4 Year warranty Antminer S9 - $42 from Amazon - will they honor it?

[chemvidswoot]

This looks like a classic opportunity - if you go to Amazon and add an Antminer to your cart, Amazon will offer a Squaretrade warranty for 4 years for about $40.

Even if Squaretrade is a pain in the ass to deal with - 4 years of coverage could be what takes an S9 at current market pricing from a bad deal to something worth doing.

Any experience dealing with them? Lots of bad reviews but then as with most things in life there are good reviews also. If you bought a ton of Antminers and you have a lawyer in your family maybe their "job" at the mine could be filing small claims actions against Squaretrade every time they deny you coverage for a failed S9. 

 But seriously - any feedback? Thoughts? You could carefully document the operating conditions of your mine - wifi connected thermometer to record room temps, 24/7 video recording of physical room conditions. Video documentation and log of regular dust cleaning, etc.

I have some court experience at the small claims level in landlord tenant disputes - and one thing I have found almost always helps me win is careful documentation. It's so rare for people to provide judges with this that it's usually enough to sway it your way.

I would think you could buy 10/20/30 antminer s9's, put warranties on all of them, document your mining conditions and wait for the failures to begin - with a plan ready to execute to force Squaretrade to repair or reimburse you in a reasonable timeframe. If they don't - start the small claims files. If they actually show up to court instead of cutting you a check - you're ready for their counsel. Win once or twice - and they will most likely stop showing up to keep fighting the same judge.

What do y'all think? If you have good priced electricity and a facility you don't have to pay extra for - this looks like a way to ensure a multi-year income stream from S9's even as difficulty rises and more efficient machines show up on the market. Yes returns will drop but at least your hardware is protected.

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[STT]

I could state the obvious which is the insurance cost of these items often exceeds the worth of that item in four years.   The terms here are most important, I doubt they will give the cash cost of the item only that they will replace that item with one of equivalent power.   Insurance often does not serve to give any upgrade in its coverage only replacement of loss.

[Travis726]

I could state the obvious which is the insurance cost of these items often exceeds the worth of that item in four years.   The terms here are most important, I doubt they will give the cash cost of the item only that they will replace that item with one of equivalent power.   Insurance often does not serve to give any upgrade in its coverage only replacement of loss.

with most cases the warranty is a waste of money I agree. But with the fail rate and cost of the antminers i'd be willing to bet 40 bucks is more than worth the cost, assuming they pay. I know they have exceptions in their small print, and will sell you the warranty for those exceptions..

[toaster2013]

Yeah insurance doesn't work like that. If it did everyone would take advantage of the system. They have clauses to prevent things like this from happening. Judge will throw you out of the court room.

For one let's say you buy a Antminer S9 that does 14 TH/s. It dies 3 years later and Antminer has a faster unit on the market. You put in a claim with the insurance company and you get a replacement Antminer S9 at 14 TH/s and it CAN even be a used Antminer. Also they probably have a clause that once you use the warranty you lose any leftover time on it. So the used Antminer S9 probably won't have any warranty on it. You most likely will get a used one as a new one at that hashrate is no longer on the market. If they can't find one then they may pull up eBay and see what Antminer S9's most recently sold for and give you cash value(which won't be much as in 3 years the company will have come out with superior products that are MUCH more powerful).  

Plus their are tons of clauses in insurance that they can use that when it breaks you get NOTHING. Not a replacement, not money, NOTHING. ESPECIALLY with stuff like a miner. Most likely they will send you a letter stating "We hate to see that your item broke, however we do not typically insure this type of item as [insert excuse here about overclocking, heat damage, etc]. Since this is not an item we would typically allow to be insured we have provided you a refund for the $42 you paid to insure this item." This is something item insurance will frequently do is just give a refund for the price paid for the insurance.

[Travis726]

If they can't find one then they may pull up eBay and see what Antminer S9's most recently sold for and give you cash value(which won't be much as in 3 years

You never know... I picked up a couple s5's for like $500 a couple months ago (little less).  I did so knowing I was paying too much and likely would be better off spending the money on coins, but I could double my money if I sold them now. They are 3 year old machines and are selling for the INSANE price of like $600 a piece right now...

[leowonderful]

If they can't find one then they may pull up eBay and see what Antminer S9's most recently sold for and give you cash value(which won't be much as in 3 years

You never know... I picked up a couple s5's for like $500 a couple months ago (little less).  I did so knowing I was paying too much and likely would be better off spending the money on coins, but I could double my money if I sold them now. They are 3 year old machines and are selling for the INSANE price of like $600 a piece right now...

eBay prices are known to be extremely inflated (you can find obsolete miners for even a third of eBay prices or less commonly on the forum), and that’s not always true. When the price of BTC falls and mining becomes less profitable like it was in 2015, miner prices also tend to fall. The price varies quite a lot. S5s sold for near the $100 to $150 dollar range even a couple months ago, and they recently shot up just because of the recent crypto hype. You can’t count on that.

[STT]

Plus their are tons of clauses in insurance that they can use that when it breaks you get NOTHING. Not a replacement, not money, NOTHING. ESPECIALLY with stuff like a miner. Most likely they will send you a letter stating "We hate to see that your item broke, however we do not typically insure this type of item as [insert excuse here about overclocking, heat damage, etc]. Since this is not an item we would typically allow to be insured we have provided you a refund for the $42 you paid to insure this item." This is something item insurance will frequently do is just give a refund for the price paid for the insurance.

I know this is pretty much standard in UK probably all of EU law.   There is a reasonable argument for fair wear and tear whereby even after insurance coverage the item is not replaced as it is judged to have been used and expired in the natural course of fair wear.   Even if replaced in 4 years this item wont be of any worth, their liability at that time is to provide an item of no worth.    Of course they will opt for cash in this case to save even spending on postage and the cash value of something nearly worthless is a few cents I guess.   

Alot of modern insurance sold to consumers is legal and fair but not worth the bother.   I know someone who paid 70 a year for washing machine cover, after a few years they spent almost as much as the washing machine costs anyway.    Just not competetive, if this cover was 20 or less maybe it would probably still be a profitable enterprise for the company.  Most of money spent goes to administration and fraud prevention.  They naturally go out of their way not to pay any more then required, they are obliged to do so as a profit making enterprise.