My son bought an extended warranty from Dick Smith because he was told "warranties are on sale today". Reading the warranty it is interesting to see that Dick Smith acknowledge that the Consumers Guarantees Act provides for a remedy if there is a problem with the product, but suggests buying the warranty provides as no fuss way of dealing with problems. I read this to mean you will have a fuss if you exercise your rights under the Consumers Guarantees Act but not if you buy the warranty. This is pretty much what I've been told by one person I declined to buy an extended warranty from, but the terms of the warranty appear to all but confirm it. So to back up an extended warranty system that appears to provide no additional cover that the law didn't provide already, you have to promise to provide bad customer service to those who don't pay a ransom? Sure doesn't look like a clever way to operate a business to me, recipe for going out of business.
