syphon00

I'm gonna buy my Samsung HDTV from Best Buy today
should I go for the extended service plan?

goatweed

It depends, how much are you spending on the TV? If its over $1,000 I would. I bought my Sony XBR400 for $1900 last year, and got the extended plan on it for 3 years @ $200. Most plans (I don't know about BB) usually have a repair and/or replace deal, so assume worst case scenario - you buy a lemon of a TV that you pay someone outside to repair, only to find out it cannot be repaired. You'd have spent $$ just to have them look at the set, and now you need to buy a whole new set - which, I'm sure, comes out to be more than $250.00.

I'm of the frame of mind that if you're going to invest a lot of money into acquiring something, spending a little more to keep it around a lot longer is just as worthwhile (much like the people who spend thousands on Home Theater equipment, but balk at buying a $200 power strip/surge protector).

Johnny Zhivago

Personally... I would never, ever buy one of these service plan thingies... Unless it was for something like this. Yes, if you're dropping over $1,000 on a HDTV, take the plan for peace of mind if nothing else.

> (much like the people who spend thousands on Home Theater equipment, but balk at buying a $200 power strip/surge protector)

Or you can shop around and buy the exact same thing without the Monster name for 1/2 or less the cost - but your point is quite valid - a lot of folks don't consider surge protectors, cables, (Avia), etc into the initial cost of their set...

namlook

I bought a $2500 HDTV a couple years ago and got a 4 year service plan for $300 from BB. It covers in home repair of anything for 4 years by a factory authorized technician. I already had them come out once. I think peace of mind that if anything goes wrong in 4 years everything is covered makes it worth it to me.

huzefa

I bought a $2400 HDTV from Bestbuy 2 months ago and bought the $240 service plan which covers it for 4 years. They also do retuning (not recalibration though) every year if you ask them to.

wedge

Be sure to read the fine print. Best Buy's service plan covers normal wear and tear, power surge, remote control, dust, heat, humidity, and not much else. You were likely given wrong information if you were told it covers retuning. This is probably considered preventative maintenance which is specifically listed as not being covered.

huzefa

I did read the fine print, and I thought the same at the time I bought the warranty. I made the manager tell me specifically tell me what would and would not happen (with 2 witnesses around as if that makes a difference). But that's not really what I bought the warranty for (I do my own calibration). I just wanted the labor/parts to be covered.

GMLSKIS

I never buy the service plan for anything at any price. In my experience I have never bought anything that died between the end of the normal warrenty and what an extended plan would cover.

tommyp007

Yeah, get the plan. Like the others said, peace of mind is a good thing for HD purchases. Quality repairmen are tough to find on these types of items. Better to have and not need, than to need and not have

wedge

Just checking. I work at Best Buy and have seen situations come
up where other employees have lied to customers saying it covered calibration and cleanings and then had the customer become angry when they called for a cleaning and were told it wasn't covered. I agree it's a good idea just for labor and parts alone.

broadwayblue

are you getting the new Samsung DLP set?

5th_Wheel

That's one good thing about Sears RPTV extended service plans. While more expensive than BB and CC it does cover yearly cleanings. I also like the fact that Sears PM'd the best prices I could find on the Internet and I also took advantage of their 10% off sales to boot by using your Sears card for the purchase. I placed $200.00 on my Sears card, wrote a check for the balances and then paid the sets off when I received my first bills therefore I didn't incur any finance charges.