# Should I buy the extended warranty?



## ProcyonOne (Jun 18, 2015)

Hi,

I recently got a Roamio "Tivo renewed" unit for just $50 + $350 for lifetime service with the Summer sale. I think I got a great deal. When the unit arrived it looked like new and still had the protective plastic peel-off wrap on the case.

It works great but I was wondering if I should purchase the extended warranty or not....If it dies without the warranty will Tivo fix it or exchange it?

Thanks


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

There are a million and one threads on this. I suggest you read through those as this is a hot button issue. No, not needed, and yes, they will repair/replace with a reasonable fee. New hard drives are cheap and easy to install, and are the most likely part to fail.


----------



## convergent (Jan 4, 2007)

ProcyonOne said:


> Hi,
> 
> I recently got a Roamio "Tivo renewed" unit for just $50 + $350 for lifetime service with the Summer sale. I think I got a great deal. When the unit arrived it looked like new and still had the protective plastic peel-off wrap on the case.
> 
> ...


As was said, a many threads on this. Extended warranties are always a crap shoot. I bought it for my Pro+Lifetime because of the amount of money tied up in it, but I wouldn't in your case because I'd take the risk on the lower dollar amount. The hard drive is the most likely failure point and they can easily be replaced by the user.


----------



## johbot (Jul 2, 2015)

I was wondering this exact same thing since I bought my renewed Roamio Plus at the Summer sale too. Guess I'll do a little searching before it's too late to add on.


----------



## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

I think you can add it during the 30 day period. You may also have 60 days to return the extended warranty. I thought I read that the only way to transfer lifetime if your box can't be repaired is with continual care or extended warranty (either tivo or another store like through best buy).

It's always a personal choice. Since I went with lifetime and didn't have continual care, I got it for my roamio plus so I'll have piece of mind for 3 years plus whatever my credit card adds. Funny that 3 years is $39 for both a roamio pro or a mini. Should be $5 for a mini.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

ProcyonOne said:


> It works great but I was wondering if I should purchase the extended warranty or not....If it dies without the warranty will Tivo fix it or exchange it?
> 
> Thanks


To answer the second question first, if your Roamio dies after the manufactures warranty expires, TiVo will fix or exchange it for a small fee. I believe if you're paying monthly the cost to exchange it is about the same as the cost of a warranty. However, in my experience lifetime is the much better deal as you are unlikely to need to have your TiVo repaired.

As for your first question, it depends. If you engage in magical thinking, then a warranty is the thing for you. Magical thinking will cause you to assume that buying a warranty will prevent your TiVo from ever breaking, and that it will fail the day your warranty is over. If on the other hand your thinking is rational, you wouldn't ask the question in the first place because you'd realize that it is insane to purchase a warranty for affordable luxury goods, much less electronic gear which is extremely unlikely to fail after the initial break-in period covered by the manufacturer's warranty and before an extended warranty would have expired.

But as the man says above, it's a personal decision as to whether or not you want to make the poor choice of buying an extended warranty.



thefisch said:


> Funny that 3 years is $39 for both a roamio pro or a mini. Should be $5 for a mini.


No; since buying an extended warranty is a sucker's bet, the correct price to charge is whatever the traffic will bear.


----------



## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

How much does tivo charge to repair an out of warranty lifetime box?


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Here was my take on it from another thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10571236#post10571236

Spoiler: I am not a fan of insuring something that I can afford to self-insure. Read my detailed justification in the above link if you are interested in my rationale.


----------



## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

ej42137 said:


> the correct price to charge is whatever the traffic will bear.


 I agree with this comment in general. I was just surprised to see no variation in the cost. Most extended warranties tend to vary the price depending on the cost of the item, sometimes taking into account the type of item.


----------



## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

MikeekiM said:


> Here was my take on it from another thread:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10571236#post10571236
> 
> Spoiler: I am not a fan of insuring something that I can afford to self-insure. Read my detailed justification in the above link if you are interested in my rationale.


Thanks for the link. In regards to this part:
_TiVo customer service agents have told me that they will transfer a lifetime service to any replacement box for free in the first 3 years, even if the box was a replacement that is customer funded (as opposed to a warranty replacement)._
That's good to know. Is that in writing anywhere? Has anyone gotten them to do this in year 2 or 3 without an issue?


