Got a good deal from Bestbuy today on the DRebel

[polloloco81]

I got a Father's Day coupon in the mail today from Bestbuy that gives 12% off on all store products (if you have the Reward Zone card). Bestbuy got the Drebel for 950. After the coupon, I saved 120 bucks plus I got 40 bucks in store credit for using the Reward Zone card. I ended up spending about 920 bucks for the camera and the 3 year service plan. Not too bad of a deal. So if any of you guys feel the need to shop this weekend, check your mailbox and see if you got a Bestbuy coupon.

[Vic_izoita]

Wow, it is a sweet deal.. how much was the 3 year plan?

[polloloco81]

Wow, it is a sweet deal.. how much was the 3 year plan?

80 dollars

[theoldmoose]

Well, they made back all their profit, and them some, by selling you that warantee.

Sorry. If you read the fine print, and imagine that Best Buy will never do anything that will cost them any money if they can help it, you have a pretty useless piece of paper.

I wish the FTC would outlaw these scams...

[cgratti]

I got a Father's Day coupon in the mail today from Bestbuy that gives 12% off on all store products (if you have the Reward Zone card). Bestbuy got the Drebel for 950. After the coupon, I saved 120 bucks plus I got 40 bucks in store credit for using the Reward Zone card. I ended up spending about 920 bucks for the camera and the 3 year service plan. Not too bad of a deal. So if any of you guys feel the need to shop this weekend, check your mailbox and see if you got a Bestbuy coupon.

Is that the kit witht he lens? Or just the body?

[polloloco81]

With the lense kit was what I got.

Well, I chose to get the warrantee because it is actually a pretty good deal for me from my past experience. I bought a G3 little over a year ago and got the service plan. Anyways, I had the camera for a while, and when the G5 came out, I brought my G3 back in and traded it for the G5, no questions asked, which was a pretty good deal considering I would not have paid more for the G5, which would have been around 200 bucks.

[Vic_izoita]

Well, they made back all their profit, and them some, by selling you that warantee.

Sorry. If you read the fine print, and imagine that Best Buy will never do anything that will cost them any money if they can help it, you have a pretty useless piece of paper.

I wish the FTC would outlaw these scams...

I agree with you..
I never buy service plans for anything. It sounds like a good thing to get one but its just a waste of money. Almost any murchandise comes with a year of warranty so if something is going to brake then it most likely to brake within that first year.
If i was to get something like that then i would just get an extended warranty right from Canon because then know how to fix it in case if it brakes. Best Buy probably wouldn't be able to even clean your censor right.
When i was buying my canon i960 printe at the Staples they asked me if i would buy their service plan for it and i said" no thanks". The sales guy started convincing me that its only $40 and its a good thing to have incase of any problems. After saying no few times i asked him what exactly do i get for my $40 if i buy it? He said well if i run into any problems i can call them during their working hours and some one would be able to help me set it up over the phone, i stopped him right there and said " Im sure i can call canon any time of the day for installation and troubleshooting support and im sure they wil help me if any problems. Why buy something that you already get automatically?
I always try to stay away from cheap stuff and i think that if i spend the extra money on a better brand or quality on a product it will last me longer and would be more enjoyable. My father used to say " Im not rich enough to buy cheap stuff"

just my take on this.

[cmM]

I had dealt once with these sharks on major purchases, and will avoid it as much as possible for the rest of my life. I hate Best Buy.

But that was off topic, personal experiences.

The point is, congratulations on your purchase !!! Enjoy your new camera :wink:

[Mitchkitter]

Well, they made back all their profit, and them some, by selling you that warantee.

Sorry. If you read the fine print, and imagine that Best Buy will never do anything that will cost them any money if they can help it, you have a pretty useless piece of paper.

I wish the FTC would outlaw these scams...

I encourrage everyone to read the fine print of the bestbuy service plan, they are AWESOME...

Basically they cover everything that goes wrong with the camera, besides abuse. so as long as your not hitting the camera with sledge hammers, or treating the customer service people like ****, then theyre there to help you, its an awesome plan, i've used mine repitivly, and plan on buying them again.

