Even after going over all the reasons not to but at Costco (ir control, off brands, model # changes, etc) a client says they offer a lifetime warranty on all the electronics when ourchased at Costco? anyone heard of this? Kind of hard to beat that. (She already bought her Pioneer Plasma at Costco, and is looing for 2 more flat panels to go into a job were working on.)

If she moves here she will be screwed. We don't have Costcos here. Nor anyone to repair it. We barely have a Sony Mitsu tech.

C&P From Costco.com:
Pioneer
50" Plasma HDTV Monitor
This item is covered by Costco's guarantee to refund your purchase price if you are not completely satisfied. Costco's guarantee applies, even though this item may not be covered by the manufacturer's warranty, because Costco is not an "authorized" dealer of the merchandise

Based on my past experiences it will be very hard to sell against Costo's pricing and policies on video. Best 'o luck there.

They don't technically have a lifetime warranty, but this is what I have gathered:

Costco will accept returns within 30 days. However, clients have told me that they have brought things (electronics in particular) back up to a year later and gotten refunds. Beyond a year (as in lifetime) I can't imagine....

After being a warranty servicer for many brands for a long time causes me to consider the trouble that generates for the manufacturer and the servicer.

The manufacturer, because of the size and buying power of Costco is stuck with old merchandise that needs to be refurbished and sold again as B stock. The servicer, who hates warranty work at 40% of his regular repair rate and waits expectantly for a repair to come in out of warranty, gets this "store stock" warranty repair which, in the case of video, might be out of the 90 day labor warranty, but instead is "store stock".

It makes Costco a great deal for consumers, don't it?

They don't technically have a lifetime warranty, but this is what I have gathered:

Costco will accept returns within 30 days. However, clients have told me that they have brought things (electronics in particular) back up to a year later and gotten refunds. Beyond a year (as in lifetime) I can't imagine....

After being a warranty servicer for many brands for a long time I would consider the trouble that generates for the manufacturer and the servicer.

The manufacturer, because of the size and buying power of Costco is stuck with old merchandise that needs to be refurbished and sold again as B stock. The servicer, who hates warranty work at 40% of his regular repair rate and waits expectantly for a repair to come in out of warranty, gets this "store stock" warranty repair which, in the case of video, might be out of the 90 day labor warranty, but instead is "store stock".

It makes Costco a great deal for consumers, don't it?

I constantly get the "why shouldn't I buy it from Costco instead"?

But then I've used it to my advantage as well. Had a guy that wanted a 50" plasma for his patio. I told him to go buy it at Costco and I'd install it. Let them deal with the warranty problems if it should go out.

I do know they stand behind their policy. Had a friend that bought a 50" toshiba there. Little over a year later, they had the Pioneer 64" for $200 less. He brought the toshiba back without the box (but with the receipt) and they gave him his money back. All of it. So he got a better tv and $200 back after using the Toshiba for over a year.

I have no idea how they'd survive if everyone did that.

Actually it is better than a lifetime warranty. A warranty requires going through the repair process. Costco will just give you your money back. The policy excludes computers.

No, I haven't bought any TV's from Costco, but I have often had to deal with this subject with customers.

I forgot to add.... Dateline or 60 Minutes did a bit on the CEO of Costco. Not your typical CEO.

His contract was only 1 page long, his base salary was something like 300K. While he also got stock options that amounted to large sums of money, your typical CEO for this type of company would be pulling millions as base salary and the contract would be bullet proof.

He also goes to each store to meet everyone and wears a name tag just like every employee.

They boast the lowest employee turnover (which keeps cost down) in the industry and some of the highest paid regular employees.

The news bit was really interesting.

Without a doubt Costco runs a successful organization, and is good to their employees and customers. I just have to think they are stepping on their vendors in a serious way to get the return privileges they have to have to make this business model work. How long will this work before the brand name vendors pull out?

I have a friend that does that with expensive Canon DSLR bodies. He bought the original 10D there. Then when the 20D came out, he took the well worn 10D there, and got 100 bucks back and the 20D. Couple weeks ago did the same thing when the 30D came out. Got a couple hundred clams and a brand new camera. Needless to say I smashed out his car windows and stole the F**kin thing so that I wouldn't have to here about his heroic feats at Costco ever again. Rotten SOB.

Back in the 80's, I was service manager for a local A/V retailer. One day the sales manager told me that we were going to offer FREE LIFETIME picture tube warranties on all TV purchases, to compete with a large regional retailer. When I pointed out the cost of CRTs and the folly of such a warranty he refered me to the fine print.
When a customer has a problem involving the CRT we could, at our discretion, replace, rejuvinate or adjust the CRT. The warranty was a 1 shot deal, could only be used the one time, then it was over.
Of course I always put in a new CRT, but 99% forgot they even had a warranty.

So that's where my camera went! Can I at least have those pictures from my buddy's bachelor party back?

Ummm......that all depends what happens at the trial. Apparently what you guys did to that East German girl violates a number of federal laws. I've never seen a girl with balance that good though. Nice work!!

Carl

That wasn't a girl.

Please Fred, I've spent a lot of money on counseling to relieve myself of the shame.