Smart Move Or Invitation For Junk Mail?

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Melissa
Filed Under Household, Kitchen

Is it really worth it? I have question for all of you out there.

When you buy a new appliance or product and it has a registration card, do you actually send it in?

I have TONS of registration cards that came in the product manuals for the new items in my home. Everything seems to ask for registration. All of the kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, window blinds, and garage door opener, just to name a few. Even the $10 vaporizer we got to help ease our colds a few weeks ago has a registration card to send in.

In the past, I rarely sent in registration cards, especially on smaller items. I didn’t want to lose out on the warranty but I was afraid it was just the first step to getting flooded with junk mail and advertisements. Looking at the registration cards for some of these products only seems to confirm that suspicion. Take for instance, the registration card for my GE cooktop. It says:

Win $2500! It’s easy. Just register your new appliance and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing for $2500.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I see things like this I immediately think there’s a catch. There almost always is. They must get some benefit from the registrations if they’re willing to pay a cash prize to encourage it. I suspect my information would be promptly sold to multiple lists and the onslaught of junk mail would begin. Something tells me they might not be so willing to spend $30,000 a year for these registrations if they were simply filing them away and not using that information in some lucrative manner.

Many of the registration cards ask intrusive questions that have nothing to do with their product. Some of it is for marketing reports and some of it is to determine what junk mail you might be receptive to. The registration for my toaster is an entire pamphlet, asking questions about my household income, education level, and if I enjoy cruises or stamp/coin collecting. My storm door registration wants to know what credit card brands I currently use, when I’m planning on buying a new car, and how many magazine subscriptions I have. I wonder why a storm door company wants to know if I’m interested in “moneymaking opportunities” or “casino gambling”.

On the back of these cards I spotted a small note in the teeniest tiniest lettering. It says:

Your answers will be used for market research studies and reports. They will also allow you to receive important mailings and special offers from a number of fine companies whose products and services relate directly to the specific interests, hobbies, and other information indicated above. Through this selective program, you will be able to obtain more information about activities in which you are involved and less about those in which you are not. Please check here if, for some reason, you prefer not to participate in this opportunity.

I love how it makes it sound like I’m going to be missing out on something awesome. Opting out by checking that box might stop some of the junk mail but I noticed that it says nothing about being able to opt out of the special offers sent from the company you are actually registering with.

Some of the cards seem rather forceful, saying I must register my product immediately but they don’t specify why. Some even give a deadline of 10 days from purchase. Yet, on the back of those same cards in tiny lettering it reads:

Failure to submit this registration will not diminish your warranty rights.

In fact, all of the cards have that wording so it’s clear that failing to register my products will not void the warranties on them.

So, what good does registering do? On a positive note, there does appear to be some benefits to registering your appliances.

If there is a recall or a safety problem with your particular model the company can contact you to let you know. Unless the recall makes the news you might not find out about it any other way.
If you need to have warranty work performed I’ve heard that having the product already registered helps speed up the process.
Registering your products can help identify your goods if they are stolen or destroyed. This can help by providing proof of the purchase for insurance. If all records/receipts were lost due to fire or flood this could come in handy for those expensive items.

This has me contemplating whether or not I should send in these cards, and if so, for what items.

I’m thinking that I may register the large kitchen appliances. I can see the potential for needing warranty work one day. The large appliances came with a standard 1-year warranty and the home builder included a 4-year extension. Because these appliances are big purchases and they have long warranties it may be worth registering them.

On the other hand, my toaster only has a 3-month warranty and that little vaporizer only cost me $10. It hardly seems worth it to me to register these items unless I want to receive potential recall notices. If the vaporizer breaks it would probably cost me more in time and shipping to get it replaced under warranty than to buy a new one. I think the risk of annoying junk mail outweighs the potential benefit of registering these items for me.

What do you do with your registration cards? Do you think it’s wise move to register your purchases or do you think it just isn’t worth it in the end?

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Comments

15 Responses to “Smart Move Or Invitation For Junk Mail?”

SingleGuyMoney on January 7th, 2008 5:01 pm

I never send those things in anymore. I think it is an invitation for them to try to sell you an extended warranty once the original warranty expires.
Lissa on January 7th, 2008 7:13 pm

[[I think it is an invitation for them to try to sell you an extended warranty once the original warranty expires.]]

I agree. I read an evaluation of warranties a few years ago — the only items that are financially worth the value of an extended warranty are newly-purchased automobiles, desktop computers bought as top-of-the-line new models, refrigerators, and electric clothes dryers — if something’s going to go wrong with these items in between the original warranty and the extended, chances are it’s a big-enough ticket that it’s cheaper to purchase the warranty. For everything else, the extended warranty is either so unlikely as to make an extension completely unnecessary or likely to cost the same or more than any repair == which means that the sales and marketing team pulls in extra pocket change without having to do anything more than file a couple of forms (and sell your address and telephone number for “market research” into the bargain.

I registered my computer when I bought it a little over a year ago, and registered my laundry center and sprang for the extended warranty when I purchased it last April — that’s it. Ever. Then again, I buy very little, and immediately contact companies I *do* do business with to ensure I’m taken off every one of their mailing lists if they have any desire to retain my business.
LJ on January 7th, 2008 10:03 pm

I only send the cards in when it is for something that could be potentially unsafe if recalled, like car seats and strollers. I also send the cards in for major appliances for the same reason. I don’t send them in for the smaller things like blenders or vaccuums. I see that it can be a way for them to reach out to you in an attempt to sell you something, but at the same time it is a way for them to notify you of recalls, just like auto manufacturers.