[jimbeam747]

BestBuy even replaced the battery on my G-2 after a couple of years with their extended warranty. As soon as it started losing some of its original holding power they gave me a new one, no questions asked.

[CyberDyneSystems]

RE: BestBuy Service plan..


For $80.00 it's a steal!

After your Canoin Warranty expires.. Best Buy WILL repai or replace your camera with the same model,. or in the event of a lack thereof.. will replace it with the latest version.

10D owners stand to inherit a 10D MkII should such a beast ever be carried by BestBuy...

I know of a few Rebel owners whoi have walked into BestBuy with a defective camera and walked right back out with a brand new one.

[Johnnynf]

I would tend to agree that in most cases, the Best Buy (and Circuit City) service plans are generally a good thing. Like many have been saying, they cover almost anything. I bought a small stereo mini system from CC once and they said they would replace the unit even if I blew the speakers out myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately...depending on how you view it), I have only had to use the service plan once (and I have MANY of them). I had a DVD player go on the fritz, and they decided that it was that the laser needed cleaning. They sent it in for about 2 days, cleaned the sensor...good as new. I bought the service plan for about $30 I think...if I were to have paid to have the sensor cleaned without the plan, it would have cost like $60 or something. So right there, the plan was worth it.

[Scottes]

I would tend to agree that in most cases, the Best Buy (and Circuit City) service plans are generally a good thing. Like many have been saying, they cover almost anything. I bought a small stereo mini system from CC once and they said they would replace the unit even if I blew the speakers out myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately...depending on how you view it), I have only had to use the service plan once (and I have MANY of them). I had a DVD player go on the fritz, and they decided that it was that the laser needed cleaning. They sent it in for about 2 days, cleaned the sensor...good as new. I bought the service plan for about $30 I think...if I were to have paid to have the sensor cleaned without the plan, it would have cost like $60 or something. So right there, the plan was worth it.

Now total up all those service plans you've got, and subtract the $30 you saved on the DVD repair. Now how much did that $30 savings cost you?

Let's say you had *never* bought a service plan and you had to buy a whole new DVD player. Well, you would have gotten the very latest and greatest DVD player and you'd still have money in your pocket.

They're a rip-off.

[Johnnynf]

Now total up all those service plans you've got, and subtract the $30 you saved on the DVD repair. Now how much did that $30 savings cost you?

Let's say you had *never* bought a service plan and you had to buy a whole new DVD player. Well, you would have gotten the very latest and greatest DVD player and you'd still have money in your pocket.

They're a rip-off.

I guess they are a rip off if you don't use them. But, paying $80 for a service plan would be worth it for you if you had problems with your camera and got a new one no questions asked.

If that is the case, I guess all forms of insurance are a rip off too...unless you use them. I have fire, theft, etc. insurance on my house, and I have never had to use them either...but I am glad I have it "just in case". The only form of insurance anyone is guaranteed to use is life insurance...yet we all spend thousands of dollars a year on other types of insurance without questioning it.

[Harry Settle]

Best Buy used to have a replacement, bring it back for any reason plan that I took advantage of until they changed it.

[Yeager]

Its actually a 4 year service plan too plus it covers battery replacement and cleanings of the camera. Dont forget the lens is covered too! I've used the service plan before too.

[where1]

RE: BestBuy Service plan..

I know of a few Rebel owners whoi have walked into BestBuy with a defective camera and walked right back out with a brand new one.

Hi, My name is Paul. Now you know another person with a new DRebel. :)

And a new lens, although lens was OK, it was a body problem.

[theoldmoose]

Most household and life insurance is a *much* better deal for 'per thousand' coverage than your usual store extended warantee scam. Most states regulate the insurance industry, and (within limits) manage to keep coverage rates reasonable.

But, there is no limitation to the rates that stores can charge for these extended warantees. You can buy 'all peril' coverage for valuables from a reputable insurance agency for *far* less per thousand coverage than any of those store deals. Most homeowner's and renter's insurance will cover these articles as part of the basic policy, with some limitations (check with your insurance agent *before* you have a loss).

