Will you buy an appliance or electronic device that has been refurbished or only buy them brand new? I tend to stay away from most refurbished items because in past experiences I found that I had more trouble with the refurbished item. Kind of like when Mom told me to never buy a car that had been wrecked because there is always something new wrong with it. Are there any products you would buy refurbished or products you definitely would not?
It depends on how much money I can afford to spend. If I had no budget, I would always purchase new. Otherwise, I would consider buying a refurbished, but ONLY if the price was significantly lower. I would never purchase a refurbished computer or any other gadget because you can usually get a new one for just a little more money, and technology becomes outdated fast anyway.
I have purchased both and have had trouble with both. New items have problems, refurbished items have problems. I have purchased two brand new cars that had serious problems with them. I have purchased previously owned items that worked great and lasted a very long time. So who's to say one is better than the other.
I don't care if something is refurbished as long as it's in good condition. I bought a refurbished phone and it was as good as new. That saved me a lot than if I had bought it new from a store.
It depends on the condition of the items and the seller's reputation. If the seller is known to be very careful with his things and have sold some things to other friends then I would definitely buy some refurbished items from him
I have purchased a refurbished laptop. I only bought it because it was a ThinkPad and I had heard great things about them. I purchased it 6 years ago and it still runs very well. I have only had to replace the battery. I fell in love with ThinkPads. I have since purchased a brand new one.
It really does depend on the item. If it's a laptop or something and I don't have a Windows installation disk lying around, then I'll buy new. Who knows what someone's been able to do in the computer's databases. If it's straight from manufacturers' site like getting a refurbished iPad 2, then maybe. Though typically I'll buy new. Video games however I'll usually buy used since it's far cheaper than new and I can always look up instructions, tip, controls normally found in the instruction manuals online.
I always go for brand new ones. And if I do not yet have the budget for the purchase, then I will wait for quite some time until I am able to afford it. I will never settle with refurbished ones. I do not trust refurbished item sellers because I was not certain if the parts installed in the item are still the original ones or are replaced with parts with lower quality. Also, I could not reestimate the remaining life of the product. But with brand new ones, there will be no doubts with the quality. A plus is that I could avail warranty and after-sales service with brand new items.
I tend to go for new, because you'll always get at least 1 year's warranty - these days it's more likely to be two or even three years. With refurbished items, the warranty is measured in months rather than years, so although you may save on price, it could cost a lot in repairs if there's a problem. With new items, if they're going to go wrong, it's more likely to happen within the warranty period. Another plus for buying new is that you're getting the latest model, so you're benefiting from recent technology.
Well, I just bought a refurbished portable air conditioner. I didn't know it was refurbished until it was delivered, so in that regard, I'm a little disappointed. The guy should've told me and given me a choice. However, it is working well, so I'll take the savings. As far as the future, I would consider refurbished or open box items on things that are seasonal or spur of the moment items. I used to work at an electronics store and would see many people buy large screen TVs for the big game. Or, cameras for vacation. Laptops for a kid's homework assignment. So, things like that I would consider as the refurbished label sometimes comes from the fact that the store has to make sure nothing is wrong with the item before they resell it.
I bought a refurbished laptop because I couldn't afford a new one at that time. It worked well for a couple of months, then I started to see problems. The computer kept shutting down for no reason. I was mad and I think the company only partially fixed the problem. This is why I'm not so fond of buying refurbished products. There's a high chance of something being wrong with the item. It may not show as soon as you buy it, but eventually the truth will come out.
I purchased a refurbished computer for my sister a few years back. She didn't have her own and was hard press for money so I helped her out a bit. We were a bit concerned because we've never bought anything refurbished before. But I guess we got lucky on this purchase because she was able to use it for years. It's been five years now and even though it's a bit out of date the computer is still working just fine. We have it attached to the television in the living room for my parents to stream and watch videos and such.
You can tell the difference between the real "refurbished" versus the "we had to check it out, nothing's wrong, so we'll resell it" by the discount of the price and how long it's been out for sale as a refurbished/open box unit. If they actually had to repair something, it should be a little cheaper. If they didn't, you're only going to save about $10-20 on the deal.
I have never bought any appliances that is refurbished. I'm always afraid that the items might break after a few weeks or so. I think one has to be very careful and inspect the item thoroughly before buying it. Even so, there is no guarantee that it would work for a very long time. Therefore, I would rather buy brand new appliances, plus they always come with a warranty. If I see something that I like and I can't afford it right away, I would save up and buy later.
If you don't want to take risks, bnew is the way to go. You might be able to save a few bucks up front on refurbished items but you won't know what costs it'll bring up along the way.
I never buy electronics that are refurbished because I don't trust them not to break and because I want a warrenty. You might get lucky, but it is better to err on the side of caution. I mean who knows what has been done (or not done) with that unit previously.
When it comes to a computer, I will always purchase one brand new because I want it to last me at least a decade. My Dell laptop was purchased in 2008 and it operates like it's brand new. The next time I buy a computer, which I hope is longer than a decade, will be definitely brand new. Do I buy electronics used? When I was into games when I was a teenager, I'd purchase a model used and all of the games used because it was a waste buying a $65 video game or a $350 video game console. We also purchased a refurbished DVD player when I was a teen because we couldn't afford a brand new one. The latest electronic gadget I purchased was an MP3 player and it was refurbished (I think) and it does its functions pretty well.
Mine depends, too. There are definitely things I have bought refurbished before, especially when I know that the term also sometimes covers when people simply return an item to the store/manufacturer and nothing was actually wrong with it. They aren't always allowed to put that right back on the shelf and it'll get tagged as "refurbished."
Probably 80% of what I buy is refurbished or used. For one thing, it fits with my philosophy and lifestyle to make as small a footprint as possible and consume as little as possible of the world's resources. For another thing, I don't like to spend a lot of money. I have never had a problem with refurbished electronics - always buy from highly rated sources on highly reputable sites. My very first computer I bought 15 years ago was refurbished and that thing never died, it just got too old to run newer programs and they stopped making additional memory and parts for it. I bought my VCR and DVD players from a pawnshop 8 years ago and they're still running. Lots of stuff like that.
