Is the Adorama extended warranty worth it for lenses?

<p>I'm going to be buying a couple lenses from Adorama.</p>

<p>60mm 2.8G Nikkor AF-S $549.00<br>

100mm Zeiss Makro-Planar ZF.2 $1,843.00<br>

24-70mm 2.8G Nikkor AF-S $1,886.95</p>

<p>My credit card will cover the lens for 1 year after the factory warranty ends.</p>

<p>These are the warranties offered, by a company called New Leaf. The guy on the phone said if I dropped and broke the lens they would replace it with another new lens. I couldn't find that anywhere in the Terms And Conditions though.</p>

<h1 >New Leaf PLUS - 5 Year Camera Lens Service Plan with Accidental Damage Coverage (for Drops & Spills)</h1>

<p><a href="http://www.adorama.com/col/AdminPageFragments/pdf/New_Leaf_Terms%20_Conditions.pdf">http://www.adorama.com/col/AdminPageFragments/pdf/New_Leaf_Terms%20_Conditions.pdf</a></p>

<p>There's a line that says that they wont honor the warranty if it broke due to neglect. Neglect & an accident are all in the eye of the beholder so that doesn't inspire confidence.<br>

It also states that they won't replace it if it breaks due to improper usage. I'm not sure how a lens could be improperly used.</p>

<p>Here are the extended warranties I'm looking at.<br>

http://www.adorama.com/NLLEA5U1K.html<br>

http://www.adorama.com/NLLEA5U2K.html</p>

<p>They're certainly cheaper than buying a replacement if something happens to them. However if they will try to weasel out of it, I don't want to spend money on something it.</p>

<p>Opinions?</p>

<p>As a general rule, extended warranties are moneymakers for the seller and rarely used by the buyer. I WAS able to take advantage of one recently, however, on a laptop we'd purchased for our son, but it was a relatively inexpensive extended warranty from Costco, and the company that sold it tried like hell not to honor it even though the wording specifically noted it covered accidental damage. We actually had to get Costco involved for it to be honored.<br>

I would not purchase an extended warranty on lenses.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>If you buy Nikon USA lenses from Adorama, Nikon USA's extended 5-year warranty automatically kicks in so that you actually have coverage for 5 years from manufacturing defects, not just 1 years on the Nikon 60mm/f2.8 AF-S macro and 24-70mm/f2.8 AF-S. Obviously Nikon USA is not going to cover your Zeiss ZF lens.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, extended warranties are very bad deals for the people who buy them. Most of the cost is comission for the retailer (that explains why they push them very hard) and profit for the company that provides the warranty. Only a small fraction is used to provide actual repair or replacement of the insured item. In other words, you might spend $100 and will only get perhaps $10 to $20 worth of coverage. I used to work for a company that provides mobile phone insurance in the US; they charge maybe $10 a month for their program and make huge profits.</p>

<p>As a rule, I never buy extended warranties, be it cameras, cars, appliances, etc.</p>

<p>In my case, in 30+ years using Nikon equipment, no camera body has ever gone back for warranty repair. One lens did and that was back in 1990, and my first SB-800 went back for repair in 2005 since it was malfunctioning from day 1.</p>

<p>I'll echo what everyone said. It isn't worth it and from experience, I can say it's a total scam. I used to work at Ritz Camera before they went out of business and they were notorious for pushing employees to sell extended warranties. In my time there, I rarely see customers with ext warranties bringing in their stuff for repair. If they do, Mgr would give an automatic response that the product is unrepairable due to variety of reasons. If we do accept the repair, it would take months for the repair process and most of the time it comes back as "unrepairable" status. </p>

<p>I also never buy extended warranties. I find them expensive and questionable. However less than a year ago I had a D700 stolen and my insurance company replaced it with a D800. I live in Toronto and we have 3 well established and reliable local camera vendors. At the time one was offering a free Mack warranty with the purchase of the camera. The price was the same for the D800 at all three vendors. I bought the camera from the vendor that offered the warranty and I didn't even do much research to see if Mack was any good. I thought it was better than not having it and it was free so why not. So far I haven't needed a warranty but if I do at least I can try to take advantage this extended Mack warranty. </p>

<p>The Zeiss is a manual lens and has fewer failure points than the auto-focus Nikkors. As Shun pointed out, Nikon warranties the Nikkors, if they are U.S. authorized imports, for 5-years.</p>

<p>I recommend you not purchase the extended warranty; get an All Hazards policy through your Home Owner's / Renter's insurance for all your camera equipment. That will cover the equipment against dropping, breaking, etc., as well as loss due to theft and fire. I carry such a policy. It covers my equipment against everything but, war, civil insurrection, and "nuclear incident". If we have a "nuclear incident", my camera equipment will be the least of my worries.</p>

