Buying refurbished laptop from Amazon: warranty?

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boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#232076 28-Mar-2018 08:55

I'm looking to buy a Chromebook, and Amazon is selling refurbished ones very cheap.

E.g. US$195 for a 2018 model, FHD

However, just wondering how it works with warranty? I've bought an Acer laptop before from Amazon, but that was brand new, plus it was sold here.

I can find enough information about warranty on the Amazon site, but can I get the warranty in New Zealand, or do I have to ship it back to the US? Obviously for a cheap laptop I don't want to send it back there at my own costs.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1984755 28-Mar-2018 10:07

"This item does not ship to New Zealand"

So , I can imagine lots of warranty issues if you manage to get one. :-)
Ive seen some dire refurb issues , huge fail rates on some refurb products, other products OK .
Take your chance with a refurb . Its original hardware issue may not have been 100% fixed

Its either a laptop that initially..
had a failure so bad it had to be replaced & then sent away for repair .
or , "refurb" is just wipe it down & reload Windows

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1984772 28-Mar-2018 10:20

1101:

"This item does not ship to New Zealand"

So , I can imagine lots of warranty issues if you manage to get one. :-)
Ive seen some dire refurb issues , huge fail rates on some refurb products, other products OK .
Take your chance with a refurb . Its original hardware issue may not have been 100% fixed

Its either a laptop that initially..
had a failure so bad it had to be replaced & then sent away for repair .
or , "refurb" is just wipe it down & reload Windows

YouShop should work, but yes not directly from Amazon.

I have seen other refurbished laptops that did allow shipping directly to NZ.

fearandloathing

503 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1984833 28-Mar-2018 11:34

1101:
Its either a laptop that initially..
had a failure so bad it had to be replaced & then sent away for repair .
or , "refurb" is just wipe it down & reload Windows

This can also be opened box and returned. In the US an opened box / returned product can not be sold as new. Personally I would avoid it if it does not come with a full international manufacturer warranty.

boland

545 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1984933 28-Mar-2018 13:47

fearandloathing:
1101:

Its either a laptop that initially..
had a failure so bad it had to be replaced & then sent away for repair .
or , "refurb" is just wipe it down & reload Windows

This can also be opened box and returned. In the US an opened box / returned product can not be sold as new. Personally I would avoid it if it does not come with a full international manufacturer warranty.

Could you please elaborate on the last part; full international warranty? I'd like to know the difference between buying something brand new, vs refurbished.

askelon

875 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#1984968 28-Mar-2018 15:02

Refurbished has been returned to the manufacturer for some reason and is then no longer technically a new product. It may have been something minor, could be something major - could be just an opened box, you dont know and wont ever really know.

If it comes with an international warranty great, it breaks you take it to whomever does the servicing of them here and it gets fixed - if its not a NZ model you may have to wait longer for parts though. Wouldnt touch a refurbished unit if it didnt have a warranty here. Unless its REALLY REALLY cheap and your willing to accept the risk of it basically being a brick when it breaks. Cause no-one here will fix it under warranty - it would have to be shipped back to Amazon (or whomever it came from) most likely at your cost. If you've used an on-shipper like youshop then it'll be completely at your cost both ways.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1985294 29-Mar-2018 10:25

boland:

I'd like to know the difference between buying something brand new, vs refurbished.

Refurbished is just like a cheesy catchphrase. In itself it could mean anything .

It could be a used, trade in or ex lease that has literally only been reloaded & wiped down with a rag.
It could be a system that has had a major fault at some stage. It was repaired & briefly tested . It may fail again.

I know of one NZ company that used to import product lines of refurbs. Some where perfectly OK .
Some of their refurb product lines had a 75% failure rate .
Nothing worse than buying something, then having to deal with intermittent issues.

A refurb has to be cheap enough to make it worthwhile. Its just a used machine after all.
And you take the chance there still may be issues with it (usually OK though)