Instead of becoming reliable, they are becoming unreliable. This rant post is not specific to any particular item I have purchased. It has become a general phenomenon. Any electronic item we purchase today comes with a warranty of a particular time period that can range from 6 months to 2 years. You are rather safe for this period as you know that the company would fix the item if it goes bad during this time period. And it usually does.
And after that time period is over... You have to choose from two options. Pay for every repair (very costly). Or pay for an annual maintenance contract (not that expensive). But paying for an AMC is well a sham considering the company is indirectly admitting that their products are not good enough to survive another couple of months or years. I mean... when I was a kid... We never worried about warranties on products like television sets, tape recorders or refrigerators.
Things are a lot different now. LCDs have a limited shelf life. You cannot really expect them to work fine for more than 5-6 years. I am rather sure that a couple of you would have CRT television sets which are more than 10-15 years old. And they are probably working fine even after such a long time. Here are a couple of items I have purchased in the recent times which would probably require an AMC to prevent any major expenses on repairs...
Whirlpool RO System: Came with a one year warranty. One part was found damaged within one month of ownership. Replaced for free. The dude who came to repair tried selling me the AMC for next year. There were two options... One that included complete coverage. Other one that only accounted for a limited number of parts.
IFB Washing Machine: I took the extended warranty on this one. And it has saved me some money I am sure. The dude who arrived last time to fix a problem tried selling me an AMC package. Which I would indeed buy because IFB charges shit load of money for repairs.
Philips DVD Player: Came with a one year warranty. Went bad after around 1.5 years. I would now have to pay 950 rupees for getting the lens changed. The service center suggested I buy an AMC for Rs. 450 that comes with home service. I am not sure if I would buy this one. This player cost me around 3500 rupees. I can probably buy a new one for 2000-2500 rupees. I am not sure getting it repaired was a better option than getting a new one.
Google Nexus One: I am pretty screwed on this one. Google has a 12 month warranty in USA. 6 months warranty in other markets. It is not on sale in India, so I believe it is not covered around here. I might get the shorter 6 month warranty from the local HTC service center. But the phone is not likely to face issues in that time period. From what I have seen, mobile phones do not generally have AMC features. And if they do, they do not of course cover physical damage. And a smartphone device is likely to suffer from that kind of a damage. I remember going with my friend to the HTC service center in Gurgaon for his Windows Mobile smartphone. It was covered under warranty. But he was still required to pay because the service center people said that the malfunctioning button was caused by hard usage and it was not covered by the warranty. Costing for fixing a button? Close to around Rs. 1000.
The basic concept today is that you pay for a hardware and get around one year of peaceful ownership experience. After that you might end up paying half to full cost of the device if you want it to last for a couple of years.
And after that time period is over... You have to choose from two options. Pay for every repair (very costly). Or pay for an annual maintenance contract (not that expensive). But paying for an AMC is well a sham considering the company is indirectly admitting that their products are not good enough to survive another couple of months or years. I mean... when I was a kid... We never worried about warranties on products like television sets, tape recorders or refrigerators.
Things are a lot different now. LCDs have a limited shelf life. You cannot really expect them to work fine for more than 5-6 years. I am rather sure that a couple of you would have CRT television sets which are more than 10-15 years old. And they are probably working fine even after such a long time. Here are a couple of items I have purchased in the recent times which would probably require an AMC to prevent any major expenses on repairs...
Whirlpool RO System: Came with a one year warranty. One part was found damaged within one month of ownership. Replaced for free. The dude who came to repair tried selling me the AMC for next year. There were two options... One that included complete coverage. Other one that only accounted for a limited number of parts.
IFB Washing Machine: I took the extended warranty on this one. And it has saved me some money I am sure. The dude who arrived last time to fix a problem tried selling me an AMC package. Which I would indeed buy because IFB charges shit load of money for repairs.
Philips DVD Player: Came with a one year warranty. Went bad after around 1.5 years. I would now have to pay 950 rupees for getting the lens changed. The service center suggested I buy an AMC for Rs. 450 that comes with home service. I am not sure if I would buy this one. This player cost me around 3500 rupees. I can probably buy a new one for 2000-2500 rupees. I am not sure getting it repaired was a better option than getting a new one.
Google Nexus One: I am pretty screwed on this one. Google has a 12 month warranty in USA. 6 months warranty in other markets. It is not on sale in India, so I believe it is not covered around here. I might get the shorter 6 month warranty from the local HTC service center. But the phone is not likely to face issues in that time period. From what I have seen, mobile phones do not generally have AMC features. And if they do, they do not of course cover physical damage. And a smartphone device is likely to suffer from that kind of a damage. I remember going with my friend to the HTC service center in Gurgaon for his Windows Mobile smartphone. It was covered under warranty. But he was still required to pay because the service center people said that the malfunctioning button was caused by hard usage and it was not covered by the warranty. Costing for fixing a button? Close to around Rs. 1000.
The basic concept today is that you pay for a hardware and get around one year of peaceful ownership experience. After that you might end up paying half to full cost of the device if you want it to last for a couple of years.
Last edited:
