If you are a regular reader of Double Click you know that I very rarely suggest purchasing anything. My motto is, “cheap is good but free is best.” However, sometimes I must shell out some dollars for something and hope I never have to use it. That thing is called insurance.
So, let me share a recent insurance story with you. Do I think it was a good purchase? Read on and see.
Back in October 2017, I bought a laser printer for home use from one of the big box stores in town. It was a Brother HL-L2360D and had excellent reviews. As a matter of fact, it was rated as one of the best low cost black and white laser printers around. So I bought it. The cost was $89.99. A pretty good deal since it was on sale and the regular price was around $120 (that last part is from memory).
The sales guy asked if I wanted to get a Square Trade policy on it, just in case something happened to it. They had a three year and a two-year policy.
First a little backstory on Square Trade (squaretrade.com). I first ran into Square Trade several years ago when I bought an electronic device on Amazon.com. They offered a warranty that seemed too good to be true. It was on a $50 item (plus or minus) and they offered a three-year warranty for less than $10. It seemed to me like a no brainer. Now I am not usually a biggie on warranties like this but I thought, ok, I will test it out and see how it works. Well, I never found out. That device, an external hard drive, is now over five years old and still functioning perfectly. A couple of years ago we bought a large TV from another big box store and added a Square Trade warranty to it also. This one was for five years. So far I have never used it.
So for the printer, I decided to buy a two-year policy for $14.99. Now, fast forward to this year. This printer was absolutely perfect. However, in the last few weeks, it failed, totally. I checked and had made about 2,300 copies since it was purchased.
I returned to the store of purchase, forgetting that I had used Square Trade. Asked them about repairs and they looked up my receipt and said I had the warranty on it. I took the receipt, went online to SquareTrade.com and within an hour I had been approved for a depreciated refund of $77. Rumor has it that if the item is less than $300 they will give you a refund and you can keep the broken one, which happened for me. Five days later I had a check and a new printer.
I am now a believer in Square Trade if the price of the warranty seems reasonable. They also cover major appliances, most all electronics and many other items including smartphones.
Is it perfect? No. Can it be useful? Yes. Do I have a new printer? Yes, the model that replaced the one I had…and also another $14.99 warranty.
