected to it WITH EVERY TRANSACTION IN EVERY SINGLE PLACE WE SHOP! - LordSkywalker, on 11/13/2007, -0/+14I used to work at one of these types of stores. Lots of pressure put on selling insurance. Actually it was the primary focus of the job from the company's point of view. I refused to offer them on things that didn't need them. It's possibly good, as many articles point out, to get them on things like laptops, mp3 players (if it covers accidental damage), etc.
Crap like hard drives (which have 3-5 yrs already), routers, flash drives, burners, blank media, and others like that just rip off the customer. I didn't even offer or mention it. I was however sincere on the ones I did recommend. Most of the time I worked there I was the "top seller" for these insurance plans. Other employees however, tried and surprisingly succeeded at selling a $5 insurance plan on a $15 plastic chair mat. Who the ***** would buy that, I do not know. - MarkDykeman, on 11/13/2007, -1/+15hilarious. I wonder if you can get insurance for paper or paper clips?
- BagginsBoy, on 11/13/2007, -1/+14Rental Car Agent: Would you like to purchase the renter's insurance?
Jerry Seinfeld: Yeah, you better give me the insurance because I'm going to beat the HELL out of this thing. - willyjlyles, on 11/13/2007, -1/+12I used to work at Staples. After I had been there for 3 weeks I hadn't sold any of their retarded warranties. The manager there caught me as a customer I had just spent almost an hour helping walked out the door, asking if I'd sold her a plan. I apoligized saying that I'd forgotten about that. Nevermind that I'd just been running all over the store getting things for this customer, or that I'd explained the details of about 2 dozen different products to this customer when she asked, the manager took me to the back office, showed me the spreadsheet of warranty sales, and the fact that I had $0. He let me know in no uncertain terms that this was the number my worth as an employee was measured by. Not my knowledge of our products (I was in my junior year of a degree in Computer Science at the time; you could ask me a question about anything in the electronics department and I could tell you more than you wanted to know). Not my level of service to the customers (my previous job had been for a moving company, there was nothing in that store you could ask me to do that felt like hard work). Not the fact that I was never late, never called in sick, and rarely took breaks. My value was determined by how many people I ripped off.
Not that any of the rest of the store's policies or managers made any sense either though. Most of my time there was spent replacing old price tags with new price tags, where the price was still the same (the fine print date on the tag was different, and the managers checked.) There was also the guy who was in charge of the computer/electronics department, who told me on my first day that he was MCSE and CCNA, and had gotten his Associates in CS, but he couldn't type (and was working in a Staples.) I could go on, but I think this post is already too long.
The point is, large chains like that suck, and their policies drive workers away whose work ethic and knowledge could otherwise help them make vast improvements. - willyjlyles, on 11/13/2007, -0/+9By the way, after this I sort of half heartedly mentioned the warranty plans to customers, hoping they wouldn't buy.
One day a very old couple bought one (I think it was $88, for a printer that was around $115). I felt terrible.
I never mentioned the warranties after that. Shortly afterwards I handed in my 2 weeks notice and then went back to the moving company, because you don't have to compromise your integrity to carry somebody's furniture. - ShugNinx21, on 11/13/2007, -0/+9Or, you could be more careful with your laptop and save 350 dollars...
- airwalkery2k, on 11/13/2007, -0/+9I empathize with the employees forced to sell useless insurance, or risk getting fired if they don't try and rip off the customer. I don't think I got work at a store where logic is not appreciated. I'd go insane.
- TheNeonNinja, on 11/13/2007, -1/+10Yes it's retarded, but the employees have to do that or they get fired. All you're doing is being an unnecessary dick to them.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -0/+9What isn't a scam nowadays?
- slimkevi, on 11/13/2007, -2/+11When I am offered a store insurance on any product, I always ask, "Do you feel like the quality of your products is low enough to warrant buying this insurance?"
Most of the time, they are dumbfounded. Sometimes, I get "No, but you can never be sure." And at least twice, I've gotten, "Yes... I highly recommend the insurance." - jeffness, on 11/13/2007, -0/+9CRAFTSMAN TOOLS (without movable parts) HAVE LIFE LONG WARRANTIES. that's why i buy only craftsman tools. no messing around with this crap.
