Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!mcdchg!ddsw1!karl
From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amigas -- why the 90 day warranty?
Summary: Extended warranty costs.
Message-ID: <1989Oct31.180829.8054@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Date: 31 Oct 89 18:08:29 GMT
References: <23416@cup.portal.com> <61.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us>
Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL
Lines: 48

In article <61.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us> filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us (Bela Lubkin) writes:
>In article <23416@cup.portal.com> Doug Erdely writes:
>> [...] Don't get me wrong, I
>>would like to see a 1 year warranty, if for nothing else than to calm the
>>fears of new buyers.
>
>There is a simple solution.  Commodore should offer a 1-year (or longer)
>"Extended Warranty Package" for only a little more than they expect it to
>cost them ON THE AVERAGE.  

Yep.  And if the systems are as reliable as they would like us to believe,
the cost would be a few dollars a unit.

>They should then honor it regardless of how
>much it costs them on a particular machine, because it costs them nothing
>on so many other machines.  

That's the idea of a warranty.

>I would GUESS that the cost for a 1-year extended
>warranty for an A500 or A2000 would be about $80; about $20 for an
>external drive, also about $20 for a CBM-supplied hard disk; near zero for
>memory expansions.  2-year versions would go for about 40% more than 1-year.
>Any chance of this, Commodore?

Let's look at this:
				Cost		Warranty	Fail %
	External drive:		$150		$20		13% (!)
	A500 System unit	$700		$80		11% (!)

Is this realistic?  If it's 1 in 10 to break in the first 12 months, I'm 
not buying it.  Those are TERRIBLE odds, far worse than any of the PC lines
we handle, and far worse than any consumer product I have ever owned.  Our
AT & 386 units have a field failure rate of about 2% over the first year.
Fixed disks are a little higher, but those are warranteed by the
MANUFACTURER; thus our cost is simply shipping & handling on those
failures.

Hell, my $1200 laser disk player has an extended warranty -- it was $80.
But that warranty covers EVERYTHING, including routine cleanings, for FIVE
YEARS.  What you're proposing isn't a warranty, it's another profit center,
and a darn good one at that (or the product's failure rate is unacceptable).

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910]
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.		"Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"