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

thefisch said:


> Thanks for the link. In regards to this part:
> _TiVo customer service agents have told me that they will transfer a lifetime service to any replacement box for free in the first 3 years, even if the box was a replacement that is customer funded (as opposed to a warranty replacement)._
> That's good to know. Is that in writing anywhere? Has anyone gotten them to do this in year 2 or 3 without an issue?


No... Unfortunately, the official language in the terms & conditions are designed to protect the company from this as a legal liability...

But I have found that there are a lot of little unofficial policies that TiVo does in good faith for its customers (including things like the 10+ year loyalty promotions).

The CSR who spoke to me said that they will generally transfer lifetime to another replacement box for free for the first three years, and after that, they will often transfer to a replacement box for $199 in years 4 and beyond (not sure if there is an upper limit or not).

I do think this fits into the YMMV category... If you don't get the answer you want...you can always call and see if the next agent will apply some good faith...


----------



## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

Good to know that they may help you later to transfer lifetime later - YMMV as you said. They were pretty clear on the phone when I had questions about my order that they would not transfer it later.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

thefisch said:


> Good to know that they may help you later to transfer lifetime later - YMMV as you said. They were pretty clear on the phone when I had questions about my order that they would not transfer it later.


This community is the best historic knowledgebase of the good faith that TiVo has extended in the past... Anyone want to chime in here? I have never had a TiVo go bad on me... My DirecTV TiVo lasted from 2002 through 2008 (I think), when I switched to DirecTV's HD box...at the time, DirecTV did not have an HD TiVo solution.

*Have you ever replaced a dead TiVo out of warranty and had your lifetime service transferred for free or at a discounted rate? How long ago had you purchased your lifetime service?*


----------



## aristoBrat (Dec 30, 2002)

thefisch said:


> How much does tivo charge to repair an out of warranty lifetime box?


Granted, this is awhile ago, but below is what it cost me to have a two-year old TiVo Series 3 w/ Lifetime replaced (as TiVo doesn't do repairs).

FWIW, I have been a customer since 2001, and got no love with them waiving the Service Transfer Fee for a dead two-year old unit.

Total cost was $156.45 (to replace w/ a refurb) + $199.99 (service transfer fee) = $354.44.



> This is confirmation of your TiVo Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA).
> 
> RMA Number: TV-XXXXXX
> RMA Date: 8/24/2009
> ...


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

thefisch said:


> I agree with this comment in general. I was just surprised to see no variation in the cost. Most extended warranties tend to vary the price depending on the cost of the item, sometimes taking into account the type of item.


Yes, I was just using your comment to further express my opinion of the extended warranty scam that preys on those who have a poor grasp of probability and basic arithmetic.

As you say, the cost of a warranty should be based on the cost and the probability of the item failing; the mini is cheaper, has no moving parts and has fewer points of failure, so (as you said) it's very hard to see why the warranty cost is the same. My guess would be that they didn't want to bother with doing the risk analysis, so they used the $39 price point because they knew for sure they'd make money off anyone who was silly enough to fall for it.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

aristoBrat said:


> Granted, this is awhile ago, but below is what it cost me to have a two-year old TiVo Series 3 w/ Lifetime replaced (as TiVo doesn't do repairs).
> 
> FWIW, I have been a customer since 2001, and got no love with them waiving the Service Transfer Fee for a dead two-year old unit.
> 
> Total cost was $156.45 (to replace w/ a refurb) + $199.99 (service transfer fee) = $354.44.


That stinks... If you've been a customer that long, and your TiVo failed after only two years, you'd think that is exactly the situation where goodwill would be applied...

That said, the $39.00 is still a high price to pay for insurance on a $354.44 risk...


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

MikeekiM said:


> That stinks... If you've been a customer that long, and your TiVo failed after only two years, you'd think that is exactly the situation where goodwill would be applied...
> 
> That said, the $39.00 is still a high price to pay for insurance on a $354.44 risk...


That deosn't seem to bad to me. Especially if you plan on selling it while the warranty is still in force. Sinc ethewarranty can help with the resale.

