We ran a poll over a week ago asking you about your opinion about cell phone warranties. I thought the results were pretty interesting due to the fact that a good portion (30%) of the respondents are paying their carrier for an extended warranty. On the other hand 42% are just fine with RIM’s standard 1 year warranty that comes with most BlackBerrys. I personally found that AT&T and T-Mobile are really good in fulfilling the manufacturers warranty (within the first year) but they do usually send you a refurbished device in exchange for yours.
17% of the poll agree with me in thinking that warranties are a waste of money/time. It makes me wonder if people are against the fact that you have to go through your carrier to redeem the warranty or because there are too many restrictions. Only 5% of responders thought that cellphone warranties are currently too expensive and another 5% found that 3rd party warranties were a better bet.
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DavidB Not Registered
Posted: September 2, 2008 at 9:48 AM EST
Well, I pay for the VZW coverage because a) it lets me walk into practically any VZW store and get a replacement device and b) the RIM warranty is only a year, my VZW plan is two years. At $6/month it gives me peace of mind and will cost me ~$150 over the 2 years I know, but if (more like WHEN) I destroy my berry (I have YET to have a phone last through the 2 years without being replaced at LEAST once) it is a fair trade in my mind since without it VZW will hit me for probably something like $400 or more (full retail) for a replacement. I’d wouldn’t buy the extra insurance on a regular phone, but for sure on a Blackberry.
Brian Not Registered
Posted: September 2, 2008 at 9:40 PM EST
DavidB prey much covered it for me too, other than I don’t typically damage my phones and have only had to get one replaced once because it was a mfr defect.