On 14 January 2012 19:26, Rony <[email protected]> wrote: > So what? I buy a product worth thousands of rupees and pay a few hundred > rupees as extended warranty ( not lots of money ) for up to 3 years > which also has a replacement assurance in case of non repairable goods.
Let us put some numbers. Let us say the product is worth Rs. 5000 and the warranty costs Rs. 500 which makes you buy it. Will you buy the same warranty if it costs Rs. 1000? Rs. 2000? I am assuming you will say "No" at some number - which then means there is a point where "below this, I'll buy warranty, and beyond, I won't". That is the cost (say Rs. 700) YOU as the consumer is willing to pay for support, over and above the cost of the product. So your total cost for the product is Rs. 5700, and you expect utility from the product for 3 years - or, annual cost of Rs. 1900. Now consider an alternative that costs only Rs. 1500, has no warranty but is known to run for a year after which it needs replacement. Perhaps you will not buy it - you want your product to be usable for three years - but you can't expect everyone else to think the same way. There is certainly going to be someone who is fine with changing the product every year. The point is, the product itself and after-sales service are two separate offerings from the manufacturer/distributor/dealer etc. Each consumer can consume a different mix of the two. You want support, perhaps someone else doesn't. So, an absolute stance like "unsupported products are evil" will not work. > Being price concious does not mean we are looking for cheap crap items. > We want the best at the lowest price. That is not true. What we want is "value" from the products we buy. Each of us have a different value perception (one aspect of which is, of course, the show-off-ability of the product's brand name). Being price conscious can also very well mean we are looking for cheap crap items. I can give you a few examples: - Some of my friends who smoke - they typically buy the day's supply of cigarettes from the pan-wallah near the office. A few of them keep high-end Zippo lighters (branded, pricey etc. - upwards of Rs. 2000) while many others buy cheap sub-10-rupee lighters from the pan-wallah. These lighters will run perhaps only for the day, after which they are usually trashed and newer ones bought the next day. - A lot of people - friends and acquaintances alike - change their mobile phones routinely - once-in-three-to-six-months-ish. They buy the latest and greatest from not-so-well-known brands, exchanging the old one for a significant price discount. They get all the new features and stuff while people like me continue with 2-year old phones because we spent big bucks on big brand phone a couple of years back. > I just want to buy a digital camera, mobile, microwave, TV, fridge etc. > for my home or office and get peace of mind with extended warranties. I > believe that is what many customers want. This is YOU as an individual. A different individual will think of this differently - not worrying about warranties and support and the like. Binand -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
