Purchase Protection

Initially appeared on vox.com 2/9/2010.

I'm not a fan of endorsing a particular company for any particular reason, but in this case i'll make an exception and give a shout-out to American Express Credit Cards.

Prior to a recent trip to Hawaii, we purchased a Polaroid T833 Waterproof Camera for possible use underwater.  Generally speaking, Gianina and i are Canon fans, but in this particular instance we made an exception - primarily because the camera had decent specs and was on sale at geeks.com (El Cheapo strikes again!).

Although we didn't really get to put it through its paces underwater, it actually took decent pictures outdoors under good lighting:

Unfortunately on the second day, we left the battery door unsealed; water leaked in and the camera was rendered inert.

I was initially extremely ticked off at the waste of $100+ dollars just after a few hours of use.  I immediately hoped that Polaroid's warranty would cover it, but realized that it probably wouldn't because it was "misused" and completely our fault. 

It was then that i vaguely remembered a benefit of my Amex credit card called "purchase protection," which essentially guarantees that American Express will replace an item that is stolen or damaged within 90 days of purchase (I'm certain there's restrictions to this but they don't mention what they are).  I looked it up online, put in my information here, and crossed my fingers.

Lo and behold - two weeks later i get a notice in the mail telling me that they've refunded the purchase amount.  No muss, no fuss.  Amazing!

Now i've read online that many credit cards offer the same benefit, but i've never really looked into it prior to this event.  So while i don't advocate carrying a credit card balance, i am now a firm believer in making all significant purchases (especially gadgets) with an American Express TrueEarnings Card.

(There's another benefit regarding warranty extensions, but i've yet to try it out.  I'm hoping i don't need to, but let's wait and see.)