My daughter insisted she needed a new computer. Her current computer was a relic – it didn’t have enough memory, the processor was too slow, the hard drive could barely contain all of her music for her iPod. “It can’t even play World of Warcraft” she sniffed in disgust. While buying a new computer to play a dangerously addicting video game is hard to justify, she assured me that it would help prepare for her upcoming school projects that she wanted to get a jump on.
I relented, and after spending a few days researching online and consulting with a few of my peers, I felt sufficiently armed to make the right purchase at the right price. With information in hand, attacked the various flyers and on-line advertisements and in the end I selected a well-known Canadian big-box electronics store.
I found the make and model I was looking for easily on the store’s display lounge and I waved over the sales associate that was hovering anxiously a few feet away. A nervous smile broke across his face and he congratulated me on my discerning eye and on my wise decision. He then offered to sell the store’s 2 year extended service for the laptop. He quoted the price – it was a staggering 30% of the cost of the laptop – and after some careful questioning, he admitted that the extended plan didn’t add 2 years tacked onto the end of the manufacturer’s warranty, but rather ran concurrently.
I asked him how the store justified the cost for essentially a one year warranty. The extended service plan, he explained, went above and beyond the manufacturer’s warranty. To get something fixed by the manufacturer, I would have to box the computer and ship it to their service depot in Toronto while with the extended service plan I would only have to drop it off at the store. “It pays for itself if you only have to use it once!” he exclaimed. I’m not sure what courier company he has used, but I doubt whether it would cost more than $250 extended service plan price to ship approximately 7 pounds of electronics a whopping 100 KM from Kitchener to Toronto.
Undaunted, he pushed onwards, claiming that the service plan also covered things that the manufacturer would not. “For example,” he warned, “if your processor suddenly got slower, our plan would cover that; the manufacturer would not.” This confused me for a moment – the processor suddenly “got slower,” changing from a 2.5 GHz processor to say a 1 GHz processor? If the processor “got slower” it would most likely go from 2.5 GHz to 0 GHz – that is, the processor would be defective and that is most definitively covered by the manufacture's warranty.
After assuring the young lad that I wasn’t going to buy the service plan, he tried one last pitch. “We can install and configure an antivirus program right here in the store – we’ve got a special on for just $200.” I must have not hid my disgusted look well enough, because he quickly offered “but most of that cost goes to purchasing the software!” I knew full well I could purchase a reputable antivirus software package online for a ¼ of the price. I gave him the dismissive wave – I wasn’t interested in any “store specials.” I just wanted to purchase the laptop and be on my way.
Dejected, but still polite, the associate punched in the million or so codes into the cash register – codes no doubt required to purchase a laptop without any extras. I glanced around at the other shoppers, and grimaced as the rest of the sales staff pitched those same lines at the rest of the anxious parents looking to give their sons and daughters that extra edge for the upcoming school term. More often than not, I saw those caring parents purchase those over-priced peace-of-mind extras.
As for my daughter, she loves her new laptop. I haven’t seen many term papers or multimedia school project presentations produced from her computer, but she has defeated an impressive amount of evil creatures making the World of Warcraft a safer place for everybody else.
