Dealership "Extended Warrenty" worthwhile on a new EOS 30D?

[wingnut1]

Good day gentlemen (and ladies)

 

I bought a Canon EOS 30D from a well-known, North America - wide electronics &

camera distributor. Part of the package that the dealership is offering is a 3-

year extended warrenty.... for the princely sum of almost $300 (Canadian).

 

I feel I could rather spend this money towards extending my available glass

for this camera, or someything worthwhile such a s adecent flash or battery

grip.

 

So how do you feel about "Extended Warrenties"? Always seems to me that these

warrenties is just another way to make money, almost a protection racket...

But then I have this sudden vision of my brand-new 30D falling to pieces as

soon as the manufacturers warrenty lapses.

 

The camera body won't see the heavy usage that professional equipment sees

(amateur usage only), I'm rather more worried about physical damage due to

a "drop test" or theft which these warrenties never cover.

 

 

Opinions VERY much appreciated!

-- Jan in BC, Canada.

[sunrisers]

Save the money and buy glass

[mendonphoto]

The vendor is probably going to make a LOT more money on the warranty than they do on the camera - if that tells you anything. If every time the store offered you an extended warranty, you put that money in a bank account rather than buying the warranty, you'd end up with WAY more money than you'd need to replace any broken items that you didn't get the warranty for.

[leopoldstotch]

Never get them, unless you know that you're going to be putting your 30D at high risk. Most of time its just the store (was it Best Buy, by any chance?) seeing how much people are will ing to pay for price of mind. Besides, in 3 years, if you break your 30D, you'll probably want to take that oppurtunity and upgrade to whatever the current model will be in 2010 (50D or 60D, with the going trend).

[tonybrown]

Jan: there are arguments both ways on this choice. There is no doubt that dealerships make a lot of money on extended warranties. Nevertheless I always buy the extended warranty. This has paid off big time for me. A few years ago I upgraded my Canon 10D for a 20D and the dealership allowed me to transfer the extended warranty also. A year later the Canon warranty had run out. Meanwhile I had discovered a feature (auto power down) of my 20D was not working. When I got back to town, the warranty had run out, but the extended warranty covered the problem. Canon attempted to repair the 20D and at their option decided to give me a new camera! Last year I added a 5D to my collection and, of course, I bought the extended warranty. For me its an insurance against 'infant mortality' - the sort of failure that occurs in the first year or two of a product. Hope this helps, Tony.

[wingnut1]

Hi Leopold,

 

You hit the nail right on the head - Best Buy!

 

Bizarre thing is I actually tried to buy the camera from Black's Photography (prefer to support the little guy as much as possible - the Real Canadian attitude), but the salesman told me politely to please go away as they are doing some stock taking thing or whatever.

[digitmstr]

Extended warranties are a GREAT deal...for the dealers!

[eos 10 fan]

Most credit cards will offer an added year to the OEMs warranty - some CCs will offer more.

 

Your home owners insurance may cover you for 'dropsies' or theft.

[digitmstr]

As per the extended warraty agreement the dealer can send the camera to any repair shop of their choice. I can assure you it's NOT going to be Canon or even a Canon authorized repair ctr. Those cost more and there is no need for them to hire them since the original manufacturer warranty is expired at that point.

 

Who would YOU trust to work on YOUR camera?

 

The big stores such a Best Buy make a fortune with those extended warranties and they specifically reward salesman for pushing them.

 

It's like adding that price to the sale price of the item.

[wingnut1]

Giampi said: "I can assure you it's NOT going to be Canon or even a Canon authorized repair ctr".

 

YIKES! A frightening thought indeed! :-(

 

Thanks for the input, Giampi!

[steve_dunn2]

<p>Jan, Black's isn't any more Canadian than Best Buy is; Black's is owned by Fuji.</p>

[prudhomme]

I have a Canon 30D and I shoot with it nearly every day and have never encountered any problems/defects afterhaving shot several thousands of photos.

 

If your camera is defective, it will show up on the first few months of use, just make sure you use it a lot when you first get your camera. You can put your $300 Canadian to better use.

 

Hope you enjoy your new 30D as much as I do.

[milton-chris]

Just a thought, along these lines of warranties and costs . . . I went into Henry's in Ontario yesterday and spoke to the manager and asked what kind of 'Frequent Buyer' deals they offer. He advised that they don't have any set offers, but he would make sure that I got good deals on whatever I choose to buy.

