Does SquareTrade Really Work?

SquareTrade provides warranties for the things in our life that seem to take the most damage, namely our precious electronic devices. They say they’ve reinvented the warranty, and they had better because the popular belief is that warranties aren’t worth it. But we looked into their service further to see if it’s worth protecting your gadgets, or if it’s just an unnecessary expense.

Overview
The fun thing about today’s electronics is that they seamlessly become part of our lives. But that also means that they become susceptible to all of the other things in our lives, and can end up getting wet, getting dropped, getting tossed around, getting stepped on, get chewed on by a pet, the list goes on and on. If you’ve got a hectic lifestyle where it seems like anything can happen, it usually does. You might have given a warranty a thought in the past, but chose not to go through with it for whatever reason.

The Claim
SquareTrade is here to change the way you think about warranties, and the claims process that comes with them. They identified some of the most common things that can go wrong with the state of the art gadgets we love so much, and they’ve made it so you can protect yourself from them. They don’t cover loss or theft, so you’ll still have to keep an eye on your phone and make sure you don’t lose it, but if you drop it, or if you get caught in the rain, or if there’s a malfunction in your phone even if you caused it by using it, they’ve got you covered.

Everybody Knows…
The biggest thing that SquareTrade needs to do is win people over to the fact that warranties can actually make sense. Slimy salespeople are often depicted on TV trying to get one of the characters to buy the extended warranty, and it usually makes for good comedy. Everybody knows warranties are usually unnecessary, but times are changing. With the high prices and high propensity for gadgets to break down, and with the manufacturer’s warranty not covering most of what goes wrong with a device, it does make sense to protect the money you put into it.

The Cost
Prices vary depending on what type of phone or tablet you’re wanting to cover. A two year plan on a brand new iPhone will run $100 with a $50 deductible. For a phone that costs $400 and up, having it last the full 2 years without worrying about it breaking, getting wet, getting dropped, or anything else you can cook up, that’s not sounding too bad.

The Commitment
For many of their plans you’re paying for 2 years of coverage, or 3 if you want to add the extra year. For some devices like smartphones you can choose to pay by the month to avoid a larger front end cost, and then you’re obligated to keep making payments for 24 months. They also offer the two year option for those devices, so you can choose to pay up front if you’d like and save some money over the long run.

Evaluation
One of the biggest problems with getting a warranty at the time of purchase is that you’re typically already forking over some serious cash, and being asked if you want the warranty just adds to that total cost. Psychologically it feels like an upsell, even if you know that you’ll probably end up needing it. For that reason most people refuse just out of habit. Another thing that keeps people from signing up is that they have a bad history of losing their receipts and their warranty papers, so when it comes time to use the warranty they can’t file a claim because they don’t have the necessary paperwork.

SquareTrade seems like it’s solved both of those two problems, by allowing you to cover your goods after you make the purchase (within 30 days), and keeping everything you need centrally located at their website so it’s easier to file a claim. They also don’t seem to panic when people file claims, and there are plenty of stories depicting the service working as good or better than you’d expect it to. Of course they’re still able to make money because the large majority of people that have their phones won’t file a claim and the deductibles help them keep costs down.

Final SquareTrade Review

We’re giving SquareTrade the Thumbs Up review, based on the overwhelming evidence that it does in fact work at protecting the gizmos and gadgets we just can’t seem to live without. Their customer service gets rave reviews, they offer partial refunds if you want to cancel, they let you transfer the warranty if you sell your phone, and they actually follow through on the claims and put customers back with their phones, tablets, cameras and more just as fast as humanly possible.

Our Recommendation
If you’re accident prone, or even stress prone, you’ll want to get this for the peace of mind of knowing that the tiny piece of technology that you just paid heaps for won’t end up costing you twice as much if it needs to be replaced or repaired. Although you will have to pay the deductible if you file a claim, it’s often far less than having to start from scratch and buy a new phone, especially if you like to have the latest and greatest.

What do you think? Does SquareTrade work or not?