Do you fill out product registration cards?

[Nars Glinley]

The ones that come with a new purchase of something. They usually have some vague wording about product updates blah blah blah.

I never do. I get enough spam/junk mail.

[MsRobyn]

I send them in (or register online, if that's an option) for safety devices that may be affected by recalls. My bike helmet comes to mind, as well as the various car seats I've bought over the years. Otherwise, I don't bother.

[LouisB]

I don't bother with it. I never fill the damn things out.

[aruvqan]

depends, mainly cost. If it is cheap that I will toss it and buy a replacement, never. If it is something that costs a fair amount to replace, generally.

[Patty O'Furniture]

You may be surprised to learn that here (Thailand) the salesperson opens up the item (once you've bought it), fishes out the warranty card and fills it out for you and then (I assume) sends it off to the manufacturer. Then they put a sticker on the item itself that has the warranty card number and name of purchase location, then repackage everything. I've bought a dozen or so items since I've been here, the last few being a juicer, wifi dongle, Wahl clipper and halogen oven and they did this for all of them.

I was impressed.

[Joey P]

I don't fill out the cards, but if I buy something that costs more then a few hundred dollars or so, I'll sometimes register it online. That way if breaks under warranty it's easier to get it replaced if I can't find the receipt. It's also easier for them to get recall information to me if there's a safety issue or get a firmware/software update to something that isn't regularly connected to the internet.

But it still comes down to me deciding if said item is worth the possibility of getting junk mail over. A $2000 major brand TV, yes. A $40 no name toaster, probably not.

Come to think of it, the cheap toaster is more likely to burn my house down then the expensive TV.

[suranyi]

As MsRobyn said, I always do it for items that might be subject to a safety recall. The prime example being child car seats. Otherwise not necessarily.

And for those car seats and similar items, they really encourage you to send them in. As soon as you open the box the card is in your face with big letters saying "FILL OUT AND RETURN THIS CARD NOW, WHILE YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT IT, FOR YOUR CHILD'S SAFETY!"

ETA: I did actually have a car seat recalled once for safety reasons.

[Dereknocue67]

I register online and the few times I have had to make a claim the process was less involved because they had all of my pertinent data.

[Mr. Kobayashi]

Do I bollocks. The only ones I do is with games which these days often need to be registered online in some way to even function.

[compositejoe]

Nope, never have done and never will do!

[psychonaut]

Originally Posted by Patty O'Furniture

You may be surprised to learn that here (Thailand) the salesperson opens up the item (once you've bought it), fishes out the warranty card and fills it out for you and then (I assume) sends it off to the manufacturer. Then they put a sticker on the item itself that has the warranty card number and name of purchase location, then repackage everything. I've bought a dozen or so items since I've been here, the last few being a juicer, wifi dongle, Wahl clipper and halogen oven and they did this for all of them.

I wonder how much the manufacturer pays the retailer for this. I can't believe the retailers are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. I'm not sure about Thailand but in most (Western) jurisdictions warranties can't be predicated on the consumer filling out a card; the goods have to be fit for purpose and if not the manufacturer is obliged to offer a repair, replacement, or refund, regardless of whether the card was filled out. Warranty cards are therefore just a means of collecting customer names and addresses for mailing lists and other marketing purposes.

[Missy2U]

I answered sometimes and you wanted me to explain the circumstances according to the poll - the circumstances are "when I feel like it."