On 29/07/2018 04:17, Bill Wright wrote:
In the bag was a glossy brochure
offering 'Peace of mind'. Peace of mind is worth a lot so I read on. It
turned out that the peace of mind was limited to not worrying about the
freezer breaking down.

Which? has consistently advised that extended warranties are a waste of
money, and I have always declined them. My experience of white goods is
that if they don't go wrong in the first 3 months then they will last a
long time.

I declined the extended warranty that Comet offered me on my fridge
freezer when I bought it. That was in 1986. The fridge freezer is
still going; Comet isn't!

At least I have been lucky enough to buy from manufacturers who wait
until the 12-months guarantee is nearly expired before tempting me with
ongoing insurance (which I ignore). The washing machine insurance was a
bit expensive I thought; expensive enough to remember the amount quoted.
When the machine did eventually go wrong, it was many years later and
the money I would have paid for the insurance would have bought one and
a half replacement machines. I just bought one.

When the 10-year old dishwasher went wrong, the engineer took an age
taking it apart to get to the bit that was faulty. Then he asked me a
question I wasn't expecting - did I just want it mended, or did I want
him to also replace the bits that were OK at the moment but probably
wouldn't last a lot longer. So I asked him why he was giving me the
options. He pointed out:
- this model is a pig to get apart to get to the works, and will take a
similarly long time to put back together. I am paying for his time so
there are some savings in replacing other bits while it is apart to save
another call-out at a later date.
- this particular model is difficult to maintain but it rarely goes
wrong, and my first fault after 10 years is not unusual. The newer
model is easy to get to the works, but it goes wrong much more often.
- a refurbishment would replace the pump with the slightly noisy
bearings and a small chip out of the impeller, the water inlet control
unit which is showing a lot of limescale from the hard water, and two
hoses which are showing the first signs of perishing, but were nowhere
near as bad as the leaking one he was about to replace along with the
door seal on its last legs.
- my options were to replace what needed replacing now, and probably
call him back within 2 years, or pay a bit more for spares and have
another 5-10 years of trouble-free use, or scrap this one and buy a
replacement which will probably need an engineer's attention within
about 5 years.

I went for the full refurbishment. It cost about half the price of a
new machine. That was 3 years ago and the machine has been trouble-free
since that engineer visit.

The only "register your purchase and get an extended guarantee" offer I
did take up was for a top quality garden hose I bought with Gift
Vouchers I received as a Christmas present. The extended guarantee was
free, and registering the purchase on-line got me a 30-year guarantee
against "faulty workmanship or materials during manufacture". I will
get a birthday card from the Queen (or probably King by then) before the
30 years expires!

Jim