Whole House Generator

[frule]

Extended warranty doesn’t really do a whole lot for me and I certainly wouldn’t pay for one.

5 years of annual maintenance isn’t something to sneeze at though. 

I do have to wonder whether or not you simply “prepaid” for that in the initial install cost 

My extended warranty is 7 tears and for parts and labor. That does a lot for me.

I do my own maintenance, which is dead simple and takes about 15 minutes. Thus, the warranty is in effect. 

I didn't pay a nickel for the warranty. My dealer was going to charge me a lot for it. I already had the contract in hand.  I Googled "Generac free warranty" and found that Generac offered it for free......for 7 years.

[Cabinet Monkey]

My extended warranty is 7 tears and for parts and labor. That does a lot for me.

I do my own maintenance, which is dead simple and takes about 15 minutes. Thus, the warranty is in effect. 

I didn't pay a nickel for the warranty. My dealer was going to charge me a lot for it. I already had the contract in hand.  I Googled "Generac free warranty" and found that Generac offered it for free......for 7 years.

Should have double quoted , as the 5yr maintenance was something GaryMc’s dealer offered.

Not everyone has the time or even likes to tinker about on machine maintenance.  


Warranties make a lot of people sleep better at night; I’m not one of them. It’s really just a measure of confidence on behalf of the company providing the warranty and costs are baked in to the purchase price. The customer IS ALWAYS paying for the warranty regardless of whether it’s included or is added on as an additional profit center by the seller.

[frule]

Should have double quoted , as the 5yr maintenance was something GaryMc’s dealer offered.

Not everyone has the time or even likes to tinker about on machine maintenance.  


Warranties make a lot of people sleep better at night; I’m not one of them. It’s really just a measure of confidence on behalf of the company providing the warranty and costs are baked in to the purchase price. The customer IS ALWAYS paying for the warranty regardless of whether it’s included or is added on as an additional profit center by the seller.

Lots of rationalization going on there. I think very few folks are stupid enough to discard the value of a 7 year parts and labor warranty.
And if you are right about it being baked in, then YOU pay extra for for the warranty and cannot use it. Seems ignorant to me.

And I don't have to stay at home waiting for serviceman to show up, while I can easily do my service in 15 minutes and not pay $200-450 per year for it. "Tinker about on machine maintenance"...LOL...

[Snipe Hunter]

I've had 2 Generacs. Big Bold Letters on the owners packet. NO SELF SERVICEABLE PARTS... or something to that effect. Generac uses a lot of proprietary parts, only available through Generac but not all. I replaced an oil pressure switch with a generic one and it works fine. The warranty can be voided if the owner messes with it. Mine was 15 years out of warranty when the oil pressure switch crapped out.

That being said, ours is a portable 15000w and it's never failed us in 20 years. Runs like new. I test run it a few times a year, that's how I found out the oil pressure switch failed. It was like $10 so I bought 2.

[Cabinet Monkey]

Lots of rationalization going on there. I think very few folks are stupid enough to discard the value of a 7 year parts and labor warranty.
And if you are right about it being baked in, then YOU pay extra for for the warranty and cannot use it. Seems ignorant to me.

And I don't have to stay at home waiting for serviceman to show up, while I can easily do my service in 15 minutes and not pay $200-450 per year for it. "Tinker about on machine maintenance"...LOL...

I think you're the one doing the rationalizing.   The customer ALWAYS pays..........one way or another.  It's simply how the system works.  They may or may not get to see how the sausage is made.

You clearly don't seem to understand what or how warranties work from a business operational perspective.  The cost to the company is an expense like sheetmetal, copper wire, labor, circuit boards, ect......though it's unrealized until claimed.  So, of course it's baked into the cost of the product you buy.  The only thing ignorant is thinking you're not paying for it.

Secondly, with regards to an "extended warranty" - those are just marketing gimmicks (or profit centers) for the operation.  You don't think Generac or even XYZ Generator Installers are just giving away an extended warranty without covering their cost (exposure really) somewhere in the pricing structure, do you ???   Sometimes it's "given" as an incentive to make you purchase and sometimes it's sold to generate revenue.  But at no point is the manuf. not accounting for the posibility of future CASH outlays to customers that have claims.  

 And what's with the paying extra for it but can't use it comment ?  You either need/take advantage of a warranty whether it's included or purchased or given separately.  Whether you pay directly or indirectly for your warranty (extension) has no real bearing on whether you use it or not.


