The Microcenter protection plan: what the store employees won’t tell you.

Microcenter protection plan? Is it a scam, or not?

Well, that depends.

Anyone who has ever been to microcenter has been given the speil of "do you want to buy a protection plan for this item"?

90% of the time, the answer is no. But there are two very specific situations where even as a consumer, I always say yes.

Are you buying a CPU, RAM, a power supply, or an SSD? Don't bother. These components very rarely break. And if they do, many manufacturers offer long multi-year warranties on their devices.

But what if you are buying a motherboard? How about a graphics card? Again, that depends.

First, what brand of motherboard or video card are you buying? Is it an Asrock product (which in my experience have a great RMA process) or are you buying an ASUS video card? Are you buying a gigabyte motherboard (which also have a good RMA process) or are you buying an ASUS board?

In order for you as a consumer to maximize your protection plan, I would think about buying a protection plan on motherboards or video cards from brands that have a really garbage RMA process. ASUS for example is well known and well documented to outright reject an individuals warranty for completely asinine reasons. And since you might not want to deal with the headache, additional coverage can make sense.

I used my microcenter protection plan on an MSI AM4 motherboard I purchased for a build for my parents PC. One of the motherboards died 2 months out of warranty. But I had forgotten I had purchased a protection plan for the board. I was able to bring it into microcenter with the plan, and get a new motherboard the same day. That one experience alone has paid for every single protection plan I now buy for MSI and ASUS motherboards and video cards. So yes, it was worth it to me.

Another thing to consider is some premium rewards credit cards offer purchase protection. I used to have an Amex platinum card that offered purchase protection, but it cane with a $695 annual fee. Understandably, not everyone wants to spend $695 a year just to keep a credit card open. But if you already hold one of these cards, it can be worth it to reference your card.