A Salesman's View of Extended Warranties

This is a subject that’s near and dear to a salespersons heart. Yes it is a source of income, which is at times more that the commission. On the other hand they are a huge source of frustration, embarrassment and even fear for sales people. Let me add here that I was always at the top of this area, everywhere I worked. Even the sales people that work by the hour are faced with this pressure to meet goals. The goals are almost always as a percent of sales or number of units sold. That’s both the frustration and the fear to the sales person. Because if they don’t meet the goals, most the time they’re terminated or moved (demoted) to another department. This along with being singled out in sales meeting and/or on a sales leader board is the embarrassment part. So I’m telling you this to show where sales people are coming from.

Now that being said I want to share my thoughts on the subject from the consumers point.

As most everyone has read somewhere or been told by a friend or relative, these warranties are a waste of money. And that’s true in a lot of cases. Like small ticket items, items where they include “cleaning”” (VCR’s, DVD’s etc.) which are rarely ever brought in to be cleaned. Also in the not done category is furniture cleaning .These are not the fault of the warranty companies, this is our fault, because we never take items in or call to have things done at home. This happens mostly because we forget. We don’t want to unhook the piece and take it in or schedule time to have someone come to our home. So as I stated, that’s not their fault, it’s ours. But if we know that we won’t follow up as a general rule, then we should pass on the warranty, if that’s why we think we should get it.