Credit Cards and Warrenties - advice needed

I heard that AMEX cards other than Blue Cash can do it for you.
I think it is kinda like, if you don't want the reward, then they will extend the warrenty. You cannot get both.

Other cards I don't know

Quote from sard : I am looking to get a laptop as a gift. I have never purchased a large electronic item before, so some advice is needed. I went to Best Buy and asked about their warranties and they said the laptops have a 1 year manufacturer policy. If someone breaks, I have to send it to the manufacturer. I've heard in the past on commercials that if I use certain credit cards, it will double the warranty? How does this work? If something breaks, I can mail it back to the manufacturer for 2 years? Do I need to contact the card company and say "I just bought this, I need to double the warranty" What credit cards do this? I have: Discover Amex Blue Citibank Mastercard Thank you!

I have used Amex blue extended warranty multiple times. So unless the product is refurbished, they double your manufacturer's warranty or extend it by one year whichever is the shorter. So if your manufacturer warranty is 2 years, then Amex adds another year to it. Lets say your laptop went bad during the third year, you call Amex extended warranty () or go here https://www295.americanexpress.com/onlineclaim/ and file a claim

In all cases of mine except one they just reimbursed the original cost. In no cases was I asked to main-in or return the defective item. The last was a laptop which had its keyboard come out. It was bought for $300 and despite me saying that I can get the keyboard replaced and send invoice to Amex, Amex said just throw away the laptop and refunded me $300.

The only time they didn't refund me in full was when my Lenovo laptop battery died. They asked for a battery replacement quote which I provided from Lenovo website and they refunded me that money.

I've had a friend whose phone broke recently and it was bought for free with contract. In this case, Amex asked im to estimate the current market value of that phone and he came up with a number and they just refunded him.


All this said, Discover also offers the same service and their service is as good. My bro-in-law used it multiple times and after years of very satisfactory experience with Amex, I have now switched to Discover for my electronics purchases because they ofofer price protection too. Meaning they will refund you the difference if price of thm item falls more than $25 in 90 days on any website. Amex doesn't offer that.
https://www.discover.com/credit-c...MEMBEN_TXT

Awesome.
Thanks for the info.

So just purchase the item with the credit card and the "extra" warranty is automatically applied?
I don't need to tell them?

Thanks

some cards require you to register purchases (especially large ones) to receive protection.

Quote from sard : Awesome. Thanks for the info. So just purchase the item with the credit card and the "extra" warranty is automatically applied? I don't need to tell them? Thanks

Go to your CC website and check the details for their extended warranty / consumer protection / whatever they call it. Each CC is different, so it's best to check for your individual card. I know Discover has a link towards the bottom of your account overview screen, and I believe AmEx does as well.

Quote from stubbornboy : I have used Amex blue extended warranty multiple times. So unless the product is refurbished, they double your manufacturer's warranty or extend it by one year whichever is the shorter. So if your manufacturer warranty is 2 years, then Amex adds another year to it. Lets say your laptop went bad during the third year, you call Amex extended warranty () or go here https://www295.americanexpress.com/onlineclaim/ and file a claim In all cases of mine except one they just reimbursed the original cost. In no cases was I asked to main-in or return the defective item. The last was a laptop which had its keyboard come out. It was bought for $300 and despite me saying that I can get the keyboard replaced and send invoice to Amex, Amex said just throw away the laptop and refunded me $300. The only time they didn't refund me in full was when my Lenovo laptop battery died. They asked for a battery replacement quote which I provided from Lenovo website and they refunded me that money. I've had a friend whose phone broke recently and it was bought for free with contract. In this case, Amex asked im to estimate the current market value of that phone and he came up with a number and they just refunded him.

I believe Amex now covers refurbished items without restriction. They frequently change their terms without notification, and it varies from product to product, but on my Blue and Platinum the refurbished restriction was deleted a few years ago.

Just to add my experience, Amex seems pretty lax about repair estimates until you get into the ~$400+ range. I had a laptop die on me (dead motherboard) and they wanted me to get a local estimate from "reputable" (adjuster's words, not mine) repair service, or ship it to their repair contractor in Utah. I ended up shipping it out, and was told a week later than fixing it would be too expensive. I got my hard drive back by UPS, and a ~$800 account credit was added to my balance.

For items below the ~$400 mark, they tend to rubber stamp it, unless you've been racking up a ton of claims.

Quote from sard : Awesome. Thanks for the info. So just purchase the item with the credit card and the "extra" warranty is automatically applied? I don't need to tell them? Thanks

For Amex and Discover you don't need to. It is automatic

Thanks a lot everyone!

If I buy refurbished I will use Amex Blue and if I buy new, I will use Discover (to get cash back)

Thanks!

I am going through the process right now on a Nikon camera I bought at Walmart.com for $200 with my Citi card that doubled the warranty. Problem is getting a repair estimate because very few places repair lower end digital cameras. The warranty service/claim company that Citi uses is requiring I submit a repair estimate with cost of labor and materials as well as detailed nature of problem...in this case, a "lens error" problem. On top of that, I have to find Nikon's warranty terms and conditions which are not included with the item and are not easily/readily found on its web site...so I'll need to contact Nikon. All and all, now that I'm going through the process, I would say that this Citi credit card doubling of warranty is good for something expensive and can be locally repaired. For thing/situations like my camera and Citi's warranty company, I think it comes down to how much work and effort the person is willing to put in to get some money back. Maybe it is different for my VISA card?

Quote from dakaz : so I'll need to contact Nikon.

while your at it, just ask them how much a repair would cost and if they can e-mail the quote + repair description to you - although it will probably be almost as much as the camera itself, you will have a quote from a reputable repair place

Discover and Amex pretty good about those protection and keep in mind, Costco does have 2 years warranty on their electronic purchase.

I've found Amex to be the easiest to deal with. During the extended warranty for my laptop I needed a new fan and they paid for the whole computer. I told them it's just the fan and my brother would put it in for me but they actually insisted on refunding the whole computer. I guess the way they figured it is if I had to take it in to have it looked at at a shop it would cost as much as my cheapo laptop so this would cost them less.