extended warranty w/dslr purchase? Y or N? which one?

[jbernie]

I am going to be purchasing a Canon 40D in the near future (no changing my mind ) and in going through all the options the S.O. raised the topic of an extended warranty. Some times these things seem to have more exit clauses than anything else.

I will most likely be going through Adorama, Amazon, B&H or Circuit City. Having done some research all I seem to be able to find is information on everything but the experience people have when they need to use the warranty which would seem to be the vital factor .

The companies I see involved are Mack (Adorama/B&H), NEWCorp (amazon) and CircuitCity Advantage. It would appear that all require you to send in the device for repair but the cost seems to range from $70 for the Mack to $130 for the basic CC or $220 for the extended CC (2 years all around).

Any personal experiences? Any friends/associates had to use one of these services? Did you actually get an extended warranty?

Look forward to your responses.

 

[M@lew]

Depends how careful you are really. If you don't think you'll need it, don't bother. I didn't buy it for my Macbook and haven't needed it. If you'll be travelling a lot and think things may screw up on you, then by all means get it. Better safe than sorry.

 

[disdat]

If you purchase with your credit card, I believe visa & mastercard will double the warranty, for up to a year.

Also, since I purchased my last lens, I have been thinking about adding a rider/schedule to my home insurance policy. Just in case.

I have read reviews about some extended warranties, and it appears some people have had difficulties with getting approvals for repairs, and so on.

 

[harcosparky]

Check to see if the Extended Warranty covers " Cleaning and Calibration ".

If it covers those, check to see where the C&C are done. If they allow you to send it to a Canon authorized center it may be worth it, IF you have the C&C done.


I think it can cost $100 to have that done .... not only did they clean my camera but the re-calibrated it as well. I swear when it came back from Canon it was better than new .... however ... it still was not as sharp as I would have liked. I now know that all DSLR's, no matter who makes them will not be as sharp as I might want them to be. This is due to filters installed over the sensor, or something like that.

By the way enjoy that 40D ..... I bought my 30D and a month later the 40D came out!

Hahaha ... but that's ok I since acquired a 5D. At the moment I am using the 30D while learning the 5D .... the 30D may end up as a backup, or a gift to my son.

 

[jbernie]

If you purchase with your credit card, I believe visa & mastercard will double the warranty, for up to a year.

Also, since I purchased my last lens, I have been thinking about adding a rider/schedule to my home insurance policy. Just in case.

Thank you for the reminder, my mastercard does offer doubling of the warranty for items with a 1 year or less manufacturer warranty. Perfect. Saved about $70 and to be honest given what I had read about the extended warranties I don't see me being worse off given the pain some people go through to get things fixed.

Will be making the call to the insurance people in a week or two to add tothe policy. I can use the camera to take pics of everything else for insurance purposes