[Enigma869]

I never thought I would thank a company for charging me money for something. That said, I just received a call from Panasonic, asking me if I wanted to buy a three year extended warranty directly through Panasonic for $219.00 on the 65 inch VT30 plasma that I purchased from Best Buy back in May. I confirmed with the Pansonic rep that it covers all parts and labor and has zero deductible. More importantly, it doesn't kick in until my one year manufacturer's warranty expires, so it gives me 4 years of coverage. I just thought I would pass the information along, as I didn't even know I had the option of purchasing it directly through the manufacturer. Seems like a superb price to cover such an expensive TV. Not to mention, I believe Best Buy charges more than double this price for the same warranty.


John

 

[RandyWalters]

Wow. When the warranties on my older 42" PX50U and PZ700U were about to expire Panasonic called me and offered their extended warranty - but the prices were outrageously high (in the $400 range). Of course i declined, after telling them about my $130 Mack warranty that is just about as good as their factory extension.


$219 for 3 additional years on a 65" flagship model sounds like a great deal - and from a most trusted source with none of the small print and hidden gotcha's you get from a BB warranty.

 

[hodges69]

Same model as OP....Got 3 years from Costco @$99.00 total...kicks in after Panny's one year...(thru square trade warranty)...purchased from a different retailer ....same service the OP mentioned...Feel very secure buying this warranty...STW has a great rep...Cotsco,even better.


Sorry Randy..the TV has tobe registered 60 days from purchase.

 

[Enigma869]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hodges69 /forum/post/20899235


Same model as OP....Got 3 years from Costco @$99.00 total...kicks in after Panny's one year...(thru square trade warranty)...purchased from a different retailer ....same service the OP mentioned...Feel very secure buying this warranty...STW has a great rep...Cotsco,even better.


Sorry Randy..the TV has tobe registered 60 days from purchase.

Interesting that you found this model at Costco. I'm a Costco junkie and visit my local Costco at least once a week (was just there today). The only model my Costco carries is the ST model, which I believe is the entry level model. While I normally don't care what is "entry level", or "top of the line", the picture quality between the two sets was quite evident to me. In fact, I probably wouldn't purchase the ST if it were even $500.00 less than what Costco sells it for. I wish I could have found the VT at Costco, instead of Best Buy. They actually don't list any of these models on their website either.

 

[Dierkdr]



Quote:
Interesting that you found this model at Costco.

Am certain Hodges meant that he OWNED the same tv - not bought at Costco - but purchased the square trade warranty for it AT Costco, which they allow.


Have not been a fan of extended warranties - usually Too Much $$ for coverage provided - but would at least consider either of the options mentioned in this thread: the CostCo Square Trade is less expensive, but would want to carefully weigh the Fine Print before deciding upon either (would prob opt for the Pan ext warranty given equivalent coverage & price).

 

[bogart219]

Man that vt must be out of this world. I just got finishing hooking up my 60ST

a few minutes ago and all I got to say is WOW

 

[hodges69]



am certain hodges meant that he owned the same tv - not bought at costco - but purchased the square trade warranty for it at costco, which they allow.




bingo!

 

[mobilejunkie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enigma869 I never thought I would thank a company for charging me money for something. That said, I just received a call from Panasonic, asking me if I wanted to buy a three year extended warranty directly through Panasonic for $219.00 on the 65 inch VT30 plasma that I purchased from Best Buy back in May. I confirmed with the Pansonic rep that it covers all parts and labor and has zero deductible. More importantly, it doesn't kick in until my one year manufacturer's warranty expires, so it gives me 4 years of coverage. I just thought I would pass the information along, as I didn't even know I had the option of purchasing it directly through the manufacturer. Seems like a superb price to cover such an expensive TV. Not to mention, I believe Best Buy charges more than double this price for the same warranty. John

It's not double at best buy first off. And second, I'm sure panny's doesn't cover power surge and IR/burn in like best buy's.

 

[Enigma869]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobilejunkie It's not double at best buy first off. And second, I'm sure panny's doesn't cover power surge and IR/burn in like best buy's.

You must work for Best Buy and don't like hearing this. That said, If you go to the Best Buy website, there are two service plans offered for this tv. Their two year plan (and that's not two years from the time the manufacturer's warranty expires) costs $419.99 and their 4 year plan (which is the plan I bought through Panasonic) is a whopping (and criminal, in my opinion) $589.99. Their "Black Tie" plan begins the day you purchase the TV, so you essentially have one year of coverage that you're paying for that isn't even needed, due to the manufacturer covering it (and yes, I realize there may be some differences in coverage, but it's nowhere near as significant as you're suggesting). That means the plan I have is almost triple what I just paid through Panasonic.


