Warranty: Help Customers Retrieve Devices

Yougetitback is looking to help dealers add more value—and profit—to their extended warranty sales. Makers of mobile device recovery solutions, Yougetitback provides the technology behind Best Buy Geek Squad’s Locked and Found service, as well as to Media Markt, a Germany-based consumer electronics retailer with stores throughout Europe. Now that Locked and Found is running smoothly, Paul Prendergast, Yougetitback’s co-founder and head of sales, said the company is ready to drive a wider release through U.S. retailers and warranty providers.

“That’s where most of our business has been; that’s why you haven’t heard from us,” Prendergast said of his deals with the large retailers. “We launched with the biggest guys, now it’s time to build our brand.”

As Yougetitback builds its brand with retailers, retailers can build their own brands with Yougetitback. The company offers two main retail applications—Laptop Superhero ($30 dealer cost) and Mobile Superhero ($20)—that retailers can brand with their own names and sell at their own price. Yougetitback provides and supports all of the back-end technology.

“We fit around retailers’ systems because we know how difficult retail is,” Prendergast said. “It’s a soup-to-nuts solution built around adding value to warranties. We’re trying to freshen up that whole warranty market.”

The two applications share many of the same features. If a consumer’s laptop, phone or tablet is stolen, he can call Yougetitback, which will lock down the device. If the product is lost, screen buttons on the device will instruct the finder on how to return it. Yougetiback will also arrange for a currier to pick up and deliver the device for the owner. The company can also, when instructed, delete all contents from the device’s hard drive with a touch of a button.

If the laptop or mobile device is reported stolen, a very loud and annoying alarm will sound when the user tries to use the device. If the device has a camera, it can take a snapshot of the user and send it to the company, along with the exact location of the device.