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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Worst Buy

I went to Best Buy and bought a $20 pair of headphones for my new phone.

The checkout clerk said "Do you want to spend $5 to buy insurance on your headphones?" I said "Seriously? $5 insurance on a $20 pair of headphones?" The clerk didn't get it. He didn't notice I was being sarcastic. He was still trying to sell me the insurance.

It's offensive, the way that stores try to rip you off with extra charges. Verizon did the same thing. They tried to sell me insurance on my new phone. Even though I actually lost my phone once, it's cheaper to not buy the insurance.

Similarly, whenever you call your credit card for anything, they try to sell you extra charges.

It's offensive the way that stores try to nickel and dime people by adding extra charges.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The things you speak of having been going on in the United Kingdom as well for at least the past 15 years - be it for mobile phones, digital cameras, washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc.

Anonymous said...

Should have asked them would they like to purchase insurance from you in the event you had to spend time and energy returning the crappy headphones.

dc said...

I no longer insure anything, except when forced to by men with guns.
I used to carry fire insurance. Seven years ago I had a fire in the oil burner. The burner was destroyed. I called my (then) fire insurance company to file a claim. Guess what? It was not covered. It was an appliance.
A couple years after that The foundation on one of my commercial buildings cracked, sunk, and caused damage to the building (the roof buckled). Guess what? Foundation damage was not covered.
Guess what? I cancelled all of my insurance.
If you read your insurance contract you will find that many things are not covered. For example: you now need a special rider for claims due to "acts of terrorism".
Think you are covered, think again.

FSK said...

That's the evil of insurance. You pay premiums thinking you're covered. Then, when you need to make a claim, they look for loopholes and excused to not pay you.

Larry Silverstein got into a dispute with insurance corporations, arguing legal technicalities over whether the WTC counted as one incident or two separate incidents. It was caught up in lawsuits for years. He said "All you get from buying insurance is the right to sue someone."

Anonymous said...

steamroller jests:
Perhaps you can get a deal like the infomercials. BUT WAIT....You get it all....We'll double your order, just pay seperate shipping and handling...

dc said...

FSK, Exactly why I cancelled all my insurance. I realized that if I had a big claim I would probably be screwed over by the insurance company. Better to save the insurance premium and pay for damages directly.

It is interesting to note that homeowner claims are paid out lavishly compared to commercial claims.

My bank was rather upset that I cancelled the insurance on my buildings. I was about to pay off the mortgage anyway, but I did let them writhe in pain for a few months.

If you want to torture a banker tell them their assets are not insured.

This Blog Has Moved!

My blog has moved. Check out my new blog at realfreemarket.org.