Joho the Blog
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July 17, 2003
When I bought the extended warrantee on my daughter's HP laptop, I read the contract but failed to notice what wasn't there. I'd seen that laptops were excluded from the on-site service guarantee. But now that her hard drive has died 7 months into the contract, I've discovered that there's nothing in there about how quickly they're required to fix it. So, the company that provides the warrantee services for TigerDirect has just informed me that I will receive a box to ship the laptop within seven days, should expect the repair (slapping in a new hard drive: 5 minutes of work plus 40 minutes to reinstall from the disk image on a CD) to take "a few days" and then should allow another few days for it to be shipped back. So the "We'll send a technician to your house" promise has turned into a "We'll eventually send you a box and you'll be without your computer for two weeks, assuming the guy at the local shop we're sending it to isn't on vacation." Caveat emptor. Remember to read what isn't there. Posted
by D. Weinberger at July 17, 2003 08:06 AM
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Comments
I've benefitted twice from retail laptop extended maintenance contracts.
My first laptop was a Compaq 1210 p150 with 32M RAM, supertwist display and 1.3 gig drive. It needed three minor repairs within the first year. At the third repair, my extended warranty stipulated I would get a replacement machine, so I demanded one.
Being that the laptop market changes so rapidly, they had to give me a Toshiba 310CDT p233 with TFT display, 96M RAM and 3 gig drive, because that was the least they had in stock.
The next laptop was a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4370 Celeron 600 with 6gig drive. When its hard drive gave up after 6 months, all they had to do was slide another drive in. They had it in the shop for a month, and I was phoning weekly. On day 31, I went in and demanded my new machine as per the contract which said if they had it in repir for more than a month I get a replacement, and I got a Satellite Pro 4260 p3-450 with 12 gig drive - worth about $800 more.
So, for the first week or two, you hope like hell they get it back to you right away. For the next two weeks you hope like hell they don't return it to you on time!
Posted by: Brent Ashley | July 17, 2003 09:12 AM
Why not replace the HD yourself?
My wife has had a faulty network card in her laptop for the past year. I finally decided I would replace it. In her absence I disasembled, got the part numbered and spent half an hour on line locating it. It cost me $15 plus shiping - wish me luck instaling it.
Yes I ended up with extra screws on my desk after putting it back together.
Posted by: Jonathan | July 17, 2003 01:01 PM
This has everything to do with a rapid decline at hp. i think they have just decided that everyone who spends less than 10000 a year isn't worth their time.
i bought a mfp 3300 and then when jaguar was released waited 8 months for drivers which still don't work well.
you could say that this is my fault for owning a mac. and i'll admit i have that coming but i really think it has more to do with hp.
see this discussion
Posted by: Trevor Bechtel | July 17, 2003 01:14 PM
Ouch! You poor dad and daughter. My sincere sympathies!
I can relate. Way back when, I bought one of IBM's first ThinkPads--the 750 (mono screen). In the 18 months I had it, both the keyboard and display died twice *each*. And each time, I had to wait for the shipping box, scramble to transfer my work to my another computer and wait for the repair and return shipping. An odious process.
At the fourth failure, IBM sent me a new and better machine (755 CSi). The keyboard failed on that one only once. (Maybe I'm hard on keyboards.)
So when I bought my newest ThinkPad (a 560Z)--I must be a glutton for punishment--I paid for the extended and on-site warranty. Result: After nearly *five years* of very heavy use, she's still going strong with nary a service problem. It almost makes up for the previous hassles.
Even so, when my wife bought herself a ThinkPad this year (an R32), we still coughed up for the extended and onsite warranty.
Based on too many stories like yours, I'll keep running away from HPs.
Best of luck!
Posted by: Dave (C&E) Rogers | July 17, 2003 08:23 PM
I have a Thinkpad also, and so far (jinxing myself heavily here) it's been reliable. I've had a few Thinkpads in my life, and generally I've been happy with them.
Jonathan, the reason I don't change the hard drive myself is that then I have to pay for the hard drive myself. Also, I'd violate the remaining 1.5 yrs on my extended warrantee. Besides, it's my daughter's and it's summer vacation so she's ok with waiting.
Posted by: dweinberger | July 17, 2003 11:06 PM