[DerekUSAF]

I have a ReplayTV branded 20 hour unit that I bought a little over one year ago. I bought it open box from BestBuy and purchased their 4 year extended warranty.


Recently my drive started make awful stuttering noises and would freeze up. Reboots would work for a few minutes and then it'd happen all over again.


ReplayTV customer service recommended repair ($199 through them).


I took it to Best Buy and was wondering if anyone here has had experience with getting repairs done through them (ie. length of time, quality of repair, etc).


If they don't fix it, they will offer oa new unit of "similar quality" - which I'm afraid is going to be a Tivo unit since Panasonic Showstoppers are difficult to find anymore.


Comments anyone?


Thanks


Derek

 

[valkyrie]

This is exactly why I didn't get one on my lastest SS. I figure the only "comparable" units would be MS or Tivo, and neither has what I wanted. They'd have to give you $250 AND a Tivo to make it worth the SS, IMHO.


I hope they fix your unit for you rather than give you another unit from another company. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[Mogur2]

Worst Buy warranty sucks!!! I had a 30 hour unit fail and after screaming when six weeks went by and no return. They finally found an open box unit and replaced it.


Now that failed and it has been over three weeks! I went to my store on Saturday and was promised some kind of feedback by Tuesday. NOT!!!!


To anyone reading this, DON'T BUY THEIR EXTENDED WARRANTY, at least on this type of item.


I don't know about other stores.


I tried to get them to refund the money on the warranty and use it toward the purchase of a new hard drive. Even using the argument that they won't have to keep facing me for the next 42 months fell on deaf years. Corporate MBA policies cast in stone!

 

[RandyL712]

Frankly I don't know what you expected. They don't carry ReplayTV currently, and repair takes awhile. If you would settle for a Tivo, I'm sure they'd allow that as replacement.

 

[alchymie]

I think if you buy stuff with that new American Express blue card, you get a one year extension on the warranty. Not sure how it works since I've never had to use it.

 

[inkspoof]

I wonder.. if you hacked it, would it void your extended warranty?


Probably so I'm guessing...

 

[gbuskirk]

Don't let them give you a Tivo without lifetime service though.

 

[rlc]

Never, ever buy an extended warranty for anything. Usually any problems you will have with something are going to happen within the standard warranty period anyway. Not always, of course, but I think it's worth the gamble.


This reminds of my last experience with an extended warranty. I bought a $600 camcorder and was stupid enough to purchase a $300, 5-year extended warranty ("It's only $60 a year", said the salesperson). The camcorder was purchased at Lechmere. Remember that store? Well, a year and a half later they were gone. When I had a problem with the camcorder, the company that was supposed to handle the warranty service after Lechmere's demise told me that they had no record of me having an extended warranty - even though I had my original receipt. Imagine that.


Can you be sure Best Buy will be in business 4 years from now?

 

[Mikeyboy]

Quote:

Originally posted by rlc Never, ever buy an extended warranty for anything. Usually any problems you will have with something are going to happen within the standard warranty period anyway. Not always, of course, but I think it's worth the gamble.

Normally I would agree with the extended warrantee rip off but this time a second consideration is due. It is likely the replay will need service during the 3 year lifespan I give it. If you are a consumer who is not willing to take the cover off and do some disk work then you will probably save money buying a service plan. The replay is a computer with the related imperfections all computers still suffer from. A vcr, tv, radio sure skip the warrantee but not where a hard drive is utilized. The data is all important for it to function.

 

[riker]

feh, the hard drive is the ONE easily servicable part in the thing. Surely everyone that is 'up' enough to own one of these units at least knows someone that is a hardware guru and could replace a simple hard drive. Even an 8 year old can unplug two cables, swap drives, and connect them back up. It's even keyed. But, the part you have to worry about that fails a lot is the modem. If it dies, the unit is all but a doorstop, and the modem is not user replacable.

 

[hroeder]

About a year ago I was involved with an organizing campaign for sales reps at one of these type of stores. One of their complaints was that they were required by management to sell a certain percentage of extended warranties. While they received commissions on the sales, they had qualms about the ethical nature of such business. In essence management looked at extended warranties as pure income. A means of picking the customer's pocket.


The sales reps won their campaign to organize, and began negotiating a Union contract. A week later the store closed. And that one is still in court.

 

[greganderson9]

I agree. I never ever buy an extended warranty. The stores love them (their profit margin is about 70%).


It sounds like it is 'just' your disk drive. Don't drive yourself crazy. Buy an 80Gb or 100Gb drive and fix it yourself per instructions on this forum.


Maybe you can get your money back for the warranty from Worst Buy. Good luck!!


Greg

 

[DerekUSAF]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Definitely food for thought.


I think I'll wait 2 weeks, call and see where they're at. If they're willing, I'll probably take the unit back (provided it's not been shipped to Replay), put in a larger drive and get a refund on the extended warranty ($80) -- it *is* refundable.


Or if they can find a Panasonic unit in one of their stores somewhere, I might be willing to take it instead.


Will let you know how it turns out.


Derek

 

[alchymie]

The extended warranty is the biggest customer con job department stores have come up with.


Most electronics are either going to break right away, or become outdated almost as quick.


I'd only buy such a plan if the store offered a no questions asked return policy. Plus I'd have to live on a farm in North Dakota.

 

[DerekUSAF]

Well,


Since Best Buy couldn't fix the unit (or "it would cost too much to fix") - I received a FULL REFUND of the purchase price + tax + prorated refund of the service plan


Grand total $595.48 (I originally paid $618.31) - so I got the use of a replay tv unit for 13 months for about $23


Went out and bought a 30 hr Showstopper at Sears for $399 (and get to mail in for a $100 rebate).


What a bargain.


But it did take persistence over a period of 3 weeks to get to this point.


Derek

 

[DickTinWis]

I would normally agree with the negative comments here about extended warranties, but I do think there are exceptions. I believe the Panasonic Showstopper may be one of those exceptions. Consider that the labor warranty is only 90 days, after which there is a flat labor charge of $142. Add the 2 way shipping charges of $18-$30 and you have a minimum hit of $160. Now consider that the Sears 3 year Maintenance Agreement is only $59.99 and I just drive it to their repair center which is about 10 minutes away instead of driving to UPS. Sears pays for all shipping to and from Panasonic and pays for all labor and parts for the full 3 years. Considering the likelihood, imho, of some kind of repair in 3 years, this looks to me like something of a no brainer bargain, especially if there is a modem failure which I've read is not only a real possibility, but an expensive repair in that it requires replacement of the motherboard. So...doesn't this look to you like one of those rare extended warranty exceptions?

 

[DjPiLL]

I bought the 3yr circuit city warranty with my open box unit I just bought. The unit was $199 (just unit, no remote or IR blaster). When you figure in the cost of the unit, warranty ($59) and remote and IR blaster.... I ended up with a Showstopper 2000 model with a 3yr extended warranty for $299.


Execellent deal I think considering this will be a gift for someome and I dont want them to have to deal with the hassles of repairs if soemthing goes wrong.

 

[Mogur2]

I don't know about Circuit City but don't buy WORST BUY's extended warranty. Check my recent post. Search Mogur2.


DON'T BUY WORST BUY'S EXTENDED WARRANTY!!!1