- zweben, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8Then maybe you should stop buying crappy screwdrivers.
- brucealmighty, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8My last visit to Fry's was a hoot. I was shopping for a $700 PC on sale. I couldn't help but notice a particularly slim, attractive young female sales associate in a very tight skirt working in the area. Tight enough I even wondered if her supervisor might have issues with it. I dealt with another sales assoc. who got me the box I wanted from some back room and then told me I needed to get get 'written up' by another associate. Well, guess who that turned out to be? Tight skirt herself who immediately tried to sell me an extended warranty. Doh! I told her if the box lasted past the mfr. warranty period it would probably obsolete by then anyway so why would I want to fix it? She then just wrote up the order without anymore comments but I hadda chuckle all the way home about Fry's extended warranty sales strategy........
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8I take every loyalty card offered, if there's a benefit for me; I simply give them fake information and pocket whatever incentive they offer. Sure guys, I'll take $5 to pollute your database.
- openthink, on 11/13/2007, -1/+8 great idea. staples will probably be "offering" it soon... also for rubber bands, thumb tacks, scotch tape. the possibilities are endless.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -0/+7See, the problem here is that lots of elderly and middle-aged people tend to trust big, corporate chains. After all - they've been doing this for years and have succeeded, so why would these guys want to screw them over? That's the issue - because now America has become so ***** cut throat that asshats at the big corporate office see some green, and they think it's not enough green. So - they institute ***** procedures like giving you insurance on mouse pads because they know, in the end, they'll make the money two-fold. The best way to protest this kind of behavior, is to ***** shop online. I've got my entire family using online(reputable) stores instead of relinquishing to the ***** of Best Buy and Circuit City. After the crap regarding Call of Duty 3/4 with Circuit City, I won't even buy packaged CDs there anymore. I'd rather go to Walgreens and purchase the multi-colored discs there.
- nastajus, on 11/13/2007, -0/+6the zip code is harmless. they can use that data to decide to build another store closer to your area. the exact address is unnecessary.
- Metis2be, on 11/13/2007, -0/+6What I can't stand is when you buy a 3 year warranty, and that includes the 1 year warranty that already came with the product which means they only cover two years. If I take my ipod back to worstbuy within the first year, they tell me to go to the apple store since they won't cover it. That's like me buying an hotdog from a street vendor, going to macdonalds, and having them sell me two hamburgers and the hot dog again. If I buy a 3 year warranty which already has a 1 year warranty on it, I should be covered for 4 years.
- formergthing, on 11/13/2007, -2/+8Yea, by definition a scam has to be compulsory. Like pyramid schemes, Nigerian 419 scams, and Microsoft Windows.
Oh wait.. none of those are compulsory.
What are you talking about? A scam is a scam is a scam is a scam. - Chompy, on 11/14/2007, -0/+6Lemme guess, your session has expired. Feel free to fix this anytime now, Digg, it's only been like 8 months.
- datastorageguy, on 11/13/2007, -1/+7When cashiers ask me for my home address, phone number, email, or even zip code I am still totally amazed. Who in their right mind would give that information to a cashier?
- humperdeath, on 11/14/2007, -0/+5Hah, get presidential insurance. If the president is malfunctioning, then you can return it anytime.
- RoshanK, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5Real question is: What about insurance for condoms?
- joshtj, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5I always enjoyed seeing extended warranties on high tag items come back to burn the store.
- ericgungon, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5People do not understand the mathematical concept of insurance. I have tried to convince many people that buys this insurance, as ridiculous as it sounds they are incapable of comprehending the cost value vs warranty value. A lot of them assume that the product will have to break before the warranty ends and never think about the actual longevity of the product.
All I know is that it sucks to be stupid and this is what will cost them, before we know it they will start buying insurance for things they don't even own. - rancorr, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5Yeah, right, tell me that after you total your car and have to undergo extensive surgery, I'm sure your money market account will have the hundreds of thousands of dollars required.
- MasterShake07, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4I work at RadioShack and we are always pressured to sell the service plans on just about ever single item sold. That being said, I still only offer it when I would buy it if I were on the other side of the counter. A replacement plan on an SD card? Please. What good is a replacement plan on a memory card if you can't get the lost information replaced?
