Extended Warranty seems like the wrong term
“Extended Warranty” seems like the wrong term
We label what we sell as an “extended warranty” https://decentespresso.com/warranty but it really seems like the wrong term. What we're doing is guaranteeing that you'll have a working Decent Espresso Machine.
AppleCare is closest to what we do, but to use that as an example:
- my iPad with AppleCare had a battery swell. Apple repaired it and charged me a much-discounted “applecare repair price”, that actually made it worth repairing. Without AppleCare, the repair would have been more than the value of the item. However, I did have to pay.
- With Decent, if you're under warranty (first 2 years, or extended warranty) we'd replace that battery or tablet, for free.
A very common reason I hear from people, for not buying the extended warranty, is that “warranties are generally a bad deal”. They're right.
I had one customer argue that ours was hugely overpriced, and he compared it to a famous German motorcycle company that offered a much cheaper “Warranty for Life”. I downloaded and read that company's warranty. “Life” was defined as “2 years” and it had so many exceptions (anything that wore down with use) that it had likely no value to the buyer.
So… I'm thinking of renaming what we offer, to not use the somewhat toxic “warranty” word, but something else.
Maybe “Two Year Guarantee” and then you can buy an “Extended Guarantee”. Or maybe it's a “Happiness guarantee” ?
ps: there two big reasons I would be pleased if more people were covered by our “warranty”:
- when you're having a problem with your Decent, any price we charge to fix you will feel lousy, like you've been backed into a corner, and have no choice but to pay whatever we say the price is. This creates a lot of bad feelings.
- the price-to-repair becomes a unpleasant negotiation, which very frequently gets kicked up to upper management, for a decision. The price to repair ends being a contentious negotiation, very time consuming for both sides, while (still) your machine isn't getting repaired, and the days are ticking by. It's time consuming for everyone, and produces a negative result, so naturally I want to come up with a better way.
In sum, there's no better way for a problem to be resolved than for us to say “don't worry, we'll take care of it, and you won't have anything to pay”.
And that's what happens when people are covered. For the first 2 years, that coverage is free, and thereafter it's $300 every two years.
Interested to hear your thoughts.
Updated 2023/06/19