Now insurance won't cover 'wear and tear' repairs needed on electronic items, but they will (with a reasonable deductible) cover theft, accidental damage, etc. And a lot of policies are either based on replacement cost, or can be made so, with a small additional premium.

If you buy a quality electronic item, and don't abuse it, then you should expect it to at least outlast the manufacturer's warantee by a fair margin. Most electromechanical items either fail early (which will be covered by the warantee) or near end-of-life (when it will be practically worthless, anyway). In the several decades of experience I've had with various electronic devices, I can't recall a time when I wished I had purchased an extended warantee.

If you abuse your possessions, and depend on rip-off store extended warantees to cover your butt, then you are simply in the same class as all the others that take advantage of those warantees, and also the reason they cost so much.

Kind of like having to pay double or triple for your auto insurance, because of a poor driving record. Why should the better drivers have to foot your bills?

[DanielM]

All I can say is:

Best Buy Sucks (http://www.bestbuysux.org)

I get the impression it is a roll of the dice with those service plans.

[polloloco81]

I'm sure best buy is pretty damn crooked. I mean, they tried to charge my friend 70 bucks just to simply install a hard drive on her PC (Good thing I told her I could do it for free, which I was able to do in like 5 minutes). They charge 300 bucks for a graphic card that you can buy online for about 180. Don't worry, me and my friends try to get our fair share of sucker punches back at Best Buy too. One of my friend works at bestbuy, and between 4 of us, we all use his instore discount benefit when we need to buy something.

As for this thread, the reason I posted it saying I got a good deal on the Drebel is that ultimately, it was a pretty damn good deal compared to most other places, including the online vendors.

[PJ]

I too got the extended 4 yr warenty.
If all the talk about the shutter life of our cameras is true, I'm sure i'll be needing a new one in about 1 year and 8 months at my current shooting pace.(based on 50,000 shots)
I'll be gald I had it then.
not to mention the battery replacements

[nemesis099]

I'm probably one of those few who are mixed about the Bestbuy warranty. I think it is good for somethings and other things its not. One thing is that they don't cover accidental damage. It has to be a mechanical defect. I was told by a lawyer that in Maryland any product you purchase is required to be able to perform its intended purpose for 4 years or you have the right to return it. I think this law would probably be better since I think any product should be able to be used for 4 years without a problem.

I think Ritz has a better camera warranty where if you drop it they will cover it. But I'm sure its more expensive.

[theoldmoose]

Covering it against accidental damage is part of your household (or renter's) insurance. It's almost always much cheaper to get coverage that way. Consider that homeowners typically get 100's of thousands of dollars coverage for less than $50 a month. You will have to pay a reasonable deductible, and you must weigh how many small claims you make on homeowner's insurance, though, against the recent prevelant insurance practice of 'redlining', or dropping folks that make too many claims over a certain amount within a certain timespan. Some agents are even unaware of these practices, until one of their clients gets hit with it. So it pays to ask.

As a ham radio operator, I have equipment both at home, in my vehicle, and portable that I carry around with me daily and on trips, etc. I spent some time with my agent quizzing him on the various aspects of when my equipment was covered and when it was not. Homeowner's insurance will cover a lot of your stuff in a lot of situations, but there are some funny gaps here and there (for instance, lightning strikes on equipment connected to your tower and antennas -- the ARRL has a supplemental policy to cover those kinds of things, though, for their members).

The gaps are what you get a so-called Marine Floater policy for. It gives all-peril replacement-cost coverage that essentially fills in those gaps.

For instance, did you know that a hotel/motel room is considered your temporary domicile, and as such, any equipment you have in the room is covered against theft and breakage just as if it was at home? On the other hand, did you know that without a special articles policy, that if you are carrying your equipment from your room to your vehicle, and drop it down the stairs and break it, you aren't covered (you weren't in your domicle)?