Lastly, why would you need to wait around for a service tech to show up for generator maintenance
  The serviceable equipment is all outside.  And while you may find it beneficial or even enjoyable to change the oil/ battery on your generator, not everyone will.   In fact, most generator owners do not preform their own maintenance.   I also find it funny how you keep dismissing/ignoring the 5yr "included" maintenance that GaryMC mentioned he received from his vendor.  Is he stupid for paying for that ?   Would he be ignorant for choosing to not use it and do the work himself ?  Or vice versa ?   Or does your answer totally depend on whether or not he indirectly paid for the "included service" ?

[frule]

I think you're the one doing the rationalizing.   The customer ALWAYS pays..........one way or another.  It's simply how the system works.  They may or may not get to see how the sausage is made.

You clearly don't seem to understand what or how warranties work from a business operational perspective.  The cost to the company is an expense like sheetmetal, copper wire, labor, circuit boards, ect......though it's unrealized until claimed.  So, of course it's baked into the cost of the product you buy.  The only thing ignorant is thinking you're not paying for it.

Secondly, with regards to an "extended warranty" - those are just marketing gimmicks (or profit centers) for the operation.  You don't think Generac or even XYZ Generator Installers are just giving away an extended warranty without covering their cost (exposure really) somewhere in the pricing structure, do you ???   Sometimes it's "given" as an incentive to make you purchase and sometimes it's sold to generate revenue.  But at no point is the manuf. not accounting for the posibility of future CASH outlays to customers that have claims.  

 And what's with the paying extra for it but can't use it comment ?  You either need/take advantage of a warranty whether it's included or purchased or given separately.  Whether you pay directly or indirectly for your warranty (extension) has no real bearing on whether you use it or not.


Lastly, why would you need to wait around for a service tech to show up for generator maintenance
  The serviceable equipment is all outside.  And while you may find it beneficial or even enjoyable to change the oil/ battery on your generator, not everyone will.   In fact, most generator owners do not preform their own maintenance.   I also find it funny how you keep dismissing/ignoring the 5yr "included" maintenance that GaryMC mentioned he received from his vendor.  Is he stupid for paying for that ?   Would he be ignorant for choosing to not use it and do the work himself ?  Or vice versa ?   Or does your answer totally depend on whether or not he indirectly paid for the "included service" ?

Wrong again! I understand exactly how extended warranties work. I have never bought one and have saved thousands of dollars.

IF I had taken the dealer's extended warranty, would i have paid for it? YES
I took a FREE 7-year warrantee that I had to search online to find. So you have 3 choices:
1-Take no extended warranty and, as you claim, pay for it anyway because "it's baked in"-THAT is ignorant.
2-Find the free Generac warranty online. No extra cost. That is smart.
3-Pay the dealer for a rip-off warranty because you weren't intelligent to search online for the free one.
 Obviously., I made the right choice. But you wouldn't bother.

Maybe "most owners" don't "Preform"-sic, their service......It's so hard:

Let's see. I open the lid, unscrew the filter which is in plain view. Turn the small lever and drain the oil into a bowl through the built-in convenient hose. Remove the oil cap and pour in about a quart of oil. Reverse the process......every 2 years. I'm exhausted. Every 4 years, replace the air filter. For over $200 from a dealer, that's worth it. BTW, I haven't needed to change a battery in 8 years. Another exhausting job! But you better check the water level in the battery every few months. More fiddling around-exhausted again.

BTW, you said that " the serviceable equipment is all outside". My transfer switch is in my garage. It's not serviceable? I'd have to buy a whole new one if a simple resistor went bad? LOL..............or let my extended warranty pay...hmmm.

So, ignore the free warranty if you wish. Pay for the yearly service. Your choice.
Keep digging you hole deeper. I'm done.

[Cabinet Monkey]

Wrong again! I understand exactly how extended warranties work. I have never bought one and have saved thousands of dollars.

IF I had taken the dealer's extended warranty, would i have paid for it? YES
I took a FREE 7-year warrantee that I had to search online to find. So you have 3 choices:
1-Take no extended warranty and, as you claim, pay for it anyway because "it's baked in"-THAT is ignorant.
2-Find the free Generac warranty online. No extra cost. That is smart.
3-Pay the dealer for a rip-off warranty because you weren't intelligent to search online for the free one.
 Obviously., I made the right choice. But you wouldn't bother.