Anyway as was mentioned warranties are a crap shoot. For instance I've owned a dozen HDTVs since 2001. I got the extended warranty on all of them but one. Which one did I have a major issue with? Of course the one without the warranty. It died a few weeks after the year warranty was up. With electronics, I've cleaned up on some extended warranties, and others the money went poof.

For Tivos though I do typically get the warranty, but I also have never had a TiVo fail with the 30+ TiVos I've owned. I'll also usually get the extended warranty from BestBuy(or similar place) if the cost is low and I can get four or five years from it. For instance my first two Minis I got from BestBuy. And their four year warranty was much, much cheaper that what TiVo was for three years. My third Mini I got an extended warranty from tiVo. And my fourth Mini I didn't get any extended warranty. I'm still waiting on that fourth Mini to fail on me


----------



## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

MikeekiM said:


> That stinks... If you've been a customer that long, and your TiVo failed after only two years, you'd think that is exactly the situation where goodwill would be applied...
> 
> That said, the $39.00 is still a high price to pay for insurance on a $354.44 risk...


I don't thinks that's a bad deal. It's out of warrantee yet they are giving the customer a good discount on the unit and a $200 discount on the lifetime. They could have simply told the customer "that's why we offer wanrantees, you should have bought one".


----------



## twhiting9275 (Nov 17, 2006)

You're really the only one that can answer that question, sadly.
That said:
I've been a TiVo customer since December '08 , with 6 TiVos on my account.
3 active TiVos in the house now, 3 older ones.
I've never seen a TiVo go bad, but maybe my luck is really good. I have seen external drives go bad, but that's not really TiVo's fault.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> For Tivos though I do typically get the warranty, but I also have never had a TiVo fail with the 30+ TiVos I've owned.


So if you hadn't bought the extended warranties would you have had three free TiVos? If you pay for another extended warranty you should read up on the term "cognitive dissonance".


----------



## Begather (Jun 10, 2015)

johbot said:


> I was wondering this exact same thing since I bought my renewed Roamio Plus at the Summer sale too. Guess I'll do a little searching before it's too late to add on.


Have you got to some conclusion yet or not?


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ej42137 said:


> So if you hadn't bought the extended warranties would you have had three free TiVos? If you pay for another extended warranty you should read up on the term "cognitive dissonance".


AS I mentioned the extended warranties were typically for resale. Most of my TiVos in the past were sold while still under extended warranty. So that helps the item to either sell quicker or get a little more money for it. Either way, from the perspective of getting an extended warranty for resale, it has been worth it. For getting it for the TiVo to be fixed when there are issues? It wouldn't have been worth it for that.

And I will most definitely pay for extended warranties in the future with TiVos. If they came out next month, with a new model to replace the Roamio, I would sell both of my current Roamios. And put the money toward the new models. Just as I've done in the past when new models are released. I typically get new TiVo models at launch. My Roamio Pro has an extended warranty for two more years and my Basic for almost 1.5 years. So those warranties will most certainly help with the resale since they are transferable to the new owner. Just like in the past when I've sold my TiVos.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> AS I mentioned the extended warranties were typically for resale. Most of my TiVos in the past were sold while still under extended warranty. So that helps the item to either sell quicker or get a little more money for it. Either way, from the perspective of getting an extended warranty for resale, it has been worth it. For getting it for the TiVo to be fixed when there are issues? It wouldn't have been worth it for that.
> 
> And I will most definitely pay for extended warranties in the future with TiVos. If they came out next month, with a new model to replace the Roamio, I would sell both of my current Roamios. And put the money toward the new models. Just as I've done in the past when new models are released. I typically get new TiVo models at launch. My Roamio Pro has an extended warranty for two more years and my Basic for almost 1.5 years. So those warranties will most certainly help with the resale since they are transferable to the new owner. Just like in the past when I've sold my TiVos.


I was going to express disbelief that someone would pay a $39 bump on the price of a used TiVo for the tail end of an extended warranty; but then I thought a second and realized that people are deluded enough to waste that $39 for a value-less warranty in the first place, so I can't be sure you're not right about this. I could make the point that doing so puts you in with the people selling the original extended warranty, but that would skate close to the edge of violating TCF forum rules about insulting another TCF member which I don't want to do. (That is, either violate the rules or insult your own good self, who has been nothing but polite to me in this discussion.)