Likewise, luggage in the vehicle is covered by the regular homeowners insurance, not the vehicle policy, but only while it is in the vehicle. There are exclusions in most policies for expensive electronic equipment in a vehicle, though, unless it is 'installed' (attached to the vehicle's electrical system -- sometimes a cigarette lighter plug is sufficient for 'attachment') or being tranported for repair (so your color TV is covered if you are taking it to/from the repair shop).

No store extended waranty policy will give you such extensive coverage, and it certainly won't do it as cheaply, as an articles floater policy combined with your homeowner's insurance.

Be informed. Don't believe *any* verbal representations made by the salesman. Either they don't know what they are talking about, or are just plain stretching the truth about how easy it will be to get reimbursed for claims made on the typical store exended warantee.

[Johnnynf]

I have already weighed in on this topic before, but let me present two stories about my father that might help illustrate my points.

About 4 years ago, my dad bought a Compaq laptop from Circuit City. I don't remember what it cost, but I think it was somewhere around $3000 (remember...it was 4 or 5 years ago). He thought like many on this thread--that the extended warranty was a scam...so he didn't purchase it. About a month after the manufacturers warranty ran out, he encountered major problems with the computer. After about 2 weeks in the service center, it was decided that there was some sort of problem with the power supply and the mother board I think. Total cost for repairs: $1800 (or nearly half what the computer cost new). As this was still cheaper than buying a new computer, he choose to pay for it.

Then, about a year and a half ago, he bought a HP laptop from Best Buy for $1600. Having learned his lesson, he went ahead and bought the extended warranty for two or three hundred dollars. Just two weeks ago, once again, he started having problems with his computer. Keep in mind that the manufacturers warranty is run out. He sent it in for repairs, and it was decided that something was wrong with the screen. The repair bill WOULD HAVE been around $900...but since he had the warranty, it was fixed for free.

Like I said earlier, these types of extended service plans are only a rip off if you don't use them. Moose, I agree that the typical homeowners insurance covers much more than any of these extended warranties, but would your "household" insurance policy have paid for my father to get his computer fixed...I don't think so. Spending the $200-$300 for the service plan paid for itself and then some...definately not a scam for him.

[theoldmoose]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but Compaqs (and now HPs, since they bought Compaq) are junk, compared to the Dells, Sonys, and IBMs out there. The CEO of HP has stated that they are in a race 'to the bottom' with outsourcing all their stuff to the cheapest 3rd-world shops they can find.

Next time, do your homework and find out how problematic some expensive piece of gear is, before buying. You will save a ton of grief (and money, including extended warantees) by doing so.

I've worked for several large companies over the past few years whose IT departments experimented with Compaqs, Gateways (puke!), and HPs. They all eventually gave up and went with quality equipment.

Sorry your Dad had so many problems. Too bad that after the first time, he didn't switch to a better brand....

[polloloco81]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but Compaqs (and now HPs, since they bought Compaq) are junk, compared to the Dells, Sonys, and IBMs out there. The CEO of HP has stated that they are in a race 'to the bottom' with outsourcing all their stuff to the cheapest 3rd-world shops they can find.

Next time, do your homework and find out how problematic some expensive piece of gear is, before buying. You will save a ton of grief (and money, including extended warantees) by doing so.

I've worked for several large companies over the past few years whose IT departments experimented with Compaqs, Gateways (puke!), and HPs. They all eventually gave up and went with quality equipment.

Sorry your Dad had so many problems. Too bad that after the first time, he didn't switch to a better brand....

I concur that those brands of PCs are pretty cheaply made, but that's entirely besides the point. The general consumer does not know much about what constitutes a good PC or a bad PC, and tend to base their purchasing desision on what they can aford, and these crappy PCs are pretty affordable. But this is also besides the point.

The point is that a service plan, as stated previously, is a waste of money if you don't intend to use it. If you are a smart buyer or know how to take care of your equiptment until the day it becomes obsolete, then chances are you don't need to buy a service plan. As far as I'm concerned, I've had some pretty good experiences with the plans I got with Best Buy. For example, I was able to bring in my G3 and upgraded it to the G5 for free and I am hoping I can do the same thing with my D Rebel when the new version comes out.