When you’re about to buy something and the clerk asks if you’d like to add a service plan for a set amount of money based on the unit price, you know that the risk is based on what you’re buying and that most people don’t even know what the original warranty says.

This means that you are not covered if your bulb burns out in 35 days. If the unit is damaged and you didn’t notice it until six months later, when someone took it out of the place where it was first put, sorry. The extended contract you bought wouldn’t only cover it, but it would also put a flag or an asterisk by your name for any future calls.

Major parts are usually covered by a 5- or 10-year warranty after the first or second year, depending on the quality of the product and brand. Know what your warranty covers and write down the details so you can find them if you need to. Learn about the warranty before you buy, not just the number of stars or how much energy it uses. You already pay for the warranty when you buy the product, so why get an extended warranty that starts the day you buy it when it should start after the original warranty ends? If you didn’t know, it would be too bad for you.

Remember that, unless it’s a rare case, 1/2 of 1 percent of all appliances sold by a manufacturer have a problem in the first year, and many of those problems were caused by how the appliance was installed or how the customer used it. If they made something that didn’t work, they would never let anyone see it.