Talk about from the frying pan to the fire! None of the box stores have anything substantially different in the aftermarket warranty department, except for Sears where it will cost you 3x as much. They are all pains to deal with and require that you use certain servicers that are more parts changers than appliance repair people.

Buying any appliance these days is a gamble. 95% of the people have no problems, or a single easily correctable problem. 5% have more than one issue. But, buying the extended warranty is giving money to the house. It's pure profit to them, and it's why they push it so hard. You're much better off placing the same $$ that your appliance costs into an account and paying for the repairs yourself. If the repairs approach 50% of the cost of the appliances, then it's time to spin the wheel again and buy another new one.

Extended warranties aren't worth the expense.

At one time I would not have bought extended warranties but appliances are not built like they used to be and it is a crpshoot. I would now.under some circumstances. Some things to go wrong are computer boards especially on ovens after self clean and porcelain oven liners, especially blue ones. The idea is to identify the areas of risk maybe by reading reviews and manage that risk. If you buy a simple gas oven, the repairs might be pretty straight forward and you would not need extended warranties. If you buy an oven run by computers, you might want to buy a service plan. I have a friend that had a board go out on her oven and her husband bought it on ebay for $35 and put it in. The same board on my oven, same brand billed at $1800(under warranty). You do have to carefully read the warranties and look for exclusions. For example, Electrolux excludes the porcelain from their service plans and there have been issues with it. Some appliances can only be repaired by their people so there is no way you can get bids. I would also look at Square Trade by costco. I have had bad luck with Best Buy wiggling out but my kids said they are much better now. I have not had a good experience with Sears. They refused to even honor the manufacturer's warranty. They buy appliances without warranties with idea that they provide the warranty. they told me they would only honor it if I had bought the extended warranty.

Thanks for all the input. Very interesting to hear the different perspectives. I think it's also important to consider how much money one is plunking down for any given appliance. The more expensive the appliance, the more expensive the repairs and the more expensive it is to replace them. So I might go with @wekick and get extended warranties on only the expensive (and electronics heavy) appliances I buy and go with @klem1 and @live_wire_oak on the less expensive ones! Thanks again...

Good luck. I've done well with extended warranties from Best Buy (washing machine) and from Sears (dishwasher). I think the warranties work well for us because of our heavy appliance use. The children play sports (lots of laundry) and are homeschooled (so we have breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner at home most days). Remember that many credit cards extend manufacturers warranties.

Thanks for the reminder about credit cards, kksmama! Will check mine out. Agree that heavy usage impacts the decision. Also, price. I am thinking I will get the extended warranties only on the most expensive pieces...

Beware of 3rd party warranties. Although the 'store' may be offering the warranty, it might be backed by a rinky-dink insurace company that could go belly up - and then you have just have a piece of paper.

Has anyone had experince with the extended warranty from Abt?

Abt gets such great reviews, wonder if theirs might be with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Abt

mdin, you are the second person in 24 hours to mention ABT (and their reviews really are great!) I see from their site that their extended warranties are via Squaretrade. Would like to learn more about them...

I have purchased many things (stoves, fridge, cameras, etc.) from them. They seem to have the lowest prices and will match a lower price from another store. Have never bought an extended warranty, so don't know what they charge or how good it is.

BTW - if you are in the area a visit to their showroom is a must. Their fishtank is aquarium quality and they have many kitchens set up that are the ultimate in luxury. Kind of like an art gallery of kitchens.

mdin, I WISH I were in the area, but alas, am not so would be ordering from a distance no matter what. I'm closer to AJ Madison, but I'm worried by the terrible reviews they often get...

I have had excellent warranty service from Square Trade, Home Depot, Sams Club and Lowe’s. Sears was a disgrace. They keep patching until the warranty runs out.

This fall, my six year old GE hybrid water went out. It was a problem item and Lowe’s sent me two checks for $1400. Original purchase price plus installation. Square Trade is excellent, but will repair it only up to the original purchase cost. Example. If you pay $ 1000 for an item and take a 5 year warranty, their plan only covers repairs up to $1000, even if that occurs within 2 years. The warranty is then gone. If you have three separate repairs totaling $1000, that’s it. I’m leaning toward purchasing my next major appliance from Costco. They give a two year warranty, and using the Costco credit card adds another two years. That’s four years at no cost. Selection is not nearly as good but their online site does offer high end items.

I had a horrible experience here in Canada with Cemrco Home Depots extended warrenty plan. will keep this as short as possible but may write way more than I should cause I am still angry over the way that I have been treated and am still being treated by Home Depot and their outsourcing to other companies to deliver merchandise and cover the extended warranty.

It started wth the washer on a washer dryer combo breaking down. It took three weeks to get the first repair person in the door after taking several days off work to have it serviced. After that it took another 4 weeks supposedly to have parts ordered to fix the appliance. The parts arrive but because of holidays the repair person is on vacation. When scheduled to come in the repair person's technician's truck breaks down. The main repair person promises to come the following day. He apparently has a heart attack. His wife arranges for another technican to come in on the sturday He comes in and does not have all the parts. He shows up on the moday and cannot get the machine started but tell us to wait a half hour and it should reset. He leaves.

We wait the time and try it it does not staert. I call for the 25 time to cemerco. I state the machine is not working They say they need to contact the technician who tells them it is working.

I complain to home depot the following week and get a call from comerco that they will replace the unit.

It takes time for me and my wife to schedule time off to go to home depot to reclaim the credit. Comerco needs to be open and their hours are 8am-5:30pm. This is my four day off work. Comerco is closed for a provincial holiday. the service counter help says that he will give it to the supervisor to look after. My wife shows up the next day to pay for delivery and the old unit to be taken away and the supervisor knows nothing of this and says she and I need to show up in the prescribed hours. She gets pissed but gets things resolved.

To rub salt into the wounds the day the new appliance is to be delivered it does not show up. Moral of my story if you live in Canada do not buy from Home Depot.

Although I'm not an advocate of 3rd party warranties,I am a supporter of Wal-Mart,Sams and Costco. Their customer service is better than most after the sale.

I commented earlier and am adding something that may be useful. I have a large wall mounted TV. Extended warranties require you to remove it from the wall, prior to repair. One exception. If Best Buy installs your wall mounted TV, and you take their warranty, they will remove it from the wall, repair and remount it. That's important to me. Although I buy most items from Costco, I bought a new 65 inch TV from Best Buy, because of their policy. They are also removing my existing 65 inch TV for free. That's also a big plus.

By far Lowes is the worst company to do business with, period. They do not stand behind the products they sell and their protection plan warranties are worthless as the paper they are written on!!!

Buy your extended warranty from the manufacture of your product.