I am one of the only people I know of who has bothered with the extended warranty protection that comes free with a lot of credit cards. Granted, the card companies don’t make it easy to go about accessing it.
How it is meant to work is that if you buy something on your credit card and it breaks within a certain amount of time (they usually offer double the manufacturer’s warranty of up to an additional year or two) they will refund it to you, or if you find the same item being sold for less within a few months, they will refund the difference in price.
They are a little sneaky though. I was successful after making a claim for a cell phone that broke, but at first they were reluctant because the policy excludes items for business use. Twice I have used it for items that I bought at the Bay only to see them be featured a few months later in the One Day Sales leading up to Christmas.
Making the claim is a bit of a challenge. My fist step was a phone call to the credit card issuer who then gave me a number to call for their insurance company. They gave me the wrong number and I had a real runaround before I finally got the right department. They conduct a phone interview about the purchase and if all is well, they will email you a form to fill out (where of course you repeat all the same information you previously provided by phone).
In the case of the items being sold at a lower price, I needed to send in the original receipts, the credit card statement showing the purchase was made on my credit card. I also had to send in a copy of the ad where I had seen the lowest price and the form. In this case, it took me a few days from seeing the ad to cluing in that I could make an insurance claim, but I had bought 3 sweaters (as presents for my sisters) so the difference came out to over $200. I ended up having to go to the library to photocopy the old newspaper since mine had already been recycled. But, it worked – a few weeks later I had a cheque in hand for over $200.
The same thing happened again a year later. By then I had lost the phone numbers and had the same runaround trying to get to the right department to make the claim and to get the form sent to me, but I got the refund.
For this to succeed, you need to have your original cash register receipt. Exclusions under the warranty tend to be for jewellery, business use, and items that wear with use anyway (like tires). If you’re going after the price match guarantee, you’ll need to send in a copy of the ad where you saw the lower price.
I wonder it all comes down to the type of underwriters or Insurance companies your credit cards has ties with. If they are branded ones I guess it could be professional and customer friendly and if they are outsourced from developing world country then I guess one could never succeed in claims.
That doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. I haven’t had to fight to get my claims approved. I think generally most people don’t bother trying to use the insurance and it seems that the parameters are fairly reasonable for what is covered.
Hi Michelle .I bought some things off of ebay and when they arrived they weren’t as described ,and when I tried to contact the seller to get my money back ,they fell off the planet. I went through all the channels that needed to be and ended up getting reimbursed as I purchased from my credit card I did receive my money back in a few weeks great peace of mind when you use it that there is some hope when you purchase that you won’t be taken advantage of.
Yes, credit cards can be helpful that way, too!