Modem Operandi

I bought a new cable modem a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t particularly need one, but Helaina did and this gave me the excuse of giving her my old one. After shopping around a bit, I ended up buying it from a vendor on eBay. The modem, which had high marks elsewhere, was advertised as “new”, the vendor had a high rating, and the price was right, so I figured, why not?

I placed the order and sure enough, the modem showed up less than a week later. I can’t really ask for better service than that. And it seemed to be new (in that “plain cardboard box that’s been swiped from a new system” kind of way). And most importantly, it works... at least so far.

I wonder how the sellers of things like this get their high ratings? Two out of my three areas of concern were just fine, but the third? Only time will tell. Why would I rate them right now? What if it’s like the used car that quits on me shortly after I drive it off the lot, like when it's fully loaded and I'm heading off for vacation?

I have no reason to expect this to be the case, except that from the moment I clicked the button to complete my transaction, they have peppered me with the “suggestion” that I should purchase the extended warranty. I got my "last chance" reminder today. Is this thing a ticking bomb?

First of all, I’m not big on extended warranties, not when it’s for something like this. This thing should last me a few years and after that, I figure technology will be at a point where I might want to replace it anyway.

But my real problem is, there’s something in their constant prodding that seems to imply, “We just sold you a piece of crap, so you better make sure you're protected.” I wasn’t worried about it when I bought it, but now I feel like they’re telling me I ought to be.

They tout the fact that their extended warranty has “Hundreds of Five- Star Ratings.” Let me get this straight, you're telling me that at least hundreds of people have had to use the extended warranty? You're actually bragging about this? This number doesn’t even count those people that gave the warranty less than five stars. I suspect that number is the substantial one. I know if I was in a position of having to take advantage of a warranty, especially one I had to pay extra for, I would not be in the mindset of writing a glowing, five star review.

This does not exactly instill me with confidence.