Product registration cards often ask for personal information unrelated to the purchase and are used for marketing purposes. Only provide necessary information for warranty purposes and consider if the limited warranty is worth selling personal information. In many cases, registration is unnecessary and can result in unwanted junk mail.
How much junk mail would you like to receive? Do you like other people extracting your personal information? The cold truth about product registration cards and warranty cards is that they are often used as a marketing strategy to gather information about you and in some cases to sell it to other vendors. There are very few instances where you will need to submit the product registration cards, which may surprise people dutifully recording their purchases by mailing the cards or registering online.
First, you may find that these product registration cards are asking for a lot of information that is unrelated to your product purchase. They may ask for your name, phone number, age, number of children in your household, and lots of questions about your personal habits. If, and only if, your warranty, usually short-term, states that you must register the product to qualify for the warranty, most business experts suggest providing only the minimum necessary information: name, address, phone number, and a copy of the receipt. In most cases, you won’t void your warranty if you don’t include other information, and in some cases, if that additional information is needed, you’re actually selling information about your personal life to get the warranty.
The question you should ask is whether the limited warranty is worth selling this information by filling out the product registration cards. If you spent $40-50 dollars (USD) to buy a new DVD player, are you really satisfied with the idea that you have to sell your personal information to get a limited warranty? In many cases, if something goes wrong with the DVD within a few weeks of purchasing it, you can take it back to the store. Shop at stores that offer the most liberal exchange policies to avoid problems. Unless the guarantee lasts a long time, you may find it comes at too high a price when your personal information is at risk and used to send you marketing offers that you don’t want.
In many cases, product registration cards are unnecessary, and often you do not need to register your product to qualify for any warranties. Read the fine print and it will let you know exactly if you need to submit the card to qualify. When you don’t, don’t waste the ink! Instead, keep the registration card and purchase receipt together in case there is a problem with electronics, appliances, or any other purchase.
There are some instances where you might want to complete product registration cards. If you buy a new computer and want to get deals or offers from the company, this is the fastest way to get it. Generally speaking though, if you’re a little tired of junk mail and your warranty doesn’t specify registration, you can use your time in much more productive ways, like trying to read the manual for your new product.
Asset Smart.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