Take Care

LJ
Libby on January 8th, 2008 9:48 am

I used to work for a company that specialized in direct mail and I can tell you with absolute certainty that those warranty cards are used to get your personal information. Your information is then rented to outside companies so that they can send you junk mail. The more complete your form, the more junk mail you will get.

So, to answer your question, I never send in the warranty cards.
Libby on January 8th, 2008 9:55 am

Oh, I forgot to add something to my previous post. A little trick you can do to see how far your information goes…

Try putting the wrong information on your card. Like if your name is Dawn, write Dean on the card. Then follow who rented your name by the junk mail you get with that name on it.

Of course, this has no real value to it other than satisfying your curiosity. And it does produce more junk mail, but as someone formerly in the biz, I find it very interesting to find out who is interested in me.
Debbie M on January 8th, 2008 10:13 am

That’s a nicely thought-out entry! Maybe it will push me into mailing in those cards for things where I’d like to know about recalls and free fixes. Thanks.

Note that you can send these in with nothing but your contact information.
Coupon Fetcher on January 8th, 2008 12:24 pm

Good info. I too rarely send them in. But I do tend to send them in on big ticket items thinking I am better covered if something goes wrong with the product.
MoneyChangesThings on January 8th, 2008 2:50 pm

Best to just toss it. My husband asked Cabela’s for one catalog (generally all the catalogs et al are in my name) and we’ve gotten on dozens of lists and scads of catalogs are coming for him. Clearly they sell your name all over the place. It’s infuriating. Even if you you catalogchoice.org, it still takes a few months to be removed.
But today there wasn’t a single catalog. Yay!!
Caryn Verell on January 8th, 2008 3:13 pm

i rarely send in warranty or registration cards..however, i do staple the receipt and warranty regist. cards to the inside of the instruction booklets and parts list that come with a product. that way it all stays together and you know where you can find it when needed. this is also handly should you have a yard sale..as it gives you an idea of what amount to sell something for.
Melissa on January 9th, 2008 3:37 pm

@SingleGuyMoney: Good point! I didn’t even think about them contacting me for an extended warranty. I hate it when I get junk mail like that for my car.

@Lissa: I also don’t go for the extended warranties on my purchases. I did once for my old printer but it ended up being more of a pain to get the service completed than it was worth.

@LJ: Have you ever gotten a recall notice from a product you have registered? I’m curious if they actually do send out notices when that happens.
Lady Mother on January 9th, 2008 3:53 pm

duh! I feel really dumb. Mostly I don’t send in registration cards because I am incredibly lazy and frugal … and I feel really guilty about it. However I was so proud when we recently got some big ticket items and I did it! I realize now that we have also gotten increased snail-mail spam concerning energy and remodeling products.
Well, at least I learned that lesson before turning 70. …apparently I’m also a slow learner
Miss Meg
Melissa on January 9th, 2008 3:56 pm

@Libby: Thanks for letting us know. I think your method of catching companies who sell names to lists is really creative. I wouldn’t have thought about doing that!

@Debbie M: I would think your chances of getting junk mail from other companies would decrease by not filling in the extraneous info but I doubt it would stop it entirely. Just make sure the one thing you do fill out is that opt out box, I suppose. Getting recalls on some items might be worth dealing with that though.

@Coupon Fetcher: Welcome! I wonder if registering actually helps with warranty issues considering that failing to register doesn’t negate your warranty. I know it feels like the right thing to do though.
Melissa on January 9th, 2008 4:21 pm

@MoneyChangesThings: That must have been so frustrating. I used to get a ton of catalogs when I did a lot of online shopping. Finally it got so bad that I had to call every company asking to be removed from all mailing lists. Most of it stopped eventually but not all of it.

@Caryn: That is a great tip! Right now all the cards and the manuals are in a drawer. I’ll need to organize them like that one of these days so I can free up more space in my kitchen. Thanks!
Garetjax on May 26th, 2008 8:56 am

The best thing to do is save your receipt, this guaranties you are covered. Most warranty cards do go to a clearing house and your name is added to mailing lists. I was buried in junk mail, I must have been on every list out there. I now have a membership with Myjunktree and almost all of it has stopped. The major list brokers were contacted and my name was removed. I was able to choose what weekly mailers, catalogs, if I wanted Credit Card offers. I was even able to stop the delivery of the phone books.
Tim(new comment) on August 26th, 2008 11:34 am

I happen to be one of the owners of MyJunkTree and as a new company I search the web to see if we are getting any visibility out there and it seems the word is getting out. Thanks for the support.

We launched the company because we were tired of all the junk mail we were receiving and we personally did not want to bounce all over the web to contact all the different companies to stop it all. First and foremost we wanted to let people choose what they wanted to let come to their home knowing that some people really do like some of the coupons and catalogs. So our clients choose what they want stopped.

We also had to provide a service that is different than the other services out there, so here is what we offer:

1.We have a database of over 1300 catalogs that you can choose to stop.
2.We have over a 2000 charities/Non-Profits that you can stop solicitations from.
3.Stop the delivery of the national phone directories.
4.Stop the delivery of the weekly coupons.
5.Stop the general credit card offers as well as the ones from your own major bank.
6.Stop the miscellaneous junk mail from the data brokers.
7.You can register on the National Do Not Call Registry from the website.
8.You can order your no strings attached free annual credit report right from the website.
9.We plant trees with every new membership.

And, yes we are a paid service and yes you can do everything that we do for free, if you want to do all the research and spend the time contacting the companies yourself it can easily be done. We have just done all of the legwork for our clients and feel there is value in the service we provide.