I don't know the details of this newer BB plan of $10/month or whatever it is. However, my previous experience with BB extended warranties was pretty horrible.
Be very careful with these extended warranties from BB, often the salespeople and managers will tell you one thing, and the plan is something different.
For specific details, here was my situation from a few years ago (maybe the policies have changed?) :
I bought a cell phone that was normally almost $200 that was on sale one weekend for about $100. I know cell phones don't last very long, and so I went for the BB extended warranty - it was only $50 and it seemed like a good deal since I was saving $100 on the cost of the phone. I was told that the warranty would cover any problems and defects, even if it's my fault - if I drop the phone, run it over with my car, anything. I can just bring it in and they will replace the phone. Period.
Well, that was what I was told and I figured $50 was a great way to get a new phone sometime in the next year when mine was bound to break.
Several months later my phone was having some issues, nothing major, but the big thing was the speaker phone stopped working. I decided to cash in on this warranty and take my phone in. This was about 10 months after I bought it.
Well, the phone I had was no longer carried by BB (part of the reason I got it on sale was because they were getting rid of the old model to make room for the new ones). So, they said that the warrant was still good, and that the phone could be replaced... but only with the exact same phone... that they no longer carry. I was told that I was pretty much out of luck. They said that the next closest model was recently released and I could replace my phone with that one - except it's current cost was $250 and I would have to pay the difference of $150. I spoke to a manager and explained how ridiculous this was. Eventually she said that the only thing she could do is to have BB cover half of the difference for me. So I would have to pay $75. I agreed to this since it was better than buying a new phone for $200 or more. I also didn't get any choice on what the replacement was, so I had to pay $75 for a phone that I didn't like so much.
Overall, I may have saved a little bit. I paid $50 for the warranty and $75 to cover half the difference of the newer model which is $125. So, that's a little cheaper than the full cost of a new phone - but I also had no choice on which new phone I got. I'd rather just save that $125 and put it towards a phone I really want.
I hope their policy has changed since then. It seems silly to me that their warranty only covered the exact same replacement of the same model, when cell phone models only last about 6 months before the newer models come out.
I'd like to hear about other experiences with BB warranties, and also the VW monthly protection. I'm considering signing up for the $5/month (or whatever VW has) that covers damage, theft, loss etc. Any experiences with this? How does it *really* work? (not just what the sales people say)
