“Woke up this morning and went to go turn on my Quantum X, and realized a giant black line of dead pixels across the screen. When I turned it off, there were cat paw prints going straight up both sides apparently my cat likes to climb it while I’m asleep. And of course, I was too cheap to get a warranty.”
- consumer on Reddit
It’s like Final Destination but for Smart TVs- danger everywhere. But unlike the movie, we actually get a way out. Do we use it? Nah.
So, tell me, when do we think of adding warranties? Not until Final Destination happens to our TV.
A user who faced the same situation on Reddit said, “Spent $1,800 on an LG OLED TV the panel failed right after the warranty expired. LG quoted me $1,000 for the repair.”
Because repairs are getting more expensive
Those tiny issues you think are no big deal like a loose HDMI port, a dim backlight can empty your pocket. Even for smaller issues like power boards, ports, or backlights, repairs cost between $100 and $300.
But if your screen or panel fails, you’re staring at $400 to $2,000 or more. At that point, you might as well buy a new Samsung OLED and call it a day.
A consumer mentions- “Cost of repair is more than cost of replacement. So not worth it.”
And it’s not just repairs. With tariffs increasing unpredictability around the holiday season, prices are already climbing and are expected to rise even higher next year.
So yes, the Black Friday deals look good, 23% off here, 40% off there, but the risks that follow those savings are growing faster than most people realize.
I mean, ask yourself, are you really ready to spend $800 on a single television repair?
As one Reddit user put it, “Considering the fact that my current TV is an old model and that the repair cost is only $200 cheaper than a new one… it just doesn’t make sense.”
And if you’re selling, can you actually afford to absorb that cost when it happens to your customers?
You can hope your TV lasts forever, but hope isn’t a strategy.
That’s exactly why it makes sense to think about protection now, not later. Because there’s always a way to protect your purchase, if you plan for it before things go wrong.
manufacturer warranty from the date of purchase.”
So, if something stops working and it’s because the brand built it wrong, that’s when the manufacturer’s warranty can help.
The duration, though, differs from brand to brand.
So even though the manufacturer’s warranty is there, it’s limited and intentionally so. And once it expires, well, as Taylor Swift sang- “You’re on your own, kid.”
You might not know what the next chapter holds for your television. But do you really want to rely on a 12-month warranty to protect a six- or seven-year purchase?
That’s why most people add that extra layer of extended coverage- you know, just in case.
That little pop-up you see at checkout “Add 3-year protection for $89?” We all roll our eyes at it, thinking, “Ah, I don’t actually need it, do I?”
But what we don’t realize is how paying a little upfront can save us hundreds of dollars later.
And extended warranty is what takes over once your manufacturer coverage ends. They are often more affordable than we think, sometimes starting at just $19 a year.
It keeps you covered as long as you want and saves you from that large invoice waiting on the other side of a screen failure.
You may ask, “Okay, I understand the machine-made mistakes are covered… but what about the unintentional, man-made ones or the ones caused by cats, dogs, and those small little aliens we call kids?”
Yeah, there’s a coverage option for that too.
It’s easy to think, “I’m careful. I don’t need it.”
But the numbers say otherwise.
30% of products face at least one failure incident within the first two years. On top of it, affordable accidental protection plans typically start around $30 on average, which is way more cheaper than a $600–$1,200 repair bill later.
Even with accidental coverage, though, there’s one moment that no plan inside the box protects; the time before it reaches your home.
And that brings us to the next question:
You know that gut punch when your package gets damaged or worse, gets stolen right from your porch? Ugh, the audacity.
And it’s only getting worse.
According to a 2024 report, porch pirates stole about $12 billion worth of packages in the past year, with 58 million Americans falling victim in just the last 12 months. It spikes during holidays, Prime Day, and black Friday.
And yeah, for all these reasons, shipping protection exists and it can cost as little as $5 per order.
The truth is, the delivery struggle isn’t just on shoppers; it’s on the merchants too.
Even with today’s advanced logistics networks, 92% of e-commerce merchants say they still lose money to lost, stolen, or damaged shipments. Big retailers can absorb those hits. Smaller brands and independent stores? Not so much.
Every lost package cuts into margins, slows operations, and chips away at customer trust; the one thing no store can afford to lose especially during holidays.
At some point, warranties stopped being just about fixing what’s broken, they became about creating stability when everything else feels uncertain.
For shoppers, it’s reassurance that one bad day doesn’t have to turn into a costly one. For merchants, it’s a way to make the unpredictable a little more predictable.
And a strong warranty partner does more than just process claims. They take care of everything that happens after the “it stopped working” moment; the back-and-forth, the repairs, the replacements, so you can stay focused on running your store.
Sure, customers still have their rights under consumer laws; it’s like having protection for their protection. But the real goal is to make sure they never need to go that far.
At SureBright, we make sure that when things go wrong; shipping delays, dead pixels, or porch pirates, you’re not left figuring it out alone.
Over 500+ brands and several 1,000s of customers trust SureBright to make warranties simple, affordable, and easy to manage, especially when everything else gets busier.
Need a hand this Black Friday to sell more Smart TVs? Just say the word.
