Warranties not hitting the mark with millennials

Some vendors like to make the warranty offered on their kit a real selling point, with some offering up to five years cover for customers.

But if the attitude of millennials buying goods for themselves at home are anything to go by then the corporate buyers of tomorrow are unlikely to be impressed with talk of three plus years warranty cover.

Research from MyVoucherCodes has found that the younger generation are quite happy dumping damaged or broken goods and buying a replacement, even if the kit is still covered by warranty. The findings point to an estimated £423m a year being wasted on abandoned electrical goods.

The survey found that a fifth of Brits never even checked warranties and a third had never made a claim to try and get a fault fixed. The paperwork was being kept for a couple of years by a third of people but rarely being referred to when it came to sorting out problems.

There was a clear age divide with millennials much more prepared to simply go out and buy a replacement compared to those over 55, who were slightly more conservative about buying the same goods twice. Younger buyers would also baulk at taking back goods that were not less than four months old.

Where people did seem to care was with their TVs, white goods and mobile phones. But desktop PCs, laptops and tablets were absent from the top ten list of items which people were bothered to check on the warranty status.

“Checking your warranty can seem tedious, but it’s so important if you want to avoid spending money on unnecessary replacements or repairs," said Chris Reilly, managing director of MyVoucherCodes.

In the past some of the hardware players have tried to use extended warranty offers as a tool that resellers can use to try and unlock some SME spending, particularly with PCs.