To ask if you took out additional appliance protection?

[CoffeeFirstPlease]

For those of you who don't have home insurance (I'm in rented) did you take out additional protection for the product when you bought it? I've recently had to replace my washing machine, fridge freezer and now I need a new cooker.

The cooker was a cheap one that came with the house (temporary accommodation I have permission to just buy my own more practical one) but the fridge freezer and washing machine were less than 5yrs old and 1.5yrs old respectively.

Just wondering if I should take out the additional care plans for them or out source then like domestic and general for eg which is roughly £15 a month.

No I don't because it's so expensive.

What I do do though is, if the appliance develops a problem that can't be economically repaired, go back to the retailer and buy a replacement with a meaningful discount. I have never had a problem doing this.

Standard warranty periods are entirely unrealistic imo - there is no way that the consumer should fork out to replace an appliance costing hundreds of pounds should it fail within a few years. Similarly it is unrealistic to add hundreds onto the cost with additional cover.

Most retailers will go along with this ime.

I've never bought any of those things out of principal (if you're talking about them just stopping working and not damaged)
Disgusting how long the majority of electrical products last now. I just buy second hand but then I've got a few good second hand shops in town that do electrical.

No - they are bad value.

No I just get Mieles off facebook for £50. New things are rubbish and break constantly. What you save in electric you spend twice more on the appliance.

But you can still get contents insurance when you're renting. It's only buildings cover you don't need.

Eg I bought a fridge freezer five years ago. It stopped working last year, so four years old. Called out a repairer (at my own expense) who said it couldn't be repaired and needed replacing and wrote that on my invoice. Got in touch with the company, emailed them the invoice and they paid the invoice balance, knocked £180 off the cost of a new one, delivered it and took the old fucked one away. They will do it if you ask them, really. It was technically "outside of warranty" but everyone knows if you buy a fridge freezer it should last more than four years.

We bought the insurance with Currys for all our stuff. They have fixed our appliances numerous times and replaced our dishwasher and cooker when they finally died. So for us, it was definitely worth it.

But it's expensive and indeed agree that it's shocking how shit most appliances are these days compared to days of old when they lasted for years and years.

if they were good value then they wouldn't want you to buy them.

Almost never buy any appliance insurance.

I agree with another pp - you still need contents insurance, even if you are renting somewhere fully furnished. It will cover all your personal possessions.

I'm not in your position but I have decided these policies are a bit of a con, particularly when they are sold by the retailer when you buy the product. Usually a brand new oven would function trouble free for at least 5 years or more, so it would be a waste of money to be paying out £15 x 12 = £180 just in case sth were to go wrong. If it was fine for 6 years you would have paid out 6 x £180 = £1080 for no benefit whatsoever.
In my younger days I used to take them out on washing machines but now just accept whatever comes with the machine and nothing else.

I used to work in the call centre for Dixon (which was also Curry’s, PC World and The Link). These policies are an absolute con - we used to have to fob customers off and avoid sorting out repairs (and definitely never replaced anything without a huge fight). You’d be better off putting the amount of the premium into a savings account each month and paying for repairs or replacements out of that (and if you end up not needing repairs or replacements, you’ve got a nice sum saved up).

You don't need any of this additional cover because you already have consumer rights under the Sale of Goods Act. These policies are how companies make a bit of profit, because white goods are so cheap these days (cost less now than 30 years ago, in some instances!).
Check out Citizens Advice website for full consumer rights info.

Don't buy them. They are poor value and you are better off saving the £15 for the day when you need a new cooker. This does depend on you being able to manage finances so that you can afford a new cooker when you need one, but you should have rainy day savings unless you are living month to month. In that case I'd still argue the £15 is better off saved but recognise that it might get dipped into.

Your OP sounds like you don't have insurance as you are in a rental property. You still need contents insurance...apologies if I have misread this.

I have a gas cooker so that is covered as part of my boiler cover. Everything else isn't covered apart from under general contents insurance.

I looked at the cover offered by the retailers and it seemed expensive for what it was. I worked out I would be paying for each thing two or three times during it's lifetime.

If you have a spare £15 in your budget could you set up a replacement washing machine savings account and pay the money there each month?

Never.

When my husband and I first moved in together we looked in to it and decided we would be far better off putting the money into a savings account, as a previous poster said. I also looked at the yearly cost of various insurances and split that into 12 and put that away into the account every month, so we always have money to pay the insurance premium upfront for a year as usually you get a bit of discount by doing this rather than paying monthly.

I'm probably out of date , but when I last looked, The Sale of Goods Act assumes 6 years
Of reasonable use for white goods and that you are within your rights to a repair , replacement or refund.

The problem is, who keeps receipts that long?

Did you register your purchase?

Places , like Curry's, are very tricky to deal with.

In my opinion appliance insurance schemes are usually poor value for money, but I generally invest in high quality appliances and rarely buy the cheapest, so perhaps that influences my experience and opinion.

One thing that can be said with certainty is that most appliances that survive the first few hours of operation will then go on to give a long service life. In the world of reliability engineering this is a well known phenomenon, with the early failures being termed 'infant mortality'. As the warranty covers the period when so-called 'infant mortality' failures may occur, it makes little sense to pay for insurance after the warranty has expired.

Here's a handy graphic that illustrates the failure rate phenomenon I described. This is sometimes known as a 'bath tub curve'.
www.weibull.com/hotwire/issue21/ht21_1.gif

Of course there will always be exceptions. For example, people with very large families, or who have personal reasons for heavy usage of a particular appliance, may find appliance insurance worthwhile.

I never take it. It's expensive and anything to do with wear and tear isn't covered anyway.

I figure over the last 30 years the money I've saved on the premiums more than covered the odd one that packed up too quickly. Most last way beyond the extended warranty period.

I'm not sure what the link is to house insurance though. You still need to insure the house contents in rented accommodation, but faulty appliances wouldn't be covered.

No. Never.

Surely you can still get contents insurance if you rent?

There is a fundamental misunderstanding (egged on by the retailers) that you need to take out an extended warranty to get protection if your appliance fails. This is not true. Under the Consumer Rights Act you have protection against the retailer. Any free guarantee offered by the manufacturer is in addition to your rights under the CRA and not instead of.

Once the guarantee expires, that does not mean that you no longer have rights - it depends on the item and the value, but I wouldn't expect a washing machine to give up the ghost after two years, if that's the length of the guarantee, and would expect to go back to the retailer. Under English law you have up to six years and in Scotland five.

However, I had my gas boiler replaced in December and paid £100 for a ten year warranty - it is worth it when an appliance is expensive. And it has broken since we got it and they came out and fixed it within 48 hours.

The problem is, who keeps receipts that long

if you buy online you might have the order in your email!

We pay £3 per month for washing machine and £3 for fridge freezer. We’ve had so many issues with the washing machine that I’m very glad we did but no issues with fridge freezer

I have plans with domestic and general for all my kitchen appliances, I love the peace of mind no extra bills. X

Hi, I have the same dilemma about D&G extended cover for my appliances. Realised I have been paying for 5 items over three years and never called them out. Their premiums go up each year which means I could have bought at least two items twice over. I have just cancelled as I think I was naive when I took it out, felt pressured moving into a new home with all new appliances. Have I acted in haste?

Which provider are you with that is only
£3 a month for washing machine and dishwasher? D&G started @£3 but now are £6 a month for a washing machine.