Currys Whateverhappens Warranty - Any good

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  • deanos
    deanos Posts: 11,219
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    Yes you did well, :beer:
  • deanos
    deanos Posts: 11,219
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    bossmanuk wrote: »
    , but legally the retailer is only liable for 28 days.

    It's always good to buy the whatever happens, because most of the time if you buy the 5 year one it will outlive your product

    Yes its obvious you work for Curry's as you are talking aload of rubbish :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
  • dellboy102
    dellboy102 Posts: 608
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    bossmanuk wrote: »
    It's always good to buy the whatever happens, because most of the time if you buy the 5 year one it will outlive your product, meaning you'll get a new one for a lot cheaper.

    Depends what you buy I think.
  • bs7
    bs7 Posts: 774 Forumite
    deanos wrote: »
    Yes its obvious you work for Curry's as you are talking aload of rubbish :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

    Lol!!! True!

    Here's another 'genius' from Currys arguing a similar thing about the retailer's liability being restricted to a few weeks - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5161649

    It does seem Currys give them either absolutely no training or simply teach them the wrong thing when it comes to statutory rights. It's no wonder they get such a terrible reputation when it comes to customer service.


    bossmanuk wrote: »
    It's always good to buy the whatever happens, because most of the time if you buy the 5 year one it will outlive your product, meaning you'll get a new one for a lot cheaper.

    Hmmmm! I think it's fairly safe to assume that Currys will be making a generous profit on the insurance policy - therefore, the majority of the people buying the policy will never use it.
    So it depends on how risk adverse or risk loving the customer is.

    CrazySaver's deal works out at £190 for 5 years cover on an item costing £960, perhaps seems reasonable to some BUT remember the first year is covered by the manufacturer's warranty (except accidental damage); the likelihood is that the item will great down after 5 years; the insurance gives them 21 days to repair the item; the amount you get offered if the item breaks is reduced each year and may not necessarily allow you to purchase another item; you have to deal with Currys (and their seemingly incompetent staff) should things go wrong; and there's a chance that the item will be repairable - and the cost of the repair is unlikely to be more than the premium.


    But if covering more than one or two items, i'd be surprised if adding accidental damage cover to your home contents insurance doesn't work out cheaper in the longer run.
  • Soulistic
    Soulistic Posts: 199
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    CrazySaver wrote: »
    Appreciate the advice :)

    Samsung LE40M86DBX TV on Currys web site was £1075, Instore Price was £1299.
    Price Matched Empire Direct and then haggled and got this down to £960
    Warranty was supposed to be £280
    Haggled and got this for £190

    Paid £1150 for the whole lot.

    While I was there got them to throw in a Scart switcher for half price (still got some old stuff I need to connect) and walked away with a new digital camera which was supposed to be £159 but as the charger was missing managed to get this for £80 :)

    Have I been ripped off or do you reckon I did OK ;)

    Man, you are my hero... how do you haggle like this? I want to find out since I'm in the process of buying a new plasma myself.

    Having to return the faulty one back to Comet, I saw a nice looking LG tv at curry's, and it's on for £999. If I can get the whole package (TV + warranty) for under £1000, that would be great!

    Any advise for a newbie haggler?
  • bs7
    bs7 Posts: 774 Forumite
    bossmanuk wrote: »
    Of course currys make a nice profit on the policies - doesn't all insurance result in sky high profits for x company?
    I was responding specifically to your comment:
    It's always good to buy the whatever happens, because most of the time if you buy the 5 year one it will outlive your product, meaning you'll get a new one for a lot cheaper.
    If you were correct in stating that "most of the time ... you'll get a new one for a lot cheaper" then "most" of the 5 year policies would result in a loss, and i would very much doubt Currys would be offering 5 year policies in that case.
    I do see your point, and what currys are banking on is people losing the cover or forgetting they have it - even though there is an electronic record of the purchase. Also, home insurance usually has an excess to pay.
    Plus Currys will make things difficult in order to discourage some people from claiming.
    It all depends on what you purchase. On certain washing machines it's about £2.99 per month, and considering how much plumbers charge for call-outs it's an excellent deal.
    It's only a good deal if you think it's going to break down. Washing machines are unlikely to be damaged accidentally - so there's neglible risk in that respect. £36 for the first year is therefore effectively wasted as it's otherwise covered by the manufacturer's warranty (buy it at JohnLewis and you get a 2nd years cover free too). So two years is £72, 3 years - £108, 4 years - £144, 5 years £180. Currys' cheapest washing machine (online) is
    £169.95
    - so over 5 years i'll have paid more for the cover than a) the machine cost originally, and b) more than it'd cost for a new one. It depends on one's attitude to risk, but it has been suggested many times on the forum that it's usually better to 'self insure', i.e. simply put the money aside each month - that way you have the money for repairs if needed, or have the money to replace the item when the time comes.



    I'm not a currys fanboy, I'm working there as a stop gap until uni this summer, and I do agree that the customer service is something to be desired. In my store there are about 5 people that know what they are talking about, and the other 40ish staff know a little. The training provided by currys is great, but most the staff chose not to do it.


