Don't just grab the newspaper AD and run down to your local consumer electronics retailer without arming yourself with useful knowledge and tools to get the most from your dollar. This page offers tips on buying product service returns.
Product Service Comebacks
Its the day after Christmas and you walk into your local consumer electronics retailer and see "clearance tables" all over the store with out-of-box and open-box products. Although many of the products on the tables may be from the previously discussed categories (open-box returns and displays), there is another category that appears on these tables: The Product Service Comeback.
Basically, there are several types of product service comebacks:
ONE - Products that were in service, brought in by customers, that were never claimed after they were repaired.
TWO - Displays that were damaged in some way, repaired and sent back to the store to either put back on display or sell as a discontinued unit.
THREE - Service plan exchanges. This includes products that were previously owned by customers, but required several repairs within a specified time period. In such cases many service plans give the store and/or the customer the option of having the unit repaired again or exchanged for an equivalent current replacement unit. At this point, the service department determines whether to just dispose of the unit, sent it back to the manufacturer, or service the unit again and try to sell it as an open box item. If the unit is sent into service and sent back to the store for sale, it ends up usually shows up on the "Clearance" table.
How can you tell if you are looking at such an item? The product should have a service sticker (a sticker which looks similar to a UPC code, but is placed on the unit itself). However, chances are, the sales person or manager will not tell you the product's service history.
One way to detect if something has been returned from service is to check to if the open box label is next to, or partially over, the service label. If the item has several labels stacked on top of each other (like when you put the latest year's car registration tag over the previous year's tag), there is a good chance that it has been serviced, and/or repriced several times, which may be a purchasing consideration.
To be honest, in many cases the service dept doesn't give the repair history information to the sales staff. In addition, many times the accessories and owner's manual are no longer with the unit and, in fact, the owner's manual may not even be available (although there are online services you can try). To make matters worse, sometimes these items may be over two years old. This is, in fact, common with camcorders. As a side note, I worked for one CE retailer that had a 5-year old high-end S-VHS editing VCR repaired by service and returned to the store for sales staff to sell.
The key here, if you choose to purchase one of these items, is to look over the item very carefully and not conclude a final purchase without seeing the product in working condition.
In addition, follow the same guidelines as outlined in the previous page on purchasing display items. Many times, sales on such items are as-is, the store sale is final (no return), and the store may not consider the purchase of an extended service plan for the item because of the age and repair history of it.
I myself, would not consider the purchase of this type of item, but if you are an adventurous buyer and a determined negotiator, you may get lucky and get something that is actually practical for your needs. Always keep in mind that you are buying at your own risk.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it, some secrets of retailing that may be useful to you in your search for that elusive After-Christmas, Year-end, or Clearance bargain. My final advice, at this point, is to eat a hearty meal before embarking on your quest, relax, have fun, but be on guard, and be ready to negotiate. Remember; don't just jump in without taking a closer look at a potential purchase!
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out my companion article on another way to shop for bargains during the year - Buying Refurbished Products - What You Need To Know .
