The time I tried to upsell a warranty and it backfired hard

I worked at an electronics store in Des Moines for about 2 years. One day I was pushing this $50 extended warranty on a laptop to a customer, really laying it on thick. Turns out he worked for the company that made the laptop and knew the failure rate was basically zero. He called me out in front of the whole line, and I just stood there red-faced. Learned pretty quick that not every customer is clueless about what they're buying. Has anyone else had a moment where a customer knew way more than you did?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayes.elliot4d ago

Read an article a while back about how extended warranties are basically a scam for most electronics. Said companies pocket like 90% of that money because the stuff just doesn't break as often as people think. Sounds like that guy knew exactly what he was talking about and called you out in the worst way possible. Bet you never pushed a warranty on anyone in a rush again after that.

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the_logan4d ago

The 90% number is wild but I remember reading that Best Buy alone made like 1.2 billion dollars in profit from their Geek Squad protection plans a few years back. That's not just pocket change that's a whole different level of markup. What nobody talks about though is how these warranties actually hurt the people who DO need them. Like if your laptop dies after 13 months and you didn't buy the warranty the store still gets to sell you a new one. But if you DID buy the warranty they have to fix or replace it and that eats into their margins. So secretly the stores LOVE when you skip the warranty because they make more money off you in the long run when things break anyway. That guy at the counter was probably just doing his job but the whole system is rigged to make you pay extra either way.