- humperdeath, on 11/14/2007, -0/+4Does any custeomer actually come back with a busted printer (or whatever) and demand a new one, becasue he has the insurance? Does the store try an find a loophole so they dont have to payout, or do they cheerfully give a free replacement?
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Except that they may very well tell you that they will not cover a spill or a drop, regardless of what that paper you have says. Then you get to spend hours fighting them.
- kajoob, on 11/13/2007, -4/+8How is it a "scam" if it isn't compulsory? Don't friggin buy the extra insurance. Caveat Emptor, people.
- G-RaZoR, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Does warranty cover normal usage? That is the real question.
- Zreitan, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5in defense of the store peons, they're told its a "good deal" by managment and honestly it isnt worth the nurons to ponder if it is infact a good deal.
working retail sucks hard.... - fjc8, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Thanks for your anecdotal story. Clearly, you are an expert on everyone's experiences and know that there's no possible way that anything like this is true.
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Or not. I still remember the day I was offered a $6 extended warranty on a keyboard that was $6 after rebate. - ShugNinx21, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3I empathize with some of them. But I have had many employees give me dirty looks, or talk to me like I'm a moron when I declined their offer. I even had one sales rep with the balls to tell me straight to my face that "You are making a mistake." Needless to say, I decided to take my money elsewhere and anytime anyone offers me one of their plans I decline on principal.
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Only the stupid ones agree with you that it's a bad deal. Those guys get secret shopped all the time and they will absolutely lose their job if they don't toe the company line.
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3That's right; BB doesn't fix monitors, they ship it to a subcontractor that either fixes it or replaces it (usually with a refurb). Sometimes errors occur in shipping along this chain. As for the second question, yes, as in "we no longer stock model A, but we have this nicer model B". Normally you would expect to receive the "upgraded" item for free, and probably at some stores you would. It's all on the whim of whatever manager you happen to get that day. For the kind of money these guys charge for these plans, there should be no question as to what's going to happen when a customer brings something in.
- giloron, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3I think his point was, that most people would be better off. But as you say, if you end up being one of the unlucky ones, you are screwed.
With insurance, most of us pay for the unlucky few, hoping we won't be one of them. - Koushiro, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Ummm, yeah. There are very few places that actually give their employees any sort of commission at all, let alone on the extended protection plans. Now if you'd said, are forced to sell them or they get fired because these companies are running themselves so poorly that they need the margin these plans give them to keep stock holders happy you'd have a good argument. Even the ones who do get commission get like $2-4 on a $200 EPP.
- benb, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3I think the big news here is that screwdriver is now two words instead of just one. :)
Sorry, someone had to say it. - Ocelot13, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3i had a U2 ipod back before the video ones...about every 2 weeks the harddrive would die. best buy had to fix it 3 times so the lemon policy kicked in...i got a video ipod out of it and $50 back. the video lasted up until a few weeks ago.
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Unless BB decides to deny your claim or make you wait months to get your item. A friend of mine brought a "covered" monitor in, and after two months they had lost it and had to replace it with a nicer model.. and they made him pay the difference in value. Also the new monitor was no longer covered. The moral: even if you shell out for this nonsense, you're not always going to get taken care of.. and even if you do, it will take weeks or months.
Extended warranties are for suckers, plain and simple. It's never a good deal because if it was, then *they wouldn't be selling it*. - frsrblch, on 11/13/2007, -1/+4I got one of those extended warranties for a Sony MP3 player I bought. Seeing as the thing has crapped out twice already, and if it dies again in the next year I get a brand new MP3 player, well, it just doesn't seem like that bad a deal. MP3 players usually put up with a lot of punishment though...
- Chompy, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Craftsman or Snap-on. Snap-on makes a slightly better tool IMO but Craftsman is almost as good and much easier to replace. As in you just walk into a Sears, hand them the broken tool, then go get a new one off the shelf. Done.
- humperdeath, on 11/13/2007, -0/+2Do they offer insurance on DVD-R blank media? because I usually get 8-10 coasters out of a spindle of 100. Thats about 10%, so if 100 cost $30, then insurance is $3, any coasters get free replacements! How bout that?
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