 

I bought the Sigma 10-20 lens and he gave me $50 off, knocking the price down to $619; he also gave me $15 of my B+W UV filter for the lens. Discount offered for the Sigma 50-500 is $125 (10%) and for the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 is $150 (10%).

 

So, don't be afraid to ask for deals because they obviously have some wiggle room. Another major dealer in Toronto offered me a used XT body if I bought all my lenses at once ($6,500)

[lheusinkveld]

Spend your extended warranty money adding an "all risks" rider to your household insurance policy for your camera equipment. This will cover you for the drop test, and for theft or even leaving it behind in a restaurant (horrors).

[jon_austin]

I'm in the "never buy extended warranties" camp. On average, they're a poor investment for the consumer: if the vendors didn't make huge profits from them, they wouldn't offer them.

 

Every time one of these posts shows up, there's at least one or two testimonials from the folks who bought one and it paid off for them. It's kind of like the lottery: there will always be a lucky winner here or there, but the vast majority of buyers are poor suckers throwing their money away. So lotteries are just a tax on people who are bad at math.

 

Hey, I wonder what the correlation is between the people who buy lottery tickets and those who buy extended warranties?

[drfl]

Butters, you are absolutely right about Best Buy's policy. My 20d recently had a problem where the "Hockeystick mode" was not functioning properly. After sending it away the first time it came back not fixed. After sending it away the second time that was fixed, but the boxes would not light up red on autofocus. After sending it away the third time Best Buy did not listen to me and proceeded to send it to my house, when I am not home instead of the store. It did come back working, but on the last two repairs the shop said "We could not find anything wrong with this camera. Please check your batteries or your software." Silly me, I guess 22,000 photographs aren't enough for me to understand to check my batteries. Funny thing is, both times they actually fixed something. Anyway, I talked to a former manager at Best Buy and he said they have a lemon policy. After the 4th time sent away they are supposed to replace the camera. My guess is I'm at repair #1 since the shop claimed there was "nothing wrong" the next 2 times. Additionally, when I was at Best Buy the third time the Geek Squad idiot proceeded to take the lens off and stick his finger into the casing in front of me! I asked him to stop very quickly (and loudly). Needless to say, I have written a letter to Best Buy informing them of their use of unethical shops. Additionally, I do not trust my 20d and I am looking for a replacement/backup which is hard given the fact that PMA did not have any news except for the Mark III (and money I should not have to spend). Too much time, effort, and energy has been spent on MY end for an expensive service plan. I would have been better off sending my camera to Canon. Incidently, I was without my camera for a month, I spent a total of 6 hours dealing with Best Buy workers and I was basically told I was an idiot by their service center. (Precision in Tennessee I guess, whoever they are)

[conraderb]

wow - sounds expensive.

 

I paid around $70 USD for my Mack 3 year warranty - a lot cheaper. I bought mine via B&H.

 

I'm happy that I did, b/c just a few days ago I had my 20D die after a reasonable # of clicks - maybe 30,000 or so.

 

camera goes to shop tomorrow.

 

read about it here:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KCoi&tag=

[conraderb]

Jan - by the way, I bought my warranty b/c I shoot professionally, and

I like knowing that my camera will be covered for FOUR years (which is a long time in today's digital world), and in those four years, I can use it as much as I want and any normal use will be covered. That means that I don't worry about working my bodies hard.

 

If before four years, the camera dies like it did, then it is worth it to save the cost of replacing the body.

 

If the camera doesn't, then the warranty fee was totally worth it b/c it as a pro, I don't have to worry about being working my gear too hard.

 

Of course, the above is written hoping that my repair process goes smoothly :-)

[james_sawle]

I always buy the extended warranty, though here in the UK, the shop that I brought the 30D from (Jessops) must get in touch with a third party insurer as they send the documents through later on, I have done this with all of my lens as well so everything is covered, I have so far had 1 camera and 2 lens completely replaced over the last 3 years, and all the time without any issues as to how the damage occurred. On one of the lenses I had just dropped it by accident and scratched the lens (opps no UV filter), and they replaced the lens for a completely brand new one, even though the lens was 2.5 years old, and they also replaced the F4 lens with the newer F2.8 as they could not get hold of the F4 anymore, so marks out of 10 for buying the extended warranty is... 10, It is so worth while.