Should you buy the “no sweat” protection plan when you make a purchase at Dick’s Sporting Goods?
What Is the Dick’s Protection Plan?
Back in October, at the tale end of fall baseball season, I went to Dick’s to buy my son a new pair of batting gloves. As any baseball parent knows, batting gloves are expensive (often $50 plus) and very destructible. The woman at the Dick’s cash register gave me the hard sell for their protection plan. For just $3.99, she told me, I could fully insure the $39.99 batting gloves.
I had been raised to be very skeptical about store protection plans like the Dick’s one. Also most of the financial pundits and consumer magazines teach that extended warranties are for fools. See, for example, Why You Should Steer Clear of Extended Warranties (Consumer Reports Dec. 22, 2018) and Are Extended Warranties Worth It? (Dave Ramsey Oct. 27, 2022).
But this one seemed too good to be true, because I knew if past was prologue that there was a 100 percent chance my son’s batting gloves would tear within six months.
Also the Dick’s woman was telling me how easy it was to register for the plan and get paid out. According to her:
- I could register by simply texting a picture of my Dick’s receipt to their number (no other registration was needed).
- The plan protected lost or damaged merchandise.
- They didn’t need to see proof of the damage to pay out a claim. -and-
- All I would need to do is click on the link from my cell phone, report the issue, and they would immediately send me a Dick’s gift card for the price of the product (thus avoiding the situation where you have to buy new gear despite a valid warranty claim, because your kid has practice/games during the time it’ll take them to process your claim).
The woman nodded at me, and it was obvious that it was a company initiative to sell as many plans as possible and they probably had some quota to fill.
Yet, like I wrote above, I knew my son was going to destroy these $39.99 gloves from reasonable use, and the plan was only $3.99.
So I turned off my cynical distrusting brain and agreed to the plan. But before I left the store, I had her look over my shoulder as I texted my receipt to the number she gave me to make sure I was doing it correctly and I was fully registered and had the link to access for a claim.
How to File a Claim Under the Dick’s Protection Plan
Like I fully expected, my son’s batting gloves tore the following spring. Before we even left the batting cage, I pulled out my phone and found the text where I had registered my protection plan for the gloves.
Click here for this form.
Once clicking on it, I was taken to Asurion, the same company that insures cell phones and other retail items (so Dick’s the company doesn’t own or administer the insurance). They asked for my cell phone number, and then they inquired where I had purchased the plan and I had to pick “Dick’s Sporting Goods” from a scroll down list with other stores.
They then asked for information about the protected item, including:
- The store number where I made the purchase
- The register number at the store for the register that rung me up
- The transaction number
This was all a pain in the butt to find, but it was right there in the picture of the receipt (which was saved in my texts), so it wasn’t too onerous. But it did show that you had better have that receipt handy when making a claim.
They then wanted details about the damage to the item. Again not an unreasonable ask, but it was more burdensome than the woman at Dick’s had represented it would be when she sold me the plan.
So I entered that information, and then I nearly lost my shit when I was taken to the following page:
I have so many issues with this. For one, the last thing I wanted to do was to deal with the manufacturer (Rawlings in this case) and the inevitable headache that that would entail (I thought the Dick’s warranty was there to save me from the ordeal!). Second, if the Rawlings’ warranty covered the gloves for the period of time in which they were likely to tear (or when my son would outgrow them), then it had been a waste of money to buy the insurance (I should have listened to Consumer Reports and Dave Ramsey!). Lastly, my son needed a replacement pair of gloves for his upcoming practices/games right now so after all that I was still going to have to shell out the money for a new pair before I received a replacement from Rawlings.
Why You Should Not Buy the Dick’s Protection Plan
It turns out that Rawlings (and other baseball gear manufacturers) have decent warranty coverage. So there is really no reason to pay the extra money for extended protection from Dick’s especially when buying gear for youth players who are always outgrowing stuff.
Now if the Dick’s plan was really like it was represented to me at the store, where you could easily make a claim (regardless of whether the product was still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty) and immediately receive a payout, then I could see still getting it. Because in that case, it would be super convenient and you would receive the amount of your claim immediately after making a claim. But since this is not how it works, save your money!
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT EXTENDED WARRANTY PLANS FOR BASEBALL GOODS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.
For more on baseball gear, check out The 4 Best Baseball Batting Aids (No. 3 is Free) and 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Baseball Bat.
For information about the emotional side of baseball, see:
- Youth Baseball: Why Do I Care So Much?
- How to Break Up with Your Baseball Coach: 4 Rules
- Anger Management and Youth Baseball: How to Calm Down
- How to Manage Your Kid’s Baseball Tantrums and Meltdowns
- 4 Ways to Respond to a Coach Playing Favorites
- How to Stop Being a Crazy Baseball Dad
- How to Be a Good Baseball Dad in the Backyard
- Is It Now Fashionable to Hate On Baseball Dads?
- Are Local Little Leagues Bad for Baseball?
For information on hitting, see:
- How to Get Out of a Hitting Slump
- 4 Best Baseball Batting Aids (No. 3 is Free)
- 4 Hitting Drills You Need to Do Before Every Game
- 4 Old School Baseball Drills You Need to Be Using
- 6 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Baseball Bat
For information on pitching, see:
- Is the Cooperstown Baseball Tournament Safe for Players?
- What You Need to Know About Little League Elbow
- 4 Ways To Increase Your Kid’s Pitching Velocity
- Is the Circle Change Dangerous for Youth Pitchers?
- Why I Don’t Let My Son Pitch in Little League
- Pitching and Head Injuries: What You Need to Know
- How to Make Sure Your Kid Isn’t Overpitched in Baseball
For baseball speed drills, see:
The plan really came in useful for me when it came to my son’s $300 Louisville Slugger bat. I purchased the 1 year plan. After 18 months, wouldn’t you know, the bat cracked. Followed all the same steps and Asurion mailed a check for the full replacement cost.
What’s it a hassle? Did you have to prove the crack via photos? Does this warranty cover normal wear and tear?
The issue more is what they told me at the store when they sold me the plan wasn’t accurate. Also, the way baseball equipment works, you don’t wind up keeping it for that long because your kids outgrow it. So the manufacturer warranty usually covers the period when your kid would be using the product and the Dick’s protection kicks in after (if the equipment has held up) your kid has moved on to the next size. I saw someone commented above about filing a Dick’s claim on a bat after 18 months — my son has never used the same bat for more than about a year, much less 18 months.