What's On Your Mind? Sears, Dell, Comcast

There are several reasons not to purchase an “extended warranty” or service contract. One of the little-talked-about reasons is the consumer's lack of control over the repair process. You don't select the repair person, the company backing the warranty does.

Marni, of Santa Monica, Calif., was initially glad she had an extended service agreement when her Sears Kenmore dryer broke down. But after taking off from work four time to meet a scheduled repair person, only to have the repair person fail to show up, she has a different opinion.

“It’s now over seven weeks later – and Sears has refused to 'escalate' or resolve the matter,” Marnie told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I have two small children with no clean underwear or towels right now because Sears technicians did not follow through and/or show up when they said they would.”

Consumers should keep in mind that these agreements are not really “extended warranties,” but rather service contracts. Companies may use discounted resources for these repairs, and these resources are not always highly motivated.

DIY warranty repairs

While we're on the subject of warranties, sometimes factory warranties can be rather lacking. Laurie, of Standwood, Wash., bought a Dell laptop last year that is still under warranty. Because it is under warranty, she assumed it would be repaired and returned to her, good as new.

“With no notice until it was on it's way back, they shipped it with a separate hard drive for me to install,” Laurie said. “I do not install hard drives. I called them and I told them I will not do that. They said it is under their warranty that I do it. I still refused so it went from supervisor to management to higher management. I was livid.”

Why would a manufacturer not agree to install a hard drive, if replacing it was a covered repair? Who knows, but it certainly saves them money. It's a good reason to carefully read the warranty information before buying a computer.

Very basic

Richard, of Groveland, Mass., says he he had basic cable with Comcast and was completely satisfied, because he got local news and the Boston Red Sox games.

“Xfinity changed that so all I get with basic cable is a bunch of Spanish channels, two Boston channels, and a bunch of PBS stations,” Richard told ConsumerAffairs.com. “ I can no longer get Red Sox baseball or the New England Patriots football. Both of these sports programs are available off-the-air in the Boston area and, according to my interpretation of the FCC rules, they are therefore supposed to be duplicated on the cable.”

That's true. The Communications Act requires that cable operators carry the primary video signal of all local broadcasters that elect must-carry. However, it sounds like its is very possible that Richard is using outdated equipment that is only pulling in analog stations in the Boston area. Therefore, he isn't getting all the channels to which he is entitled.