Extended Warranty & Laptop

[CrONoS]

My roommates bought a Sony Vaio for 999$ and the salesman offered to her an Extended Warranty for 300$(3years). The salesman said a lot things to her about the fact that a lot of laptop broke, and that could happen to her. Since I was with her, I said to her, to think about the extended warranty at home, without any pressure from the salesman.

So, here we go; I'm asking apolyton, what's your opinion on extended warranty in the case of a laptop? Should she go back to futureshop and take an extended warranty?

[Jon Miller]

I generally get an extended warranty. But than, I generally spend ~3k$ for a laptop. I don't know if I would get a 300$ one for a ~1k$ laptop.

Jon Miller

[Darius871]

Just read every damn letter of the fine print first. You'd be surprised how many things aren't covered.

[Jon Miller]

My first laptop I got fixed twice, once they didn't even question me about whose fault it was (mine) because they lost it for a month.

Jon Miller

[snoopy369]

Assuming this is similar to US laws, it's idiotic for that price.

Ways laptop could break:

1. Initial part breakdown - something incompatible, or poorly made, breaks in the first month or less. This is the most common source of failure. This is inevitably covered by the manufacturer and/or store's normal warranty, and is (in the US) required to be covered even if it is not stated. If they sold you something not in merchantable condition, they must correct it or refund your money.

2. Parts wearing out after a year or two's use. This is most likely to be something that runs just a tad hot and eventually overheats. This is where the extended warranty COULD be useful, but most of the things that could break like this (after a year or two) are <$300 to replace (particularly in a year or two, that much cheaper).

3. The entire computer dies after a year or two. This is very unlikely unless a lot of stuff breaks all at once due to heating issues - again, typically this would happen in the first month or so, which should be covered by the manufacturer. This is when the extended warranty is actually useful - you'll probably get a shiny new computer at this point for free; but this is relatively rare. Certainly less than 30% of the time over 2 years (the normal length of those warranties).

I'd say definitely not, unless you know she's going to abuse it in terms of cooling (overclock it, set it on a vinyl couch, etc.), or it's longer than 2 years (4 years?) in which case the computer probably will break by then. 2 years is nearly always a definite no.

The other question, of course, is that if the laptops this store sells break often, perhaps you should consider purchasing a laptop that does not break from a different seller. This is usually what I tell a clerk who tries that particular tactic (which fortunately is rare). (Not that I'd buy a computer from a big box store, but similar things...)

[Jon Miller]

Right after a laptop is released, it is can actually be a good deal to buy from a big box store. The problem comes 6-12 months (or more) down the line, when they still have it at the same price, but there are newer machines out there and it is cheaper online.

JM

[Darius871]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Assuming this is similar to US laws, it's idiotic for that price.

Ways laptop could break:

1. Initial part breakdown - something incompatible, or poorly made, breaks in the first month or less. This is the most common source of failure. This is inevitably covered by the manufacturer and/or store's normal warranty, and is (in the US) required to be covered even if it is not stated. If they sold you something not in merchantable condition, they must correct it or refund your money.

But implied warranties aren't self-enforcing. Nobody's going to bother suing over some cheap laptop.

[snoopy369]

You can tell your credit card company to refuse to pay the charges, then, if it's within the period for that (I think bill + 30 days?)

In any event, most major stores and manufacturers will honor their legal obligations in this manner.

[asleepathewheel]

300$ for a 1k laptop is too much, even if its next day at home.

With our history of laptops, I would pay $200. I can't count how many times we've had to have laptops repaired, both dells and thinkpads, but 30% of the original price is too much in my book.

And, I would add, that never were any questions asked about what happened, they just sent out the order and we had techs come by the next day (or day after). In reality, some of the issues we had would be conceivably not covered by our warranties, but no one ever bothered to investigate. Then again, we typically get the best warranty type offered.

I've also never been questioned about a big box warranty return, though if it was something like a cracked lcd, that might raise more eyebrows.

[Jon Miller]

If you don't sue, you can inform the better busines bureau, or see if there are others this is happening to. If so, then there can be a class action suite...

JM

[Darius871]

Originally posted by snoopy369
You can tell your credit card company to refuse to pay the charges, then, if it's within the period for that (I think bill + 30 days?)

In any event, most major stores and manufacturers will honor their legal obligations in this manner.

My bad, I was under the impression "futureshop" wasn't all that major. From googling I now see they're basically the Best Buy of Canada, so that makes his odds better. The bigger the chain gets, you might even have a chance at getting things technically off-plan just to maintain reputation and/or keep your business.

[snoopy369]

Ahh, that makes more sense then. I've just heard enough canadians discussing technology to be familiar with the name

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Darius871


My bad, I was under the impression "futureshop" wasn't all that major. From googling I now see they're basically the Best Buy of Canada, so that makes his odds better. The bigger the chain gets, you might even have a chance at getting things technically off-plan just to maintain reputation and/or keep your business.

The bigger the shop, the more likely you are to get high school kids or dropouts who are just punching a clock and don't give a **** if something isn't technically covered, they probably won't even bother figuring that out, so long as you don't volunteer "I spilled water on the keyboard and now it doesn't work", you'll likely be ok. I'm guessing that Future Shop's techies are similar in many regards to the Geek Squad...

[Jon Miller]

Futureshop use to be down here in the US, I think. It just didn't do very well.

JM

[Aeson]

I don't touch extended warranties, especially for computers.