I just finished reading a post from Punny Money where Nick shares his experiences of 5 Year Guaranteed Light Bulbs. "How can you lose?" Nick asks.

Trust me, businesses will find a way. And in Nick's case they did again.

Why do company's still offer these useless guarantees? More importantly, why do we still get sucked into them? I'm useless when comparing brands always opting for the one that has a 14-day money back guarantee or a Lifetime Warranty. Why don't we just choose the one that tells it like it is? Can you imagine seeing a label on the side of the product that stated;

We decided not to waste your time by adding a guarantee as we thought it would be better for you to be realistic about what this product can and can't do. This product is most likely to break before you expected so take your chances and stop whingeing.

Businesses aren't prepared to just stop at offering guarantees or warranties with the product anymore either. Oh, no! Now you can Supersize your warranty and pay for more years of unrealistic expectations. That security is so tempting, isn't it?

Flee from temptation young man. Buy the product and live with the outcome. If it's made from a reputable manufacturer then it will most likely last the distance. It may even exceed your expectations and last that life-time they were talking about.

I'm learning to put these in the "You Win Some - You Lose Some" basket. Warranties are just a security blanket for the foolish.