    The training provided by currys is great, but most the staff chose not to do it.
    Obviously not, if they are teaching people that "legally the retailer is only liable for 28 days":confused:
  • deanos
    deanos Posts: 11,219
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    bossmanuk wrote: »
    Obviously you haven't bought new electrical goods recently then. In a nutshell, they don't make 'em like they used to!

    Is that the line you use to flog your insurance ;)
  • eVOLVE_3
    eVOLVE_3 Posts: 10 Forumite
    bs7 wrote: »

    Here's another 'genius' from Currys arguing a similar thing about the retailer's liability being restricted to a few weeks

    It does seem Currys give them either absolutely no training or simply teach them the wrong thing when it comes to statutory rights. It's no wonder they get such a terrible reputation when it comes to customer service.

    Thank you for that, but what bossmanuk is referring to is the 28 day exchange/refund policy that Currys do. No matter what you may think, no matter whose responsibility it is, it is normally the manufacturer that carries out the repair (over 28 days) without an extended guarantee. Yes Currys have to make sure it happens, but the manufacturer will perform it unless you take out whateverhappens (in which case it's normally a mastercare engineer). I've never said the retailers liability only lasts a few weeks... The law only requires the option of an exchange/refund before the goods have been accepted. Otherwise the retailer (down to the manufacturer's policy) may require it be repaired. Incidentally, the manufacturer also gets a LOT longer to repair the item than Currys would... Rustybucket, no-where would realistically exchange a 6 month old freezer, and without some alternate warranty, the manufacturer can take 6 weeks to repair it and not have to explain themselves. Incidentally, which manufacturer was it? Not all of them are that bad.
    bs7 wrote: »
    Hmmmm! I think it's fairly safe to assume that Currys will be making a generous profit on the insurance policy - therefore, the majority of the people buying the policy will never use it.

    Another ridiculous assumption. Making a profit on whateverhappens (it is not an insurance policy btw) does not mean it does not get used in the majority of cases... It means that it the total cost of all repairs costs the company less than the money they are getting in (mainly because they are directly paying the engineers, so get them at a far reduced rate than you would have to pay if you called one out for your non warranty covered product).

    bs7 wrote: »
    CrazySaver's deal works out at £190 for 5 years cover on an item costing £960, perhaps seems reasonable to some BUT remember the first year is covered by the manufacturer's warranty (except accidental damage); the likelihood is that the item will great down after 5 years; the insurance gives them 21 days to repair the item; the amount you get offered if the item breaks is reduced each year and may not necessarily allow you to purchase another item; you have to deal with Currys (and their seemingly incompetent staff) should things go wrong; and there's a chance that the item will be repairable - and the cost of the repair is unlikely to be more than the premium.

    I took out the whateverhappens on a very nice TV I bought from Currys some time after I stopped working there, and even though I've never had to use it, don't feel that it's a bad offer. Certainly the 'within 21 days' thing is a lot better than the manufacturer's time, but they also state that the engineer will be with you within 2 working days. Having worked in Currys, I am well aware that most customers that cannot have their items repaired are offered the full amount they originally paid (plus a pro-rata refund of the rest of the warranty cost so they can put it towards a new one if they wish). If for some stupid reason you're not offered enough to buy a replacement item (of the same specs - normally you'll be able to get something better) then it's never been a problem for me to call customer services and explain what features of the new product aren't available on an item less than a certain price and get them to bump their cash (in some cases well above what they originally paid) on behalf of the customer.

    As for 'Washing Machines are unlikely to be damaged accidentally', you'd be surprised how many times I've had angry customers come back to me complaining that the manufacturer won't repair their washing machine because it had a coin stuck in it. I'd say probably once a week, in a small store. Happened to one lady twice in two weeks actually, and her and her husband had a full blown argument in front of me over who'd left the money in their pockets. Still, that was very unlucky. In some cases when I'd feel really sorry for people, I'd unofficially suggest taking out the extended cover monthly retro-actively, getting the item repaired/exchanged on the Whateverhappens cover and then cancelling the monthly thing a few months down the line. But you didn't hear that from me...
  • rizel23
    rizel23 Posts: 283
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    Curry's make a profit if you don't use the whateverhappens policy (obviously) break even on the 1st call out & repair, then loose money on any call outs after that. Well thats what my manager told me whilst i worked there
  • bs7
    bs7 Posts: 774 Forumite
    eVOLVE wrote: »
    (it is not an insurance policy btw)

    You're right - Currys have craftily deemed it a "Service Agreement" and have appointed a trustee rather than having it underwritten.

    Regardless of whether it's called a "Service Agreement" or not it still has elements of insurance - one is insuring against the probability of malfunction.

    I notice that Currys claim that their WhateverHappens Policies have apparently taken into account new DTI Guidelines, but the curious thing is that the customer has less protection should the policy not be honoured as it does not appear to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
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