So I'll just ask as a straight question; do you get more than $39 more when you sell a used TiVo than you would get if it didn't have the extended warranty? If the answer to the question is really yes, then I admit buying an extended warranty is a good idea for someone like you who plans to sell it before the extended warranty expires and will command a significantly higher price for it as a result.


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

ej42137 said:


> I was going to express disbelief that someone would pay a $39 bump on the price of a used TiVo for the tail end of an extended warranty; but then I thought a second and realized that people are deluded enough to waste that $39 for a value-less warranty in the first place, so I can't be sure you're not right about this. I could make the point that doing so puts you in with the people selling the original extended warranty, but that would skate close to the edge of violating TCF forum rules about insulting another TCF member which I don't want to do. (That is, either violate the rules or insult your own good self, who has been nothing but polite to me in this discussion.)
> 
> So I'll just ask as a straight question; do you get more than $39 more when you sell a used TiVo than you would get if it didn't have the extended warranty? If the answer to the question is really yes, then I admit buying an extended warranty is a good idea for someone like you who plans to sell it before the extended warranty expires and will command a significantly higher price for it as a result.


As I already mentioned it can also help an item sell quicker. Not necessarily get more money. But I've had it get me a little more money and help sell quicker. At least based on eBay sales at time. But ideally I would rather sell it here at TC for less and quicker if possible since then eBay it's less of a pain. And even though you sell it for less you can pocket close to the same amount since only Paypal is taking a cut.

Either way it's only a few bucks. When I sell something I want it sold fast. I don't want to be waiting around for it to sell. All things being equal, a person will typically pick an item to purchase that has a warranty over one that does not. So when I've sold my TiVos on eBay they typically sold fast. Or here at TC.

But in the end it's only $20 to $50 or so for 3 to 4 years. Depending on where the warranty is from. That's just a few dollars. I'm not really worried about a few dollars. I've sold at least thirty TiVos since 2001 and will continue to sell more as long as new models come out.

I've used extended warranties on other electronics and they worked great sometimes like when I got the full $500 back on one of my HD DVD player over two years after I purchased it. When HD DVD lost the war. Or recently when a three year monitor crapped out and I got an identical replacement, with another extended warranty included plus money back in my pocked. Of course other items I purchased them for, like my HDTVs since 2001 were never used for anything major. But on a $3k to $4k item $150 to $250 isn't bad for a five years extended warranty that needs in home service.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

aaronwt said:


> As I already mentioned it can also help an item sell quicker. Not necessarily get more money. But I've had it get me a little more money and help sell quicker. At least based on eBay sales at time. But ideally I would rather sell it here at TC for less and quicker if possible since then eBay it's less of a pain. And even though you sell it for less you can pocket close to the same amount since only Paypal is taking a cut.
> 
> Either way it's only a few bucks. When I sell something I want it sold fast. I don't want to be waiting around for it to sell. All things being equal, a person will typically pick an item to purchase that has a warranty over one that does not. So when I've sold my TiVos on eBay they typically sold fast. Or here at TC.
> 
> ...


Accepting as a fact that the presence of an extended warranty makes it sell faster than lowering the price $39 or so, I cannot fault your logic. My opinion might be different, but as I don't have any experience selling my TiVos I don't have any foundation with which to argue that premise.

My opinion is that people who habitually buy extended warranties are overpaying for consumer electronics by about 10%. I'll try to remember that you have a defensible position in this matter the next time someone trolls my trigger topic of extended warranties. Bye for now!


----------



## shelbel (Mar 11, 2004)

Just to balance out those who have had sterling luck with their TiVos, I have had at least three TiVo units go bad--the most recent my Roamio at 11 months--HDMI port failed.


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

ej42137 said:


> Accepting as a fact that the presence of an extended warranty makes it sell faster than lowering the price $39 or so, I cannot fault your logic.


If the warranty is three years and 2-2.5 is used up by the time its sold, the price difference on the back end would be very small. The hard drive failure curves would show a very low likelihood of problems during this time, which the insurance company surely is aware of in their pricing.

Yes, some folks will use it. But very very very few. I should get into this business myself...


----------

