The thread on Whirlpool service plan problems made me think to pass on this experience I had:

A while back I bought a phone set. I bought the 5 year warranty only because it was one of those "we will take $20 off the price if you buy the $20 warranty" deal so I figured why not.

Anyway fast forward a couple years and the phones stopped working. I went back to the store and they gave me a comparable exchange without a fuss. But then they asked if I wanted to buy a warranty for the new phone. When I told him my original warranty was 5 years and this was only year 2 he told me that by giving me the new phone they had satisfied the terms of the warranty.

I did not make a big deal of it, but then wondered if they have the same terms on their major appliances. If so then it would seem that the "warranty" is little more than pre-paying a $200 (or whatever) service call. If that is the case then the odds of it paying off are even less than what many people already think they are.

All I want to say is, read the fine print before you buy a service plan.

(p.s. The new phones did not work either. It was a problem with my line. Oops!)