[net.consumers] maintenance contracts

ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (05/11/85)

By definition, maintenance contracts are almost never worth it.
After all, the people selling them have to make money, right?

Exceptions:

	1. a repair might be so expensive you wouldn't be
	able to afford it.

	2. a service contract might offer something you couldn't
	get otherwise.

As an example of #1, suppose you buy some kind of microcomputer
with a hard disk.  If the disk breaks, it's going to cost $1500
to replace, because it can't be repaired, but you can get a
service contract on it for $200/year.  That might not be too high
a price to pay for the knowledge that you won't lose everything
in the unlikely event of a hard disk failure.

As an example of #2, DEC field service always takes customers
with service contracts ahead of customers without service contracts.