Friday, November 13, 2009

Square Trade - concluding failure

So I finally have an update to my concluded dealings with square trade. Here's the background.

UPDATE: The technician reviewing the Garmin claimed that the battery was left in too long and that the repair wasn't covered.

My Response to that conclusion: It wasn't like I left the batteries in there for years and left it in a drawer somewhere. I used this thing several times each week and it had a normal flow of new batteries going in. To me if a normal battery leaks and the product fails because of that, is that the product that failed? Probably not. OK I see the point, However.... what happened to going the extra mile. I mean seriously, the repair would cost about a penny, and here's how...

Take a paperclip, straighten it out, and then coil it up so it looks like a battery terminal, then solder it to the battery terminal backing. I did this (except the soldering) before I sent it in and the Garmin was working, but since I made a big stink about it, figured the "professional" should do it, since I paid for the coverage. So I sent it in two weeks ago, and just today was told the technician made his judgment.

So it looks like this actually goes back to the inability of square trade to make a tiny little fix even though they claim it's outside they're responsibility. This 5 cent "extra mile" has the potential to make customers happy, but that's not the goal. It's the small print and the financial risk that square trade wants to protect itself from.

Guess I'll just have to do it myself. Next time, scrap the warranty since they're concern is more about saving a few pennies, than making the customer happy.

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