13 Aug
Should That Really Have Broken Already?
One of my favorite teachers in college was a creative genius. He taught us to shift our thinking, to “get out of the box” and be original. But he wasn’t the most pragmatic person when it came to the nuts and bolts of life.
This was a man who traded his car in and bought a new one because the headlight went out. I am not kidding.
Over the years The Wife and I have become a fairly competent man and woman. We do not balk at things like garbage disposals, international airport travel, or Los Angeles freeways. Table saws, sergers, and home electrical systems are old hat.
Responsibility with money, however, is a new thing, but we’re getting better all the time.
Not just better with what we have coming in and going out, but with the things we have too. When something breaks it is so easy today to discard it and buy another one. In fact, a year ago that was my motus operandi for many of the products in our life.
Recently I’ve had two examples of a different way of handling broken things — with great results.
This time of year the occasional black out or brown out is fairly common where we live. At least once a month the lights flicker or dim for a moment and surge protectors complain. The last time this happened our network switch died. No lights, no nothing, dead.
It’s a $50 item that we’ve had for more than two years, so while inconvenient, I didn’t feel too terrible about its demise.
Then again we’re on a budget, right?
So I headed to the manufacturer’s website and poked through the support area. It turns out the switch was a “Prosafe” business model and warrantied for life. A few emails back-and-forth and UPS dropped off a new one a week later without costing us a dime.
Next up an external hard drive stopped working. My first inclination was to check Amazon. I then proudly announced to The Wife that not only is the 500GB drive we paid $112 for now only $71, but 1TB (twice the capacity) is available for $99!
Wait. We’re still on a budget.
Okay, off to the drive manufacturer’s website. Support section. Click. Click. Click… still under warranty after 18 months! New drive in the mail — for free.
These are two items I would have replaced immediately just a year ago without even blinking. I can hardly believe that now.
It would seem living on a budget, on purpose, with spending limits and control over your impulses is not only mature, it saves you money.
Now, who’s in the market for a car with one headlight out?
the Dad
Posted by jpkittie on 08/13/09 at 9:18 am
That is awesome!!! I am ashamed to admit that I too would just go out to buy a new one. Thanks for pointing out that it is definately worth a few moments of time to poke around a site to see if there is a warranty!
Posted by KELSALYNN on 08/13/09 at 9:49 am
Oh man, a car with just a headlight out? I’ll take it! Mine makes funny noises, gets terrible gas mileage, and we even have tape on one of the windows because it won’t stay up on its own. Oh yes, we are those people— TAPE on our car! That’s okay, we don’t use the back window that often and wouldn’t you know we actually have TWO back windows anyway!
Our biggest change in our TMMO was going from a two-car household to just one. And it wasn’t even that difficult!!! I never would have thought in a million years we could survive with only one car – GASP! And people think we’re crazy.
We’ve become so much better at appreciating what we have, even if it’s broken or a little dinged up. We don’t have the best stuff, but you know what, when we did, we weren’t happy with what we had and always wanted better. For the first time, we’re very content with what we have and I love it!
You’re doing such a great job! I’ve always been amazed at how mine and Michael’s TMMO has become less and less about money and more and more about our happiness and lifestyle. It sounds like you and TheWife are experiencing the same thing.
Posted by Kellie on 08/13/09 at 10:46 am
I started doing this, too! It’s amazing what companies will cover.
We have a deck (we live in FL) that we have to restain every two years. Well, as we went to do it this spring, I got to thinking that the stain has a 5 year guarantee. DH called them and they offered to pay for the new stain. They told us what products to get to use before the stain, plus the stain. We bought the items, sent them a receipt. We got a reimbursement check for $110! We wouldn’t have done thought to do that pre-DR!
We also did this with our 3yo MAC. It had major problems that they kept “fixing”. The repair guy said that it was a common problem with our particular model. After “fixing” it 3 times, we had enough. We asked for a new computer. DH was nice and said he had all day to talk to the person that could help us. The lady right then said, “Oh, we’ll send you a new one overnight!” We got a brand-new upgrade MAC for FREE!
Thank-you DR and our budget!!!! And thanks for reminding me to keep on thinking outside the box!
Posted by Tutu on 08/13/09 at 6:35 pm
Wow – Dad and all the commentors have really got me thinking – fabulous posting!
Posted by Money Funk on 08/14/09 at 9:34 am
Ya, I did that with a Maxtor Hard drive (hate the Seagate company now) – being under warrenty. They charge you $156 to pull the data out of your drive – even under warrenty). Luckily, I didn’t need that. But, then you have the option of shipping it yourself or ….
paying $30 – $40 for them to send you all that you need for shipping the item back to them and then they will send you a refurbished hard drive.
So, I said, “no, I will ship it myself”. They said, “please log onto this website for shipping instructions”. Cool no problem, right?
It takes an engineer to understand what they want AND a specialized box to ship it in. No one carries the box, except an online company from Texas that wants you to pay $40 for the supplies. Produced an extra step and extra funds. Sweet (not! – peeved and annoyed).
So, I had to call the company back so they would ship me the materials… blah, blah, blah.
I ended up paying $40 out of my pocket for a warrenty product, $18 for shipping, wasted tons of time on email and phone call messages, recieve a refurbished (not new) hard drive and am still annoyed.
I am not saying don’t check the manufactur’s website, but the method doesn’t always work (don’t buy a Maxtor harddrive – the sale item only worked 5 months).
Posted by Tam on 10/05/09 at 5:31 am
It is amazing what you can save when you are paying attention! Good for you.