Anybody ever purchased this “extended warranty”? If so, have you ever made use of it?
My Pro 600 is currently being stored in the original packaging, and I’m not planning to use it again for a few years (living in a household that already has one). So far, I used it about 6-8 times to make cookies & bread and it seemed to work just fine. The original warranty expires in a month.
Don’t really think an extended warranty is needed since I’m not even using it right now, but after hearing all the stories about the models with the metal housing vs plastic housing (I’ve never been able to truly decipher from the serial number which type I have) it just makes me worry that someday I’ll wish I had it…
Am I just another sucker consumer that’s considering spending this money for nothing, ultimately? I usually only consider this scenario on more expensive purchases. I consider my $350 KA to be one of those…
I’m not familiar with KitchenAid’s plan details but I pretty much skip extended warranties on general principal. I wouldn’t worry about it especially since the mixer is really just a backup unit until the current active one fails.
My rule of thumb is “Never buy insurance to cover a loss you can afford to pay for out of pocket.”
The company is not a charity. They’re making money selling the extended warranty. They know the failure rate of their mixers, and the extended warranty is priced so that, averaged over thousands of units, they’ll take in more than they pay out for repairs.
The [q]Hamster King[/q] is correct, but you mentioned that you have only used it a few times since you got it, and the original warrenty is about to expire.
I’d suggest finding excuses to use it several more times before the warrenty runs out. If you have a faulty model, chances are good that the problem will appear in the original warrenty period, if you use it regularly.
So now it the time to make a few cakes and a bunch of cookies. All in the name of prudence, you know. Ending up with the cakes and cookies are just added bonuses.
If you take the cost of the ‘extended warranty’ (on just about anything, not just KitchenAid appliances) and just bank that amount of money each month, chances are excellent that by the time five years are up, you’ll be way ahead of the game, money-wise.
Salesmen push extended warranties because they are very profitable. I’ve had salesmen try to push them (repeatedly) on me, after I’ve said “No, thank you” a number of times. Usually after about three attempts to sell me on the extended warranty, I’ll say something to the effect of “Gee, if it’s that likely to break down, maybe I’d better just go somewhere else and look at a different brand”. That usually changes their tune in a hurry, for some reason. :dubious: