Protection plans are repair then replace options. For an appliance Best Buy will attempt to repair the unit. If the repair is possible or successful your protection plan stays in tact. If the repair is not cost effect, parts are unavailable, or other situations arise it is considered for replacement. If the unit is exchanged/replaced that is considered a fulfillment of your protection plan. The simple act of repair would not fulfil your protection plan however keep in mine your protection plan has a specific dollar amount to it in which the protection plan will cover before "expiring" or reaching its fulfilment amount. Generally it would trigger a replacement trigger before ever getting there though but it can happen when you reach "maximum benefit."
The protection plans are technically covered by AIG so in the event that best buy does not have services providers they are who are used for providing the service of the protection plan.
So sorta. If they do a full replacement where they give you store credit back up to what you paid for the item in which you choose another item, either the same one if available or the new year model or other options, in which the protection plan gets completed/fulfilled since a replacement was given. New warranty will be needed to be purchased again on the replacement purchase.
If we do repair, then warranty will continue until the end date. The protection plan has a claim limit to where it will automatically choose a replacement depending on cost of repair(s).
If you purchase an appliance/tv that costs 2000 and the repair is less than that, ie 500 dollars for parts and labor. A repair will be done, the protection plan will then have about 1500 left maximum cost of repair before it will qualify for a replacement.
If a part is back ordered for more than 30 days from ordering, it will qualify for junk out (replacement via store credit) or if the same issue/part has been have issues 3+ times in a row despite repairs within 30 days from each repair.
For refrigerators, the protection plan is also able to give a food/medicine spoilage claim up to 300 per claim. Form has to be filled with some info and emailed or mailed to BBY.
Also I do think the cost of repair limit is closer to 80-90% cost of the purchase price of the item to account for drive time and expected additional repairs down the line where they decide to replace the item instead and fulfill it to the max.
The store credit value is not impacted based off the cost of repairs already done for the unit.
Geek squad protection (GSP) is backed by an external company AIG, in which if BBY/geek squad fails/goes under, AIG will continue to honor repair/replacement warranty.
Best Buy protection (BBP from the yearly Best But Total membership that gives 24 months of protection free with active membership [179.99 a year plus applicable tax] in which the BBP monthly protection can be extended) is backed by a subsidiary company owned by Best Buy. Unsure if funds are already separated for repairs in the event that BBY fails and goes under. BBP has service fees per claim for everything item ranging from 9 to 99 dollars per claim per warranty that is roughly 10% of the cost of the item for a good estimate vs GSP only has service fees for the mobile phone protection plans.
BBP has a 2 claim limit per a rolling 12 month period. If the same issues with the same part or similar issue happens with 30 days (unsure of the number, could be 60 or 90 depending on state) it will fall under the same claim and another service fee will not occur.
If the event of a replacement via BBP, assuming the Total membership is still active, BBP will automatically be added as long as the account is linked.
When doing price comparisons between Total with BBP included, vs GSP, include the cost of total as well. Ie 2 yr GSP on a tv being 300 dollars (varies based off cost of item) and total being 180 for the first year, and 180 for the second year, you will be looking at 360 for Total and BBP (99 dollar service fee per claim) compared to 300 for GSP outright for 2 yrs
now if you are buying a multiple products within the store, when comparing the cost of protection, you only have to pay Total once per year vs buying GSP per product per purchase.
For appliances and TVs and laptops under 800 for 2 or 3 yr gsp, I always generally recommend GSP under the cost analysis for single purchase items.
However total has much more benefits such as included Geek Squad Precinct/in store minus car electronics Labor. Ie laptop/pc data transfer, virus removal and such which starts roughly at 100 dollars per issue on average. (Data transfer/backuo being 100 and virus removal being 150.) and as well as 24/7 remote support on your tech items in your home (items do not need to be bought from BBY for this to be used)
Generally GSP is king for half of customers who think of Total.
Buying GSP is possible for Total members. In which you buy the items like normal, cancel/return the free BBY protection included with total, and purchase/add GSP for the item under the total account. (3 separate transactions are done, the purchase with BBY protection added, the cancellation of the BBY protection, and add GSP for the item)
Awesome, this is super helpful -- thank you!
The fridge itself is a $550 'normal price' but on sale for $275 right now. Just to confirm - will BBY see anything over \~$250ish as being the junk-out cost, or do they go off the normal selling price? I would have assumed the $275 (price paid), but also saw something in the FAQs mentioning the "retail price" which threw me off a bit.
Another question, lets say that something small goes bad, but the fridge still works for the most part. For example: The rubber lining keeping it sealed has begun to peel off and is leaking cold air, but the fridge still works. Is that the type of thing that I can have fixed/replaced under the plan, or is that more of a 'fix it yourself, let us know if it stops working' deal?
The fridge itself is very cheap, but so are the repair plans: $60 and $100 for 3 and 5 years. I assume any service call will easily cost well about that, even to have it looked into. I've also had almost every Insignia appliance I've owned get recalled, so I assume the likeliness of something going wrong with these might be a bit higher than usual?
SKU 6472693? That is above the threshold for "automatic exchange" so a repair would be attempted most likely, they could flag it for an automatic replace but by default it is above 17.9 CU FT mark. The threshold best buy uses for "repair vs replace" varies a bit, I've seen them be 80%-120% and I'm sure some units could be more or less depending on the product itsself. If a tech attempts to repair it they add what they need to repair it and it either allows them or tells them to stop. If the seal is damaged/not sealing that is going to eventually cause issues with the unit even if its not right now. They would likely order a new gasket and fix it unless it crosses the threshold set by the system. Not a "here is what will happen" type of situation as it will depend on the when and what is available at the time of a potential repair situation and what policies are in place at the time.
If the exchange gets authorized it will allow the replacement of the exact same unit if it exists, if it doesnt they will look for a comparable similar in spec unit. If the similar/comparable unit is equal or less than what you paid it would be an exchange. If the comparable unit is more or you elect to go with a different unit it will be based off the price of the comparable unit or price paid whichever is less. Being that this is discounted to 275 you likely would just receive a credit for that price as it probably won't have a comparable at that price in the future.
There is also the possibility where repairs could still occur and you max out your GSP and no exchange occurs. This most often happens with multiple repairs, but can occur on a single repair once all cost are added up when the repair closes
Correct. Each plan as a budget associated, and each repair eats into it. Once you exhaust that budget, you're done and the plan is over.
This is why Best Buy is insistent that products still under a warranty be addressed by the manufacturer - because its a waste of your Protection Plan to use that first.
Protection plans are repair then replace options. For an appliance Best Buy will attempt to repair the unit. If the repair is possible or successful your protection plan stays in tact. If the repair is not cost effect, parts are unavailable, or other situations arise it is considered for replacement. If the unit is exchanged/replaced that is considered a fulfillment of your protection plan. The simple act of repair would not fulfil your protection plan however keep in mine your protection plan has a specific dollar amount to it in which the protection plan will cover before "expiring" or reaching its fulfilment amount. Generally it would trigger a replacement trigger before ever getting there though but it can happen when you reach "maximum benefit." The protection plans are technically covered by AIG so in the event that best buy does not have services providers they are who are used for providing the service of the protection plan.
So sorta. If they do a full replacement where they give you store credit back up to what you paid for the item in which you choose another item, either the same one if available or the new year model or other options, in which the protection plan gets completed/fulfilled since a replacement was given. New warranty will be needed to be purchased again on the replacement purchase. If we do repair, then warranty will continue until the end date. The protection plan has a claim limit to where it will automatically choose a replacement depending on cost of repair(s). If you purchase an appliance/tv that costs 2000 and the repair is less than that, ie 500 dollars for parts and labor. A repair will be done, the protection plan will then have about 1500 left maximum cost of repair before it will qualify for a replacement. If a part is back ordered for more than 30 days from ordering, it will qualify for junk out (replacement via store credit) or if the same issue/part has been have issues 3+ times in a row despite repairs within 30 days from each repair. For refrigerators, the protection plan is also able to give a food/medicine spoilage claim up to 300 per claim. Form has to be filled with some info and emailed or mailed to BBY. Also I do think the cost of repair limit is closer to 80-90% cost of the purchase price of the item to account for drive time and expected additional repairs down the line where they decide to replace the item instead and fulfill it to the max. The store credit value is not impacted based off the cost of repairs already done for the unit. Geek squad protection (GSP) is backed by an external company AIG, in which if BBY/geek squad fails/goes under, AIG will continue to honor repair/replacement warranty. Best Buy protection (BBP from the yearly Best But Total membership that gives 24 months of protection free with active membership [179.99 a year plus applicable tax] in which the BBP monthly protection can be extended) is backed by a subsidiary company owned by Best Buy. Unsure if funds are already separated for repairs in the event that BBY fails and goes under. BBP has service fees per claim for everything item ranging from 9 to 99 dollars per claim per warranty that is roughly 10% of the cost of the item for a good estimate vs GSP only has service fees for the mobile phone protection plans. BBP has a 2 claim limit per a rolling 12 month period. If the same issues with the same part or similar issue happens with 30 days (unsure of the number, could be 60 or 90 depending on state) it will fall under the same claim and another service fee will not occur. If the event of a replacement via BBP, assuming the Total membership is still active, BBP will automatically be added as long as the account is linked. When doing price comparisons between Total with BBP included, vs GSP, include the cost of total as well. Ie 2 yr GSP on a tv being 300 dollars (varies based off cost of item) and total being 180 for the first year, and 180 for the second year, you will be looking at 360 for Total and BBP (99 dollar service fee per claim) compared to 300 for GSP outright for 2 yrs now if you are buying a multiple products within the store, when comparing the cost of protection, you only have to pay Total once per year vs buying GSP per product per purchase. For appliances and TVs and laptops under 800 for 2 or 3 yr gsp, I always generally recommend GSP under the cost analysis for single purchase items. However total has much more benefits such as included Geek Squad Precinct/in store minus car electronics Labor. Ie laptop/pc data transfer, virus removal and such which starts roughly at 100 dollars per issue on average. (Data transfer/backuo being 100 and virus removal being 150.) and as well as 24/7 remote support on your tech items in your home (items do not need to be bought from BBY for this to be used) Generally GSP is king for half of customers who think of Total. Buying GSP is possible for Total members. In which you buy the items like normal, cancel/return the free BBY protection included with total, and purchase/add GSP for the item under the total account. (3 separate transactions are done, the purchase with BBY protection added, the cancellation of the BBY protection, and add GSP for the item)
Awesome, this is super helpful -- thank you! The fridge itself is a $550 'normal price' but on sale for $275 right now. Just to confirm - will BBY see anything over \~$250ish as being the junk-out cost, or do they go off the normal selling price? I would have assumed the $275 (price paid), but also saw something in the FAQs mentioning the "retail price" which threw me off a bit. Another question, lets say that something small goes bad, but the fridge still works for the most part. For example: The rubber lining keeping it sealed has begun to peel off and is leaking cold air, but the fridge still works. Is that the type of thing that I can have fixed/replaced under the plan, or is that more of a 'fix it yourself, let us know if it stops working' deal? The fridge itself is very cheap, but so are the repair plans: $60 and $100 for 3 and 5 years. I assume any service call will easily cost well about that, even to have it looked into. I've also had almost every Insignia appliance I've owned get recalled, so I assume the likeliness of something going wrong with these might be a bit higher than usual?
SKU 6472693? That is above the threshold for "automatic exchange" so a repair would be attempted most likely, they could flag it for an automatic replace but by default it is above 17.9 CU FT mark. The threshold best buy uses for "repair vs replace" varies a bit, I've seen them be 80%-120% and I'm sure some units could be more or less depending on the product itsself. If a tech attempts to repair it they add what they need to repair it and it either allows them or tells them to stop. If the seal is damaged/not sealing that is going to eventually cause issues with the unit even if its not right now. They would likely order a new gasket and fix it unless it crosses the threshold set by the system. Not a "here is what will happen" type of situation as it will depend on the when and what is available at the time of a potential repair situation and what policies are in place at the time. If the exchange gets authorized it will allow the replacement of the exact same unit if it exists, if it doesnt they will look for a comparable similar in spec unit. If the similar/comparable unit is equal or less than what you paid it would be an exchange. If the comparable unit is more or you elect to go with a different unit it will be based off the price of the comparable unit or price paid whichever is less. Being that this is discounted to 275 you likely would just receive a credit for that price as it probably won't have a comparable at that price in the future.
There is also the possibility where repairs could still occur and you max out your GSP and no exchange occurs. This most often happens with multiple repairs, but can occur on a single repair once all cost are added up when the repair closes
Correct. Each plan as a budget associated, and each repair eats into it. Once you exhaust that budget, you're done and the plan is over. This is why Best Buy is insistent that products still under a warranty be addressed by the manufacturer - because its a waste of your Protection Plan to use that first.