<p>I've never bought an extended warranty that I ever used, so I stopped buying them long ago.</p>

<p>I do have a personal property floater insurance policy on my cameras and lenses, however. It's with my home and car agency and costs me very little for a lot of protection, even including something called "mysterious disappearance," yes.</p>

<p>Any insurance is basically a bet placed with the insurance company; with the odds strongly stacked in their favour, not yours.<br>

In this case the bet you place is "I bet this lens breaks within 5 years through no fault of mine", and the insurance company's counter bet is "We bet it doesn't - and even if we lose the bet we'll try to wriggle out of paying you". And of course the insurance company has the actuarial statistical data (and small print) to ensure that the odds are always in their favour. Most things break early on in their life or simply wear out after a lengthy time. This "bathtub curve" makes it unlikely that you'll use a 3 or 5 year extended warranty.</p>

<p>Armed with the knowledge that you're statistically going to lose your stake money, it makes sense to avoid the bet altogether and put aside the insurance premium as a contingency should the lens actually break.</p>

<p>My credit card doubles the mfr's warranty (and I have used that successfully a couple of times). In general, I do not buy extended warranties. I prefer to take my chances. If the lens is prone to breakage, the warranty will just get you another one with the same problem, so you're not really that far ahead. And, statistically, a quality lens isn't going to fail unless you drop it, and then, as others have pointed out, the warranty may not apply.</p>

<p>JDM says: <em>I do have a personal property floater insurance policy on my cameras and lenses, however</em><br>

Watch out for those. Many homeowner's policies will up the rates if you exceed some seldom disclosed (and usually quite low) limit on the number of claims per year. Before making a claim (or in general, relying on) on a homeowners insurance policy, check the fine print (which you will probably have to request from the company, as they do everything possible to keep you from knowing what that threshold is). I have friends who have been bitten by this...a couple of minor claims in a year (stolen kid's bike type) and their homeowner's policy was cancelled. Company's answer to their questions was "sucks to be you, that's our policy".</p>

<p><em>"I can say it's a total scam"</em><br /> <br /> There are very, very reputable companies that pay their claims in full without hassle. For example, Square Trade, a company associated awith nd backed by the big auction site, is one of them. I have had to make several large claims with them and did not have any problems whatsoever.<br /> <br /> And then that are some not so reputable companies that are a total scam.<br /> <br /> Adorama is a very reliable company and I doubt that the warranty they are offering is anything but legit. The manufacturer's warranty covers defects in manufacturing only. The drops and spills warranty covers everything else. While it is unlikely that anyone would drop a lens or have it fall into a lake or ocean, it can and does happen. There are numerous such instances reported in the forum, but they are far and few between.<br /> <br /> Insurance is just that. I always hope that whenever I buy insurance of any kind, I never have to collect on it. But it is sure nice to have when you do. Whether you should get it is really up to you - if you think the plans are of value and you can afford them, why not? Many people do.</p>

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<p>Adorama is a very reliable company and I doubt that the warranty they are offering is anything but legit.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Elliot, Adorama is not offering this extended warranty. In this case the OP is inquiring about warranty by New Leaf. Adorama is merely the retailer, who will definitely take a big cut on the profit. Any liability is strictly New Leaf's.</p>

<p>A few years ago, B&H and Adorama used to sell extended warranties from Mack. To put it mildly, that company received a lot of complaints on photo.net: http://www.photo.net/neighbor/view-one-about?about=Mack+Camera+%26+Video+Service&id=1<br /> As far as I know, B&H no longer offers that warranty.</p>

<p>At least I have never heard of New Leaf. Who knows whether they will even be around a few years from now to honor the warranty should you need it?</p>

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<p>if you think the plans are of value and you can afford them, why not? Many people do.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Just because a number of people make bad, uninformed choices that cost them money doesn't mean you have to also.</p>

<p>Joe, of course you summed up insurance well, however not very realistically. Given your little course on insurance, it would never make sense to buy it, but of course it does in some situations. Yes insurance companies will "win" in the long run, otherwise they wouldn't exist. And yes, if you buy hundreds of policies of insurance you would have been better off self-insuring as you suggest. But that is not how most of us buy insurance. You buy insurance to reduce your risk in individual situations. I would never NOT have home insurance, not because it is a winning bet (which it is not) but because I can afford the insurance premium, but losing my house would be devastating. Therefore I am not so sure your statement is helpful. The OP has to decide if it is worth it for him to reduce his risk in this one situation. All that said, I never buy this type of insurance, and as Joe suggests, I self-insure.</p>

