Visa extended warranty

[Burt]

Someone had posted a message, several months ago, about difficulty receiving
compensation for a credit card extended warranty. I just received a check
from United Milage Plus Visa for a Canon printer that malfunctioned some
months after the original warranty was over. A few tips - 1) Either save
your receipts and the literature that shows the manufacturer's warranty or,
in the case of my card company, use their option to register the product
soon after you buy it. 2) EXTREMELY important that you pay for the entire
purchase with the credit card. I had purchased the printer from Amazon.
They had automatically applied a small credit from my account that I have
left from a gift certificate. I didn't realize that a condition of the
extended warranty was that the ENTIRE amount had to be paid on the credit
card. My claim was initially denied, but I wrote a letter indicating that
the credit was about $5 on a $150 purchase and had been applied
automatically. I also noted that the wording in several areas of the
description of their insurance was not as clear as it could be on this
issue. Although the insuring company denied the claim based on this issue,
the credit card company honored it anyway and paid the claim on a one time
basis. I would have avoided the hassle if I had acquainted myself with the
terms of the extended warranty Remember that this is an insurance policy, a
contract with specific conditions under which a claim is paid. It was my
lack of knowledge that caused the delay and not Visa or the insurance
company.

Everyone dealing with my claim was friendly and helpful. On the initial
call I mentioned that just taking the printer to a repair facility would
incur a cost, and the rep told me that they would cover this cost IN
ADDITION to the cost of repair as long as the repair cost was no more than
the original cost of the printer, and the evaluation cost would be reimbured
to me in addition to the original purchase price if the cost of repair was
more than the purchase price. There was some difference in handling
purchases that were under or over $100, as I recall. I think you had to
present them with a receipt for the replacement product for items under
$100. At any rate, for anyone who has this benefit on a credit card I would
suggest that you read the details of the policy (not just the description on
the brochure that is used as an inducement to take the credit card) so you
will know what claims would be honored and how you apply for the claim.

I found that there was a real benefit to being knowledgeable about the
product. I was able to describe the problem I was having with the printer
over the phone with a technician at a repair facility and he was able to
give me an idea of repair costs. They were potentially higher than the cost
of a replacment. He was very accomodating in faxing me his estimate so that
I didn't have to run all over town to find someone who would either repair
it or give an estimate to use for the claim.

This benefit is something about which I had forgotten. For a device with a
limited life, as we know inkjet printers can have, it is invaluable. Hope
this message helps others to replace a glitchy printer, especially when the
cost of repair approaches the cost of replacement.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Hi Burt,

Interesting scenario of which you post.

I was one of the people who was describing my experience with
MasterCard's insurer. I have "had" to use them twice now. Once was a
hard drive, the other a router. In each case they made life very
difficult regarding estimates. Finding someone in my area willing to
write a note the cost of repair on these items was difficult because
they are not items that normally are considered repairable. The insurer
did everything in their power to deny the claims. They ended up telling
me my claims were invalid because the items were "not repairable" and
therefore violated the intent of the policy, which stated they would
only pay for cost of repair, or at their discretion, if economically
more logical, replacement. I finally found a service local (on the
router) that would provide a statement that the cost of repair would be
considerably greeter than the cost of replacement, which was obviously
the case. Even the company that made the product told me they do a
direct exchange on failures and scrap the failed unit.

It was all a dance to try to make me give up, but on principle I
resisted throwing in the towel. In both cases I was eventually paid,
but not without a lot of calls, threats and antagonistic bullying.

Now, on the other hand, I had some goods stolen from our car, and since
they were just purchased by my Visa card, they were covered under their
30 day theft protection plan. The only thing I found a bit invasive was
they required I send them a copy of the coverage section of my home
insurance policy. They only cover things not otherwise covered by other
means. However, once the paperwork was done, the cheque was quick and
complete. Compared to MasterCard's underwriter, Visa was much better,
and now I have started placing my extended warranty items on Visa.

Art

 

[Burt]

I remember your posts on the previous c.c. thread. Prior to that topic I
had completely forgotten about that benefit on my visa card. I guess I owe
you half! I had the broken printer sitting on a shelf for a few months and
had already replaced it. I called about the claim on a lark to see what
would happen and was actually pessimistic about the response. I was
pleasantly surprised to find the service friendly and helpful. Turns out
that I had inadvertantly made the purchase in a way (as described in my
original post) that made the claim invalid. After my complaint they
cheerfully honored the claim as an exception to the policy - not something
they were required to do. I don't know if they reviewed my visa history and
decided that it was an inexpensive way to keep a valuable customer, but they
did say in the letter accompanying the check that this was an accomodation
to maintain good customer relations.

My sense is that if the purchase had been made entirely on the credit card
there would have been coverage without question.

I actually had an experience similar to yours regarding getting a written
estimate. At my request, theVisa rep gave me several repair facilities in
the SF area that they had on a list for electronics repairs. I carried the
printer into one shop after calling ahead and was told on arrival that they
didn't repair inkjet printers. The "boss" wasn't in, and if I would come
back he would probably write an estimate. Not convenient! Not wanting to
carry the printer all over town looking for an estimate, I got on the phone.
My first call was answered by a tech that was most cooperative. Since I
knew the economic reality of getting a printer repaired that was a year and
a half old and could be replaced for $150 or less, I told him the whole
story and he complied by faxing me the estimate without the need to carry
the printer to his shop. I would rather have been able to make one trip to
a Canon authorized repair facility that worked on inkjet printers, but I
don't think many places bother unless the printer is more high end like the
ip9900 or the epson 2200 and repairs would make economic sense.