subject: What To Know About Lifetime Warranties [print this page] There are many products that are sold today that come with lifetime warranties. This happens with many sold-on-television items that you see in infomercials. While a lifetime warranty does sound like a good thing, there are some things to be aware of about these types of deals.
For many lifetime warranties, you have to apply for them once you have purchased the item. There might be some paperwork that gives you details on how to claim your warranty. This has to be done before you make a claim for the item. Many times, you have to send in the proof of purchase to a certain address within a certain number of days of your purchase. If you do not do this, most of the time, you lose the ability to claim this warranty in the future when your item breaks. This little item is not often discussed, or is it very evident on the paperwork that this is a required step to get the warranty.
Sometimes lifetime warranties do not actually cover the replacement of the whole item. You need to read the warranty language very carefully to understand what it is actually covering. For some items, it might cover only part of it - like just the blade in a circular saw, as opposed to the motor and shell for example. This type of lifetime warranty can be almost worthless if the parts that are covered are inexpensive and the parts that are not covered are expensive.
One thing to be aware of is that sometimes, these lifetime warranties are not that good of a deal. You need to know whether it is your responsibility to pay the shipping and processing fee to claim the item again after it breaks. On some items, after paying the fees and the shipping costs, the cost might be almost as much as the item is worth. While it might be cheaper than buying a brand new one, there is still a cost associated with it and you are spending the money on an item that already broke once. You need to realize what these costs are.
While there is nothing deceptive being done with these types of warranties, it's important to be aware of what you are getting into and what needs to be done when getting a replacement item from your warranty. Pay attention to the little details, because these will make the difference on whether your lifetime warranty is helpful or practically useless.
