Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 11:30:55 -0800 (PST)
From: C. H.
To: Hot Deals Maniac
Subject: Deals about BestBuy extended warranty.

Hi there,

I'm writing to response to the deal which was posted on Feb.21, 03. It is
regarding to the BestBuy Extended Warranty. And I attached the deals with
this email for your reference. I purchased a scanner a year ago for
$39.99 with extended warranty, and it finally died in this week. So I
just brought it into BestBuy and request for repair or replace. After the
scanner have proven broken. They asked me to find a new one to replace
it. However, they said that I have to pay for the difference, i.e. the
new one is $79.99, (which is the cheapest one they have), and my scanner
is $39.99. Then I have to pay $79.99 - $39.99, that is $40! I think it's
really unreasonable. If I still have to pay for the difference, then
what's the point for me to pay more money to buy the extended warranty?
In my point of view, I'm not going to ask for an upgrade or something.
What I need is they fix the scanner for me, OR give another one for me
with the same price. In this case, they don't have a new scanner with the
same price, then this is their responsibility to upgrade a brand new
one for me.

In my opinion, they are just cheating customer's money. Even though you
purchase the extended warranty, you're not really under "warranty". I
don't know if it's a particular case in my local BestBuy, but I think
it's good to let the others know about this for their reference.


Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 15:08:05 -0500 (EST)
From: Hot Deals Maniac
To: C. H.
Subject: Re: Deals about BestBuy extended warranty.

Well, it does kind of make sense to me.  I mean, if you buy an electronic 
device that you paid $40 for a year ago, then I think it's actually a good 
deal that they will give you a same-priced replacment for the same price.  
Because an electronics device that may have been worth $40 a year ago may 
only be worth $10 today.

The $40 scanner may not have been the best utilization of their extended 
warranty benefit.  I mean, a scanner really cannot drop in value much less 
than $40.  However say you bought a printer for $100 over a year ago.  At 
the rate at which technology moves, a $100 1-year-old printer could be 
worth $50 today.  Bring it into BestBuy, and they will give you a brand 
new $100-today-value printer.  To me that's a good deal, that increases 
the value of your purchase by exchanging it for a newer model.

Because they wanted to charge you $40 to exchange your broken $40 scanner
for an $80 scanner actually sounds legitimate to me.  If they do not have
any $40 scanners in-stock, then there's not much you can really do.  I
guess it's kind of like getting instant $40 in-store credit for your
broken merchandise, which is like you used a scanner for a year for
nothing.  The real benefit of this deal is not that you can return or
exchange something that's broken, it's that your returned item retains the
same value as the day you purchased it, even if it breaks.