The extended guarantee is fast becoming societies new "do you want fries with that?" question. The answer in which you should reply is no, no thank you if you are feeling polite. If you're not feeling polite then there are many words you could reply with, but just remember these evil villains are just doing their job.

Of course it sounds like a good idea for peace of mind's sake to take out an extended guarantee, that's what those well trained assassins tell us anyway. Don't be fooled into thinking that they are only after the 20% commission they get if they can screw you out of another fifty quid, on top of the over-priced fridge freezer you have just bought in the first place.

The cynics amongst us are wondering how much money these companies are making from these deals. The even bigger cynic wonders why we have just paid 350 for something and then another 50 to guarantee that actually it works.

I have a friend of mine let's call him Bob in order to keep his true identity secret, as he wouldn't want to let it be known it was Paul. So Bob, buys a new fridge freezer with his missus choosing the second one down from the most expensive, because she likes the colour (although they are all white apart from that green one that strange people buy). Now the sales man sells her this extended guarantee against Bob's wishes, but he goes ahead with it, because if you know Bob like I do, he just likes a quiet life, and his missus was worried about it breaking down.

So they take out a five year extended guarantee which sets him back 60 or something like it and his wife is happy with the new fridge, it is so much cleaner than the old one or something.

Anyway, they have no problems with the fridge until about four years later when it breaks down it kept leaking water because the freezer part wasn't working properly. So Bob says that it is not a problem due to the extended guarantee they took out. Sheila whose real name is Lisa says "what guarantee? And swears she can't remember taking out any guarantee.

Now Bob who doesn't forget things of this matter doesn't stop until he finds the receipt for it days later, but here is the punch line, Shelia has decided that it is time they re-decorated the kitchen and she wants a new fridge to replace the old one anyway, it is quite out of fashion and she has seen another one in a magazine, which is top of the range and more economical than the last one. She saw a programme about reducing your carbon footprint, so she

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