Maybe "most owners" don't "Preform"-sic, their service......It's so hard:

Let's see. I open the lid, unscrew the filter which is in plain view. Turn the small lever and drain the oil into a bowl through the built-in convenient hose. Remove the oil cap and pour in about a quart of oil. Reverse the process......every 2 years. I'm exhausted. Every 4 years, replace the air filter. For over $200 from a dealer, that's worth it. BTW, I haven't needed to change a battery in 8 years. Another exhausting job! But you better check the water level in the battery every few months. More fiddling around-exhausted again.

BTW, you said that " the serviceable equipment is all outside". My transfer switch is in my garage. It's not serviceable? I'd have to buy a whole new one if a simple resistor went bad? LOL..............or let my extended warranty pay...hmmm.

So, ignore the free warranty if you wish. Pay for the yearly service. Your choice.
Keep digging you hole deeper. I'm done.

You are advocating Generac simply because it offers a "free" extended warranty.    I say that's a red herring, worthy of the sales and marketing weasels that dreamed it up to get you on the hook.  And they succeeded brilliantly.

I am saying the warranty is one of the lower priority items to concern one's self with when making a generator purchase decision.  So is brand.  Generac and Kohler BOTH make fine, reliable equipment.  Both have warranties, reg. flavor and extended.   What matters most is the provider who is going to be your everyday point of contact and the one who designs and installs your system.    That's more important than brand or warranty.   Your "free" warranty ain't worth squat if your guy didn't do a good job designing your system, made mess installing it, forgot to mention or didn't know about your beloved extended warranty, or is so behind the times as to use still use a wet cell battery. 






Fella - you may not have bought/purchased an "EXTENDED" warranty but you have certainly PAID for it in the initial cost of the product you bought just like you've paid for the REGULAR WARRANTY !
It's clear you DO NOT understand how the cost of these things is allocated.  No company is giving you anything for free




:
Do you seriously think any company is going into the negative to give (or entice you to buy) their product or service ???  It's pretty clear you don't know how warranties work form a business perspective - only the consumer's.  

Whether or not the service is hard has absolutely NOTHING to do with whether most generator owners do their own service.  Growing your own food, making your own clothes, mowing your grass, managing your retirement account, servicing your automobile or boat or other toy, painting a room -or- your house are not hard either.  But people (including you I bet) pay other's to perform these tasks for them everyday.  It's got absolutely nothing to do with difficulty.


Don't know what kinda transfer switch you got at your place, but NONE of mine have needed routine maintenance. So, you don't need to be home for the tech to do the routine work on the generator like swapping the filters, oil, battery ect......they don't (mine anyhow) service the x-fer switch anyway.   Furthermore, if your provider was savvy- he'd have set you up with an AGM battery which doesn't need maintenance !   If there's a breakdown or warranty claim, I'll bet a dollar and a doughnut that you'd be home anyway.......so don't try and sell us that doing your own routine service frees up copious amounts of your time.

I am not, and have never said /advocated ignoring a warranty.  I have said I simply don't put much stock in them, and I certainly don't purchase extended warranties. 

Perhaps I haven't been clear so let me try again........

1. The reg. manufacturer's warranty's cost is baked into the cost of the product.  PERIOD !  Whether YOU like it or not.
2. Companies offer EXTENDED WARRANTIES.  The are not offering them because they love you.  They are used as either:
- an enticement to close you on the sale
- an additional stream of revenue for THEIR bottom line
3. IF they offer (give) you an extended warranty -  you have still payed for it because the company has already figured out the cost of that incentive and rolled that into the sales price !  You just don't get to see it like you don't get to see how much it cost anymore than the copper wire or steel or the paint cost them.

It's fine that you like/want to do your own service.  Most people don't .............and you're still ignoring Gary's 5 year service enticement that was offered to him.   That's exactly the same concept as your "free extended warranty "   It has value to some people (clearly not you) and none to others. My comments apply to that too........he is ultimately paying for that "free 5 year service" in the total purchase price of his generator.  His provider is not giving Gary 5 year of tech labor at a burdened hourly rate of approx $125/hr., oil, filters, overhead like truck amortization, gas, phones, internet, rent,ect.. out of their own pocket simply because they love Gary.

[Patsfan]

gents, I am going to ask all to dial back the vitriol or personal rhetoric a bit.

It is both okay and welcome to have free and open discussions here, but we DO ask you not to personalize it.

This thread has a lot of good info from a few viewpoints, so we'd like to leave it here, but if it becomes a spitting contest, we'll have to pull it or lock it.

I have been around here for a bit, and will openly wager that our similarities outweigh our differences.  Let's leave it at that and stick to friendly conversation.

Thanks

 Mike