Yesterday I replaced my old, big and noisy Sony PCG-FRV26 laptop with a new, fast and slim Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 and I didn’t pay a penny. Thanks to the BestBuy extended warranty!
Here is the story. It started about 4 years ago when I bough my first laptop from BestBuy. It was Toshiba Satellite 1800 and I paid for it $1099. It was a good computer for that particular time. The sales man offered me to buy an extended 3 years warranty to “protect my investment” for $249. It was a tough call for me because I was kind of short on money but I bought it anyway. I am so glad that I did it. Toshiba Satellite 1800 was not a very reliable laptop and during first 2 years it was repaired 3 times. After it broke the fourth time I took it to BestBuy and politely mentioned about “No Lemon” policy and they granted me a laptop exchange. They applied $1099 toward my new laptop. I bought Sony PCG-FRV26 and paid only the difference $1349-$1099=$250. They offered again to buy an extended warranty and this time I didn’t think a lot and paid $249 right away. Sony laptop worked fine for a year but then it started to break. First the CD-ROM drive stopped spinning, then the AC adapter stopped working and finally the laptop didn’t boot at all. I took it to BestBuy for repair and left it there. After that I was calling on status every 2 weeks trying to get my laptop back. Every time they were telling a different story why it is not repaired. Finally, after 2 months they called me and explained that my laptop would be replaced. The same evening I went to BestBuy and picked up my new baby Toshiba Satellite A105-S361 for $1199. It was cheaper then Sony laptop, so they just exchanged it and I didn’t have to pay anything. I love it! They tried to give me a cheaper laptop, but after I explained them how much I suffered during these months without my laptop they gave up.
Do you know where I go tonight? You are right; I’m going to buy an extended warranty again!
UPDATE: This article was written almost 4 years ago. Times are changing. Laptops are getting cheaper and cheaper every day. Now it doesn’t make sense to get the extended warranty unless you are buying a very expensive laptop.
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August 1st, 2010 at 10:23 am
Be aware that is only a trick to drag you to purchase an extended warranty, bullshit ………..
June 11th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I can vouch for the author on this one. I used to get the extended warranty on my xboxes from Best Buy. I was going through one per year. Best Buy never even tried to replace them. I would send them in & receive an in-store credit for the full purchase price usually two weeks later. Every year the purchase price was going down, so I would get a brand new replacement xbox AND a few games with the credit.
What most people don’t factor in to the equation is that geeks or techies put a lot more use in to one or two years of usage than the average user. You people actually go outside. We’ve got too many computers to fix to go outside. Besides, that means human interaction. Who the hell wants that? I get along great with the computers. I say jump. They say how high? The people that use the computers? Not so much. LOL
January 6th, 2010 at 12:05 am
Adam,
This is not true. I don’t work for Best Buy. In this article I shared my experience I had a few years ago with Best Buy.
A few years ago laptop prices were high and used laptops had some value even after a couple of years.
That’s true. Laptop hardware changes very fast these days but five years ago it was different. I remember that five years ago my customer gladly payed $500-600 to replace a broken screen. Some senior technicians remember customers paying over $1000 to repair a laptop.
Would I pay $250 for an extended warranty now when you can buy a basic laptop for $350??? I wouldn’t, unless it’s a very expensive laptop.
If you purchased an extended warranty but couldn’t use it, I feel bad for you. You should work on improving your negotiation skills. Do you think they gladly replaced my laptop? No way. But after I talked to a few different managers they didn’t have any other choice.