Extended product warranties are rife with potential pitfalls

Q. I purchased a computer three years ago with an extended warranty plan. It expires this month. I started having problems with the computer and called for help. Another company had taken over the warranty. They sent a technician from a different company to repair the computer. After three visits from the same technician they resolved the problem by replacing multiple parts, creating another problem. I called to say that my computer was not working properly. They said they don't handle software problems. I had asked the first technician if there was a danger to the hard drive by doing these repairs and he said, "No." I allowed the work on the computer to continue believing that there was no danger. Could you provide me with some advice as to how to resolve the issue?

Anonymous

A. Extended warranties are big business and have caused big problems for many consumers. These warranties are insurance against something going wrong and are high profit areas for businesses, which dangle big incentives to get salespeople to promote them.

You typically pay for them at a time when you are least likely to take advantage of the coverage. For one thing, most products that you can buy an extended warranty for - computers, electronics, appliances - usually come with a year's warranty. So you're paying for a year of overlapping coverage and you're paying money on a gamble that something serious is going to go wrong in the first three years you own the equipment.

You have also experienced the other problems with these warranties. While you did have an issue that allowed you to use the warranty, it didn't exactly work out. When buying an extended warranty, be very careful to read the language about what is or is not covered.

Your latest computer problems appear to have been caused during the repair. It's a difficult claim to prove, but a reasonable person is likely to come to the same conclusion.

File complaints with the Massachusetts attorney general's office and the Better Business Bureau. See if you can press the warranty company to fix the problem they appear to have caused.

And, in the future, try to avoid the temptation to get an extended warranty. Far more often than not, it will be cheaper to repair a problem than pay for three years of coverage.

HAVE A CONSUMER QUESTION? E-mail your questions to consumer@globe.com.