 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | Brisbane, California |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Ahmed Khaishgi (CEO) Steven Abernethy (executive chairman) |
| Products | Consumer Electronics and Appliances Warranty |
| Revenue | US$1.32 billion |
| Parent | Allstate |
| Website | squaretrade squaretrade squaretrade |
SquareTrade Inc. is an American extended warranty service provider for consumer electronics and appliances [1] headquartered in San Francisco's SoMa district.
Co-founded in 1999 by Steve Abernethy and Ahmed Khaishgi, SquareTrade launched as the first online service for resolving e-commerce disputes. Working with online marketplaces such as eBay, the company utilized an online negotiation tool to automate the dispute resolution process between sellers and buyers. Between 1999 and 2001, SquareTrade raised $15M from JP Morgan Partners, Weston Presidio Capital and Draper Richards. That same year, the company launched a merchant-verification service, the SquareTrade Seal. [2] [3] Both original services have since been discontinued. [4]
In 2006, SquareTrade began providing consumer protection plans for portable devices, appliances, and other electronics, both on-line and through large retailers. PC Magazine listed it as number 93 in its list of the best 100 web sites of the year. [5] In 2012, Bain Capital and Bain Capital Ventures announced they were investing $238 million in the company, marking the second largest venture capital deal of the year. [6]
The company's underwriter has been AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., but as of 2013, SquareTrade was shifting toward Starr Indemnity. [7]
SquareTrade was acquired by Allstate in late 2016, for $1.4 billion, [8] joining Allstate's suite of consumer asset protection services.
A class action law-suit was filed late 2016 against SquareTrade for selling protection plans to customers for products that are not eligible for coverage, where customers would only find out when filing a claim. [9]
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. These products are usually referred to as black goods due to many products being housed in black or dark casings. This term is used to distinguish them from "white goods" which are meant for housekeeping tasks, such as washing machines and refrigerators, although nowadays, these would be considered black goods, some of these being connected to the Internet. In British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers. In the 2010s, this distinction is absent in large big box consumer electronics stores, which sell entertainment, communication and home office devices, light fixtures and appliances, including the bathroom type.
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983.
The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois since 2022. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still partially owned by Sears until it became an independent company completely in June 1995. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada.
An extended warranty, sometimes called a service agreement, a service contract, or a maintenance agreement, is a prolonged warranty offered to consumers in addition to the standard warranty on new items. The extended warranty may be offered by the warranty administrator, the retailer or the manufacturer. Extended warranties cost extra and for a percentage of the item's retail price. Occasionally, some extended warranties that are purchased for multiple years state in writing that during the first year, the consumer must still deal with the manufacturer in the occurrence of malfunction. Thus, what is often promoted as a five-year extended guarantee, for example, is actually only a four-year guarantee.
In law, a warranty is an expressed or implied promise or assurance of some kind. The term's meaning varies across legal subjects. In property law, it refers to a covenant by the grantor of a deed. In insurance law, it refers to a promise by the purchaser of an insurance about the thing or person to be insured.
Terms of service are the legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service. The person must agree to abide by the terms of service in order to use the offered service. Terms of service can also be merely a disclaimer, especially regarding the use of websites. Vague language and lengthy sentences used in these terms of service have caused concerns about customer privacy and raised public awareness in many ways.
Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe, which merged with Carphone Warehouse in 2014 to create Dixons Carphone. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World, Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow.
Adult FriendFinder (AFF) is an internet-based, adult-oriented social networking service, online dating service and swinger personals community website, founded by Andrew Conru in 1996.
Asurion, LLC is a privately held company based in Nashville, Tennessee, that provides insurance for smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics, appliances, satellite receivers and jewelry. In 2014, the company operated in 14 countries and had 49 offices with 19,000 employees serving 280 million consumers.
TigerDirect was an El Segundo, California-based online retailer dealing in electronics, computers, and computer components. The company was previously owned by Systemax, which is known for its acquisitions of the intellectual property of the defunct U.S. retail chains Circuit City and CompUSA and relaunching them as online retailers. The two brands were subsequently shuttered in late-December 2012 and consolidated into the TigerDirect site.
Lemon laws are laws that provide a remedy for purchasers of cars and other consumer goods in order to compensate for products that repeatedly fail to meet standards of quality and performance. Although many types of products can be defective, the term "lemon" is mostly used to describe defective motor vehicles, such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
Coby Electronics Corporation was an American manufacturer of consumer electronics products headquartered in Lake Success, New York, with offices and factories around the world. With the joint efforts of Coby Electronics Co. of Hong Kong and Coby Electronics Corp. of the United States, the products reached consumers in Asia, North America, South America and Europe; however, the company mostly sold in Europe and the United States. Coby also served as an OEM manufacturer for brands including Samsung, NEC, RadioShack's Presidian brand and Hyundai. Its products are still available today.
The concept of the informed consumer is fundamental in the law of the European Union. Since the European Council Resolution of 14 April 1975, one of the primary objectives of the European Community, and then the European Union, has been the provision of information to consumers. The rationale is that market actors are enabled to make better choices when they are informed and have a greater capacity to understand the importance of their market actions and choices.
PlumChoice was a privately held corporation with headquarters that was located in Lowell, Massachusetts. PlumChoice was a provider of cloud and technical support services to consumers and small businesses. In 2018, The Allstate Corporation acquired Plumchoice and merged them into Allstate's SquareTrade division.
Partsearch Technologies, a Manhattan-based company started in 2001, had compiled an online catalog of more than eight million spare parts for electronics, appliances, and other items. It offers repair technicians and consumers a single place to find obscure parts and commonly lost items such as batteries.
iYogi is a remote technical support firm based in Gurgaon, India, with customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, and India. It has been the subject of lawsuits and numerous claims of misconduct.
Reliance Digital is an Indian consumer electronics retailer. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries.
Currys plc is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, which was formed in 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse Group. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Kenmore is an American brand of household appliances, cookware, floorcare, grills, HVAC equipment and other home items owned and licensed by Transformco, an affiliate of ESL Investments. Previously they were a subsidiary brand of Sears Holdings, but after Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018 they were acquired by Transformco, formed in 2019 after acquiring the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Electronics right to repair is proposed legislation that would provide the practical means for electronics equipment owners to repair their devices. Repair is legal under copyright law and patent law. However, owners and independent technicians are often unable to make their own repairs because of manufacturer limitations on access to repair materials such as parts, tools, diagnostics, documentation and firmware.
