# Is squaretrade (3rd-party warranty dealer) a legit company?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-squaretrade-3rd-party-warranty-dealer-a-legit-company/550901>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 20, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-squaretrade-3rd-party-warranty-dealer-a-legit-company/550901 "2010-08-20T19:22:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-squaretrade-3rd-party-warranty-dealer-a-legit-company/550901/1 "2010-08-20T19:22:04Z")

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I just bought an all-in-one stereo on Ebay. It comes with a 30-day warranty from the seller. After buying it, I got an email offering me a 1-year warranty from Squaretrade for about 13% of the purchase price (including shipping.) Normally I wouldn’t buy an extended warranty, but but this one is only “extended” as far as a normal warranty would be, and the thing I bought has a CD deck in it, and thus it has moving parts which are usually more likely to break than electronics.

Has anybody dealt with this company? Are they a legit business? I looked them up, and apparently “PC Mag” likes them, if that’s a legit magazine.

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**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-squaretrade-3rd-party-warranty-dealer-a-legit-company/550901/2 "2010-08-20T19:31:07Z")

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It’s legit. Whether it’s worth the money is a different question altogether.

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**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-squaretrade-3rd-party-warranty-dealer-a-legit-company/550901/3 "2010-12-26T23:46:53Z")

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Bumping this for holiday purchases:  
I just filed a claim this morning with SquareTrade for a refurbished iPod Touch my daughter got a year and a half ago. The battery won’t hold a charge. They’ve determined it’s cheaper to just refund the full iPod purchase price, and are sending a free mailer for us to send in the iPod (to make sure it wasn’t dropped or otherwise damaged). I can’t complain, and my daughter’s delighted.

They are always sending out discount codes for their warranties. I just bought an upgraded 3-year warranty for a new camera, which INCLUDES accidental damage from dropping or spills, for $26.