Thursday, April 10, 2008

Buying insurance from a watch repair salesman

The other day I went to the mall to get my watch fixed (the battery had died). Normally I would try doing this myself, but since I have a somewhat expensive (by my standards) Fossil watch, I decided to go to a 'professional'.
I asked this guy to fix my watch and he gave me 3 options (he should be in consulting) --
1. $14.99 for watch battery replacement
2. $19.99 for watch battery replacement with 5-year warranty
3. $24.99 for watch battery replacement with lifetime warranty

Needless to say, I was very puzzled by these options. So I asked him whether he would put in a different battery for options #2 or #3. He said "no". So essentially, for an extra $5/$10, he was selling me an insurance policy on the watch battery!
Although my analytical mind was telling me that I should go with the cheapest option (since the replacement battery is the same), the sucker in me led me to buy to the $19.99 option (when in doubt, split the difference?).
I'm trying to think of other instances where this kind of sales pitch is made?

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