It might be useful to check if the ignitors and ignitor module are covered by the regular and extended warranty. If they are not and if they are somewhat uncommon in design it might be more prudent to buy a spare set along with your new appliance.

I just encountered this restriction, and I think the exclusion of dishwashers is very misleading. I''m not a plumber, but I don't think a dishwasher is "hard-plumbed" in the same way, say, a toilet or bath is hard plumbed. It is connected more like a fridge water supply or an aquarium might be - with soft, removable hoses. Is a washing machine also hard-plumbed? I'm not sure there is a strong enough technical definition of "hard-plumbed" for them to exclude dishwashers (doesn't the addition of the word "hard" actually suggest there is another type of "plumbing" other than hard plumbing? What would this be?). Also, at least mine is not "hard-wired" - it came with a three-prong plug. While I accept most people sell their dishwashers with their house, I don't think this makes them "real estate" .You could remove the dishwasher and move it if you wanted,perhaps installing a cheaper model before you left. By their definition they would not warrant a refrigerator with a water line, but more or less the same model one spec down without the line would be covered no questions asked. Seems an arbitrary decision.

Either you trust yourself to handle money/credit responsibly, or you don't. It's hard to develop that self-discipline of not buying something just because you want it. That feeling of instant gratification is alluring and addictive, and some folks can't step away from it. Many do it by reducing the temptation to begin with, which is what cutting up cards does. Some tips on traveling abroad: - Find out how much your card charges in transaction fees on foreign purchases. Capital One, for example, doesn't charge any extra fees. There are others; if you are doing a lot of overseas travel, apply for one. - Make sure whatever card you use has the new CHIP AND PIN technology. Most US cards only use Chip and Signature tech, which is very outmoded by global standards. Both American Express and Diners Club use CaP tech, but one traveler reported having to wait two hours in line at ORLY because almost an entire planeload of US travelers were queued up to use the only train ticket window with a human teller. The automated ticket kiosk only took exact change or a CaP card. The traveler said he couldn't even get his airline, Air France, to change a 20-Euro note. From a Liz Pulliam Weston/MSN Money article last year: "....It's not that your credit cards are useless overseas. Most merchants and travel providers in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Canada -- the areas that have adopted the smart-card technology -- still accept U.S. credit cards, says Odysseas Papadimitriou, who travels to Europe a few times a year and is the chief executive of credit card comparison site Card Hub. But U.S. cards, which rely on older magnetic-strip technology, simply won't work in machines that require users to punch in a personal identification number, or PIN, that's matched against a computer chip embedded in the card. U.S. debit cards won't work in these machines either, because they lack the all-important chip. You could find yourself: • Trapped in a parking lot that relies on automated kiosks to exit. • Unable to buy gas at a pay-at-the-pump station. • Prevented from buying bus, subway or rail tickets. • Stopped at toll booths that require chip-and-PIN cards. Some travelers report they've also encountered problems with clerks who don't know how to process a swipe-card transaction or merchants who refuse to accept U.S. cards, believing they're less secure. Such problems seem to be more common as time passes and fewer people are familiar with the older technology, especially in Europe, said Dan Ray, the editor-in-chief of CreditCards.com. "The odds are greater now that you'll have some trouble," Ray said. "Europeans are less likely to have the machinery or the people who are eager to process your card." Your debit card will work in overseas ATMs, but you may want to shorten your PIN if it's longer than four digits. Many foreign ATMs don't accept longer PINs. Also, foreign ATM keypads often don't have letters. If the only way you remember your PIN is by typing in a word into the keypad (say your password is 9-6-7-3, but you remember it by typing in the corresponding letters W-O-R-D), you should memorize the digits before you go." ========== HTH!

10% of purchase price is a good rule of thumb. worth it? depending on the type of problem. I have a 5 yr old Trane DF with ext warranty. No problems so I have not needed the ext warranty....yet. I really think if you do good yrly PMs, then the ext warranty may not be necessary. TD