Laptop warranties and extended warranties

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Laptop warranties and extended warranties - your thoughts please :)

maclongshanks

47 posts

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#61278 13-May-2010 10:42

Kia ora everyone,

I'm looking at buying a new laptop, and am wondering about warranties and extended warranties etc.
I've had a squizz through the forums and found a few brief references to them in other topics, but am hoping to get more detailed and informed info, so would love it if anyone would like to contribute their thoughts and opinions here.
Specifically, do's and don't's, pro's/cons, things to look for or watch out for, tips, recommendations etc.

Muchas gracias

heavenlywild

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#329683 13-May-2010 10:46

Avoid at all costs. If you want extended warranty get it from the actual manufacturer, eg HP, Asus etc.

Asus offers a standard two-year warranty, and they are pretty good from my experience.

johnr

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#329684 13-May-2010 10:47

extended warranties are a scam as the consumer is covered by CGA

John

heavenlywild

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#329688 13-May-2010 10:53

+1 totally agree! CGA FTW!

scuwp

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#329724 13-May-2010 11:54

+1 on the scam conclusion.

Only brought one extended warranty and when I went to claim they used some loopy excuse to define the smallprint differently to what I (and every other person with a molecule of common sense) understood it to mean.

As a result brought an Asus laptop as at that time they were offering a 3 year warranty. Had a claim for a dead power supply 2 years later, no dramas at all, service agent in Auckland were great to deal with, just how it should be.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

beachgeek

64 posts

Master Geek

#329727 13-May-2010 11:59

I fall in the take an extended warranty on a laptop

My background is from beeing the first real seller of extended warranties in New Zealand on laptops I have found that in essence they are worth while if

- You use the laptop extensively
- dont want to wait to try and get a claim through the consumer guarantees - the onus is on you to prove that a reasonable amount of time is valid remenber you are one against a big retailer
- If you are paying the goods off and dont want to be with a dead unit and extra bills etc when still paying it off
- the price of the goods v loss gamble

Now you may say i am bias and yes i was, but i finished selling them 3 years ago after starting at Hn 13 years ago ( when they opened)

The reason why most of these companies try to sell warranties are obivious to increase their profits and if you are buying on credit most of the profit will come from the add ons ( warranties power surgers etc)

Now as an example my microwave died the other and was replaced by extended warranty which is the first claim i made in 10 years so I was definetly in the lose column. Bu t then I have had friends and customer use the warranties to good use.

Hope this helps and i can totally understand the negative comments here

One Last thing if you decicde to go with a warranty BARGIN on the price of the warranty it has a very high profit margin

nutbugs

269 posts

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#329729 13-May-2010 12:14

I agree in general that extended warranties are something to stay well away from.

However - laptops is an excpetion to this for me. We have had a number of laptops that get heavy use fail well outside standard warranty and the investment in a manufacturers extended warranty has been a good one. For us a quick hassle free repair is important - don;t want to spend time debating whether it shoudl be covered or not.
Note that these are for business use - I think the CGA does not apply in the same way in this situation?

Kraven

729 posts

Ultimate Geek

#329732 13-May-2010 12:17

Remember you are only covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act if the laptop is purchased for personal or household use.

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Aaroona

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#330651 16-May-2010 16:42

If you go with Dell, I highly HIGHLY recommend you get their extended warranty.

I got 3 years coverage (and this included accidental coverage) for $90 (Normal price was $300 at the time).

The reason I say this is because not only are you covered if something goes wrong as a manufacturer defect, BUT, if you drop the laptop or spill coffee on it, you are covered - no questions asked.

If you consider $90 one off compared to $200-300 for an insurance claim, then you find its value very very quickly.

So with Dell I would totally get it. Their warranty REPAIR service is pretty good.

alasta

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#330675 16-May-2010 17:32

beachgeek:
- dont want to wait to try and get a claim through the consumer guarantees - the onus is on you to prove that a reasonable amount of time is valid remenber you are one against a big retailer

I really wish that the anti extended warranty brigade would be more upfront about this point. The fact is that engaging the CGA is a huge amount of hassle which many people simply don't have the time or patience for.