John

 

[mobilejunkie]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Enigma869 /forum/post/0



You must work for Best Buy and don't like hearing this. That said, If you go to the Best Buy website, there are two service plans offered for this tv. Their two year plan (and that's not two years from the time the manufacturer's warranty expires) costs $419.99 and their 4 year plan (which is the plan I bought through Panasonic) is a whopping (and criminal, in my opinion) $589.99. Their "Black Tie" plan begins the day you purchase the TV, so you essentially have one year of coverage that you're paying for that isn't even needed, due to the manufacturer covering it (and yes, I realize there may be some differences in coverage, but it's nowhere near as significant as you're suggesting). That means the plan I have is almost triple what I just paid through Panasonic.


John

Actually I do not work for best buy and never have. I just have used their warranties and the manufactures before.


Panasonic has extremely long phone wait times just to get someone to go through basic bs troubleshooting. Then they set up a service call from who knows who some "authorized tech" that could be shady as all be. Then they crack opened your tv and if something goes wrong you don't deal with them and their 2 man operation, you have to deal with panasonic...again. And since the tech doesn't want to pay or loose the "authorized" deal, they might lie and it's your word against theirs, which isn't as good as it might sound.


Best buy on the other hand. I call them, no wait. They send an actual best buy emp within 48 hrs. I've had a plasma with burn in. They spent 5 min and said ok we'll order a new panel. 2 days later I got a call saying it wasn't cost effective and to go to the store to get a new tv. I got the full price of the current equal tv in credit. Had it delivered for free and called it a day. I then had a tv have a surge go through it and it was acting funny. They came out right away, ordered some parts, and came back and replaced them. It still had the issue, so I got the same call to go and replace. My mom had an issue with the tech being messy. She ended up getting a new tv because of similar issue like mine and a gift card of let's say a large amount for the trouble.


Some times paying more for a hassle free process or even just the piece of mind that you won't maybe get screwed is worth it. But to each their own.


And by the way. Their are 2 tiers to each 2 yr and 4 yr plan. The price you quoted is for the higher tiers which includes over night shipping on parts and a loaner tv. But for that size they don't ever take it and in my experience, they have only ordered parts once, all other times they just had me go get a new one. The 4 yr for the normal plan is well under $400.


I get that it sounds like I work there but it's just that they have always had great service that I support whole heartedly. And I go there for pretty much everything. Sometimes I am more knowledgeable about their stuff than managers are, lol.

 

[GSDTrainer]

^^^^^LMFAO!!!!!!


Oh yeah those "shady" authorized repair centers. Like geek squad is soooo knowledgeable LOLOLOL.


And those wait times on the phone, I dont know how anyone can wait on a phone for a few minutes.


And those "shady" EW companies like Mack Camera who have only been in business since 1938. I dont know how they have managed to stay in business for 73 years they are soooo "shady"


"Some times paying more for a hassle free process or even just the piece of mind that you won't maybe get screwed is worth it."


Like BB isnt screwing people with their outrageous prices for an EW.


I'll pay less and have hassle free process every time through Amazon. Then if I want an EW I'll pay less than half of BB's price and go through Mack. Who, BTW, has been in business longer than BB.


Shill all you want for BB but you will only find maybe 1% of the people on this forum who will agree with you.


The only thing BB is good for is if you want to go see any TV sets in action. Then order from somewhere else.

 

[jkozlow3]



Quote:
Originally Posted by hodges69 /forum/post/20899235


Same model as OP....Got 3 years from Costco @$99.00 total...kicks in after Panny's one year...(thru square trade warranty)...purchased from a different retailer ....same service the OP mentioned...Feel very secure buying this warranty...STW has a great rep...Cotsco,even better.


Sorry Randy..the TV has tobe registered 60 days from purchase.

Thanks for the tip hodges69. I just purchased a 3 year SquareTrade warranty extension for my VT30 via the Costco website for $99! That's a great price and since their warranties are transferable, that will make it easier to resell the TV when I'll inevitably want to upgrade to something else in a couple of years.

 

[jkozlow3]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jkozlow3 /forum/post/20907791


Thanks for the tip hodges69. I just purchased a 3 year SquareTrade warranty extension for my VT30 via the Costco website for $99! That's a great price and since their warranties are transferable, that will make it easier to resell the TV when I'll inevitably want to upgrade to something else in a couple of years.

UPDATE:


If you purchase the $99 3 year warranty extension via the Costco website for TVs that you DID NOT purchase from Costco, you'll need to call SquareTrade to have them adjust the purchase date of the TV as well as the warranty start/end dates. When you buy the extended warranty from the Costco site, the SquareTrade warranty is not scheduled to START for 2 years since Costco already extends the manufacturer warranty by 1 year automatically.


After calling SquareTrade, everything has been manually adjusted to where I now have an extended warranty starting 1 year from my original purchase date and which lasts for 3 years for 4 years of total coverage (1 from mfr, 3 from ST).

 

[hodges69]

Yeah...there is some "hoop jumping" to go thru...but it is worth it...I can't blame them since the info requested verifies that you are ,indeed,the purchaser of the setin the amount stated..