Invoking an extended warranty on a damaged laptop

Forums › Off topic › Invoking an extended warranty on a damaged laptop - advice please

JEDENZED

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#175813 12-Jul-2015 20:27

Hey Geeks,

So, my laptop had an undesirable interaction with my vacuum cleaner today whereby the internal AC adaptor jack point AND the AC adaptor connector jack have both been damaged and cannot be used.

The laptop was purchased at Warehouse Stationary in October 2012 and is still within the 2 year "No Worries" extended warranty period (expires October this year).

I'm looking at the wording of the policy and it references "fair wear and tear" sustained during normal use, but not as far as I can see, accidental damage (I see their new policies explicitly reference accidental damage).

I'm wondering what others think my best avenue of advancing this to a satisfactory result might be?

TIA!

nathan

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#1341770 12-Jul-2015 20:31

I can't see how that would be covered by a warranty

Maybe your personal contents insurance?

nathan

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#1341771 12-Jul-2015 20:32

In this case an extended warranty is basically what you get for free under the consumer guarantees act already, it may just slightly speed things up

I think you'll need to just pay for the repair in the end.

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#1341772 12-Jul-2015 20:35

You broke it.
You fix it.
The warranty is irrelevant.

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JEDENZED

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#1341777 12-Jul-2015 20:41

I know that usually an extended warranty wouldn't cover this kind of incident but it's the "fair wear and tear" clause that I thought might be open to interpretation... If I were a person of lesser moral fibre and claimed that the flimsy plastic DC jack simply broke through careless but non-malicious use, would I have a case for them to investigate it?

johnr

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#1341778 12-Jul-2015 20:41

If you purchased a new car and drove it into a brick wall then would you expect the car to be repaired under the car warranty?

You know how the damage happened so ' You pay ' for the repair

freitasm

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#1341779 12-Jul-2015 20:43

Extended warranties don't cover accidents. You can probably claim this under your contents insurance, if you have one.

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JEDENZED

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#1341787 12-Jul-2015 20:56

Yep yep, I hear y'all on the analogies and understand the "you break it, you fix it" position. I do indeed have house and contents cover so will be calling them tomorrow.

What, in your opinions might qualify for "fair wear and tear" considering that things like damage to "interior/exterior paintwork, LEDs, batteries, fuses, hinges, lids, locks, handles, plastic or metal trim of any description" are explicitly excluded... Might there be an argument to suggest that a high-traffic zone such as a DC jack or AC adaptor is at risk of "fair wear and tear" damage and so covers by such a warranty?

nathan

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#1341790 12-Jul-2015 20:59

is there physical damage that you can actually see?

you might get away with fair wear and tear in the charger stopped working and there is no physical damage

JEDENZED

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#1341800 12-Jul-2015 21:09

nathan: is there physical damage that you can actually see?

There's a small cylindrical piece of plastic (maybe 3-5mm in size) that popped out from the inside of the DC jack point but if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have noticed it wasn't there in the first place. I presume that perhaps someone with more components knowledge than I would potentially spot it though...

JEDENZED

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#1341805 12-Jul-2015 21:15

These images are from a Google search but illustrate the damage I'm referring to. First one shows what I assume the jack used to look like as the broken piece looks identical to that in the middle of the DC adaptor. The second one shows what it looks like in the jack now...

dm2000

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#1341810 12-Jul-2015 21:23

To my untrained eye, this looks like "physical damage." These kinds of devices get sent to the manufacture's service agent in any case, who would spot this.

Disclaimer: I work in retail (but not at Warehouse Stationery)

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JEDENZED

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#1341811 12-Jul-2015 21:32

Nice one, thanks everyone for the inputs - appreciate you all taking the time to chime in.

I'll buzz them tomorrow to have a chat with the full understanding that the warranty isn't likely to be designed with this kind of damage in mind but it can't hurt to ask.

If I have anything of an unexpected or favourable response from them, I'll post an update.

Cheers again!