Having said that, I would have to concede that extended warranties are usually grossly overpriced and there are a lot of horror stories that suggest that claiming an extended warranty is not always as easy as the retailers make out. I have personally never had any electronic or computing device fail on me in the last five years, with the only exception being my G3 iBook which Apple fixed out of warranty at no cost due to it being the result of a known fault on that particular model. So, if I'd bought extended warranties on everything I've bought in the last five years then I would have spent a lot of money needlessly.

Unless you can bargain down the cost substantially, I would suggest that you're better off to flag the extended warranty and instead put that money towards buying a better quality product that is unlikely to fail in the first place.

Batman

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#330715 16-May-2010 19:06

+1 w dell warranty - usually hassle free and no questions asked. i've heard bad things/hassles about other warranties

maclongshanks

47 posts

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#331224 18-May-2010 10:17

Thanks heaps everyone!
It's such a great resource, to have access to all your knowledge. I really appreciate your contributions

Keep them coming if there are any more!

josephhinvest

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#331233 18-May-2010 10:31

I too would recommend buying a manufactures extended warranty.
IAAACMT (I Am A Apple Certified Macintosh Technician).
Portable computers are subjected to FAR more wear and tear than a stationary Desktop computer.
Portables have moving parts (hinges, flexible cables etc) and these are often used many times in a day.

An AppleCare warranty for example, gives you a full three years of WARRANTY coverage, I think this is well worth the cost.

Yes, the Consumer Guarantees Act guarantees your personal (i.e. not business) computer should be good for a "reasonable" period if time, but don't forget, if you want to claim a repair under the CGA, you will have to go to court, every time.
An extended warranty will effectively cover your machine, for warranty failures only (of course) as many times as is required during the warranty period.
Under the CGA, you would possibly need to go to court for each instance of needing a repair.

I would also recommend a high quality bag/case or a hard "shell" enclosure for a new portable, this will greatly improve how your machine ages over the course of several years.

Cheers,
Joseph.

<edit>
Buy a manufactures extended warranty, not a Retailler extended warranty.
You will get better and quicker service, in my experience, because with a Retailers warranty, the repair agent will often have to quote the Retailler once the unit is out of warranty, wait for quote approval etc. before they can proceed with the repair.

bazzer

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#331243 18-May-2010 10:46

jofizz: I too would recommend buying a manufactures extended warranty.
IAAACMT (I Am A Apple Certified Macintosh Technician).
Portable computers are subjected to FAR more wear and tear than a stationary Desktop computer.
Portables have moving parts (hinges, flexible cables etc) and these are often used many times in a day.

An AppleCare warranty for example, gives you a full three years of WARRANTY coverage, I think this is well worth the cost.

Are you saying AppleCare (and hence manufacturers extended warranties in general) covers wear and tear (e.g. to hinges etc) as well? I've never bought an extended warranty, but I admit they would be worth it if they covered events over and above CGA. All hinges break eventually with enough use, of course. I would expect CGA to cover any sooner than expected issues, but you say AppleCare will fix hinges no questions asked?

jofizz:Yes, the Consumer Guarantees Act guarantees your personal (i.e. not business) computer should be good for a "reasonable" period if time, but don't forget, if you want to claim a repair under the CGA, you will have to go to court, every time.
An extended warranty will effectively cover your machine, for warranty failures only (of course) as many times as is required during the warranty period.
Under the CGA, you would possibly need to go to court for each instance of needing a repair.

Complete rubbish! Most decent retailers recognise their responsibilities under the CGA and if not, usually even the threat of legal action is enough to get them to play ball. To suggest that every single CGA repair requires a trip to court is ridiculous!

P.S. If something I bought failed multiple times during the warranty period, I'd be rejecting the goods and getting a full refund.

graemeh

2078 posts

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#331266 18-May-2010 11:19

bazzer:
P.S. If something I bought failed multiple times during the warranty period, I'd be rejecting the goods and getting a full refund.

I've done it. I think I was queueing up to drop it off for repair no 3 when I realised the person in front of me in the queue had the same phone. She was up to repair 10 and her serial number was one different to mine!

When I got to the service counter and threw down the "CGA card" the guy said he had to get the manager, when he came back he took me into the shop and offered me a different brand of phone.