Laptop - Rain damage

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Laptop - Rain damage

tonynz

34 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Topic # 9228 31-Aug-2006 12:55

My Laptop experienced significant rain damage - what are the chances that the insuranc company would be able to fix it?

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8477 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Mod Emeritus

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 45065 31-Aug-2006 13:02

Insurance companies dont repair equipment. They pay service agents to do it.

Have you claimed, and they want to repair?

If they send it for repair, it must be repaired to satisfaction.

Water damage is the end of the road for electronic goods, as all printed circuit boards will need replacing, making the excercise totally uneconomical.

tonynz

34 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Reply # 45066 31-Aug-2006 13:06

Ive made the claim and the insurance company said that the repaid centre think that they can fix it.... It is a Toshiba Portege R100, Toshiba's thinnest laptop so it would be very difficult to repair...

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2600
Inactive user

Reply # 45067 31-Aug-2006 13:08

Repair or put new guts in the inside

I would not want to own anything after water damage

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8477 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Mod Emeritus

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 45085 31-Aug-2006 16:41

If it were me, I would demand a replacement, and not repair.

To back this up, I would go to at least three PC repair shops, and see if they would write me a letter stating they wont repair a water damaged laptop.

Really... dont let them attempt repair. Once wet, the laptop WILL crap out again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again.... well... you get the point...

Derelict

33 posts

Geek

Reply # 45087 31-Aug-2006 16:59

totally agree, get a new one if you can. Water damage is something that will cause you headaches for a long time.

SNicolle

519 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Reply # 45110 31-Aug-2006 21:37

water = corrosion
and not straight away
replacement is your best bet

tonynz

34 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Reply # 45141 1-Sep-2006 14:21

Insurance company was nice enough to replace my laptop with a Toshiba Portege R200 .... so i'm going to ask them if I could have a cash settlement and maybe shop around for a better laptop

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8477 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Mod Emeritus

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 45150 1-Sep-2006 17:18

Great stuff!!

jpwise

574 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 8

Reply # 45345 4-Sep-2006 15:40

Glad to hear you got it replaced. The system pcb's for the slimline unit's aren't cheap and are almost always onboard cpu which drives the price up.

Whilst 'dont repair a water damaged laptop' is one stance it's not the most correct.
Even if the laptop has had a liquid spill pricewise it may still be well in the repairable range.

ie: replacement keyboard, system pcb, touchpad, and perhaps the upper/lower casing depending on how badly stained it is.

It all comes down to how the spill occured, and the area's affected. Most liquids when combined with an electrical charge (battery even when unit turned off) will result in corrosion. However it doesn't necessarily mean the entire machine is a writeoff. The Casing (piece of plastic really), screen, cpu, and memory are quite often ok depending on the extent of the spill. It's also not uncommon for the optical drive and/or the harddisk to be OK aswell. It all comes down to type of liquid, method of ingress, and volume of liquid. It doesn't mean automatic replacement.

Jp.

Working for Service Plus - www.serviceplus.co.nz

Authorised Service Agent for Apple, BenQ, Sony, and Toshiba - warranty & non-warranty repairs.