<p>As said above, extended warranties are big moneymakers for those who sell them. However, they might make sense for a small business user who may lack replacement funds. I bought a computer from Best Buy that did not last long. They replaced it without problems or a long claims process. </p>

<p>if youre using the lens as a profession then you should get some kind of warranty. me personlly? I bye mack intl vip diamond warranty for a camera/lens/flash, because doing weddings can be harsh on the equipment at times and the price is so cheap that even if I dropped the lens by accident, it would covered. its an all risk type of warranty. </p>

<p>for me, if a cmaera shutter fails, itll cost more than the warranty. I bought the D600 and the warranty costed $167 bucks. much cheaper than a $300+ a shutter replacement would cost and I have 3 years warranty and impact protection as well. an sb910 flash warranty costed $56. my friend flash bulbs have all died within 3 years and repair costs around $150 or so. so basically $19 a year for complete protection on a flash.</p>

<p>if you dont travel with the gear or dont use it for professional use, then you might get a add on to your home insurance. dont know how much itd cost. personally, for my piece of mind, the mack diamond warranty was the way to go. </p>

<p>btw, you dont need to buy from them. I buy my warranty from an ebay seller called frankyscorner. he pretty much only sells mack warranty. theyve been around for a while. the first few years they sucked, but they have a LOT more positive feedback now.</p>

<p>Apologies for the delay in responding.</p>

<p>The New Leaf “Drops and Spills” service plan covers the repair or replacement of your product should it suffer an unlikely mechanical or electrical breakdown, or in the event of an unintended, accidental drop or spill. <br>

Yes, you are correct in that there is a difference between neglect, misuse and accidental damage. The “Drops and Spills” plan is designed to provide coverage in the event that your product is involved in a “single event”, unintended, accidental situation. What does this mean? If you are using your product and you accidentally drop it, is it covered? Yes. If you’re toddler grabs the lens because it was left in an unsafe location, is it covered? No – toddler should not have access to the product! <br>

If you set your lens on the table and a glass of coffee tips over, is it covered? Yes. If you are skiing with your product in tow and you fall, is it covered? No – unsafe location. <br>

There are so many different scenarios, we could never list them all! However, if you have any specific questions, Laura at New Leaf would be more than happy to address them with you directly. She can be reached at <a href="tel:972.573.1267" target="_blank">972.573.1267</a>.<br>

Adorama selected New Leaf as our partner of choice to provide extended warranties for our customers, because we believe that their ultimate goal - to provide you with a product of value and an excellent customer service experience - is a sound reflection of our own ethos.<br>

<br>

Helen Oster<br>

Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador<br>

Helen@adorama.com</p>

We purchased camera and lenses from BB and with warranty, well we never thought we would use the warranty but the 24-70mm 2.8 1800$ bucks lens just dropped, yup just dropped from the d3 body and took it in for repairs, couldn't be repaired and the manager saying that they don't sell anymore bla bla bla.. paid 400 more and got the 70-200 2.8 to go back later that day and cancel the order, and purchase another 24-70mm 2.8 off best buy site which they did have in another city at no extra cost we just played dumb that the lens couldn't be fixed and that they were going to replace it, we had the geek squad protection which I was impressed. I also got it on a body d600 (oil issue and etc) which I don't have but just in case, because it was opened box I got it wayy low with only 7k shutter clicks and after a year I'll go back and get a free battery because the old one will go bad free of charge, yup, sure.. and I can get a free cleaning once a year but I won't do that because no need nor do I want to wait 2-4 weeks for my camera to come back in worse shape that I might send in..

 

forgot to mention that the lens we got for 1699 (not 1899) at the time because of a 200 rebate if you buy lens with a body, wish they had another rebate so I can get another lens this year.

<p>This is how it saved my ars! Here's my story and this is why the 75$ dollars to cover 5 years or Leaf/Accidental Spill coverage (Adorama). I get 5 years or 6 years depending on lens, you pay 1500-1800 bucks for a lens, you buy it online so you just saved 5-10% for taxes. That's over 20% more paying in taxes vs the additional coverage. I was clumsy, and might still be but my I guess I can't juggle multiple lenses so I dropped my 24-70mm/Nikon, took it back to BB and no questions asked, they couldn't fix it and replaced it with no questions asked. Your home owner insurance no doubt will cover it if you have listed but what about the deductible be it 250, or be it 500 bucks. Will next year increase your HOI because you had claims? When it comes to get the claim, you just have to be careful how you word, state and ask for repair. My BB insurance is extra/more closely to 150+, but I'm eyeing a Tamron lens in the 1.3k range which costs 75$ for the 5 years accidental policy. -- So am I throwing 75$ away? Maybe, but I'll sure sleep better at night knowing that I am covered. We spend more money on dumber stuff.</p>