Buying a TV and the manufacturers warranty.

  When buying a TV there is a trap that most people don't know about and that is the manufacturers warranty. Most TV's come with a 1 year parts and 90 days labor warranty. But when you need to use it after 90 days you will find that the labor to fix most repairs cost nearly as much as the TV did or sometimes even more.

As an example, I had a $200 small TV and after about 6 months of use it stopped working. I called around to see where I could get it fixed under warranty and there were several places locally. I told them what it was doing and they all agreed it was likely the power board. They said the part was free but the labor would be between $225.00 to $275.00 dollars.

They told me to just buy a new one as it would be cheaper and I get a new warranty.
This may not seem acceptable but it's a fact. That coupled with the fact that the TV's today no longer last 10-15 years or more like the older ones. Yes they are built cheaper and life expectanty is now around 5 years or less.

So, what should you do when you need or want a new TV? Well the best option is an aftermarket warranty but that is touchy subject as well since many of them are total ripoofs and fail you when you need it most. How? Well like having a high deductable or declairing that abuse or misuse was involed.

What then is the best course of action? Buy a warranty from a known reliable source. As an example, Best Buy has their Geek Squad warranty that they sell and handle in store. Issue here is that it's only good on products purchased at their stores. Not a really bad thing as they tend to be a good source for TV's but if you do want to buy elswhere then look into SquareTrade as they are known to be a good source of warrantues that can be claimed nation wide. Either way you can expect to pay an additional 15-20% on top of the purchase price for a 3-5 year warranty so just think about that when you consider buying.