Guaranteed Quality?
My washing machine guarantee has recently expired. I know this because the manufacturer sent me a letter to to try to sell me repair insurance. Now, the selling of extended warranties at the time of purchase is big business, but I hardly think that those of us who refused in the first place are going to have a change of heart a year or two down the line.
The direct marketing spreadsheets will, presumably, indicate a positive cashflow on the excercise, but for the huge majority of customers who don't bite on this offer, the only message we've received is this. Your great product (replete with wonderful features and reliability) is now, in your opinion, a little bit dodgy and prone to expensive collapse.
I'm not sure about the ROI on that.
posted by john dodds @ 2:35 AM
3 Comments:
I must admit I find the whole extended warranty thing abit daft - best exemplified when I was offered it whilst buying my VW Golf ... a car that for years was telling the World how reliable it was.
Of course the fucking thing broke down more times than a Skoda which shows advertising isn't always truthful and the Germans are not as precise with their screwdrivers as they once were.
Brands that only contact for more money are seen as money grubbing.
Most extended warranty deals are offered by third party white labelled insurance brands with little or no interest in the original purchase.
It's just a way of a manufacturer or retailer making more money.
But as you say it undervalues the product and importantly the relationship.
However in their defence most products or services have so little true loyalty in the first place that I'm not sure they are really risking much. In the case of your appliance, when you do come to renew, in the next 5 years manufacturing and products may have changed dramatically and you might want something completely different.
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