In many cases, spending the money on an extended warranty can turn out to be worth it.
There’s nothing more frustrating than realizing something that’s supposed to work isn’t, and just a few weeks or months outside the manufacturer’s warranty.
This guy had that happen with his skateboard, but discovered a way to get the repair covered – and get paid in the process.
Check out the whole story!
Extended Warranty Claim Requires Repair Estimate
I used my credit card and bought an electric skateboard in fall of 2018 for $279 on Amazon.
Not the best timing, but I was replacing a DIY unit that I built myself that was falling apart.
Being in the Midwest United States, I got only a few weeks use out of it before the weather was too poor to ride it.
When he got it out again, the battery wouldn’t charge.
Spring came along and for whatever reason, the battery would not charge.
The skateboard only had a 3 month manufacturer warranty and it spent most of that warranty period sitting in the closet due to miserable Midwest winter weather.
Manufacturer warranty has now expired, it has been 5 months since purchase.
He was happy to learn his credit card offered a warranty.
But wait, my credit card has a feature where they will double the factory warranty on any product purchased with the card.
Skateboard is only 5 months old, still within the credit cards 6 months “extended warranty” coverage. Sweet. Let’s file a claim.
Claim is filed, I am fully expecting them to just replace the skateboard. I get a response, they require a repair estimate before they will process the claim. Okay fine, let’s do this.
They wanted a repair estimate, though, so he got to work on one.
I reached out to the manufacturer, I had already opened up the skateboard and taken multiple voltage measurements, so their tech support quickly moved beyond “are you sure it’s plugged in correctly” and “what lights do you see.”
They tell me it could be one of two things. It could be the battery or the circuit board that needs to be replaced, they give me a price for each.
But that is not a “repair estimate”, that is a parts list. I had used many appliance repair companies and plumbers, and most of the time their “invoice” or “repair estimate” is just a generic piece of paper with their name, the word “repair” and a price.
Halfway through he realized he could do the repair himself and included labor.
Super lazy, and yet that is good enough to get reimbursed for home warranty claims. I figure that I could write a repair estimate and I am certainly qualified to repair this, I have a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
If I am going to do the repair, I should be compensated for my work. So I wrote an itemized estimate for myself to do the repair. It went as follows:
Such and such Electronic Repair
My home address
My cell phone number
Made up invoice number
Today’s date
Replacement Battery $79
Replacement Circuit Board $69
Labor – Remove damaged components, install new $50
Diagnostic Fee $25
Tax $12.27
Total $235.27
Quote valid for 30 days, estimate only
They agreed to his estimate and sent him a check to repair his own skateboard!
Well, $235.27 is less than $279, so the extended warranty company approved the invoice without hesitation.
I complied with the repair estimate requirement and got paid $87.27 to fix my own skateboard and I now have a working electric skateboard that has given zero problems since my repair.
This is what I call using your noggin.
I bet Reddit is cheering him on, too!
I’m sensing a theme here.
So many clever people out there!
This person is curious.
They hope the customer was satisfied.
I doubt anyone will come for him.
Seriously what a smart cookie.
I hope it runs perfectly for a long time.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.