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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March 13th, 2009 at 10:01 am
I have NEVER had an issue with Best Buy or their Geek Squad protection plans. My husband and children bought me an MP3 player a few years ago. After about a year, it completely died. I didn’t know that my husband purchased the protection plan. Fortunately, I had saved the receipt and saw that he did purchase the plan. Needless to say, I took the thing to Best Buy and walked out with a brand new MP3 that was better than the first one I got, along with an extended warranty. Guess what, I accidently broke the new one and went back to Best Buy to replace it. Presto! I walked away with a NEW MP3 again.
We purchased a fully-loaded Sony Vaio with 17″screen in September 2007. Since that date, the hard drive crashed twice, the LCD screen cracked after being dropped, and the hard drive died after the computer was dropped. Guess how much it cost me to have all the repairs done….ZERO! We wisely purchased the protection plan. The LCD repair was $963 alone. The protection plan cost less than $300. Do I think the protection plan is worth it? Hell yes!!!!!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Same thing happened to us with our Toshiba laptop. I think it is a screen malfunction as I am finding more and more people who have had this issue. After two months the screen goes. Bestbuy geeks say it is due to physical abuse. We do not abuse our computers. This laptop has never been taken anywhere – sits on a table.
They want $369.+ tax to fix it. We bought three year extended warranty – accidental damage warranty was never mentioned to us. Needless to say I am very frustrated with Toshiba, Bestbuy and the Geeksquad, who basically just want to charge again.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
dhanasekar,
If you purchased a basic 2-year warranty, the broken screen will not be covered. Broken screens, liquid spills, dropped laptops are covered only if you purchase Accidental Damage Protection Plan.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
i bought a toshiba Satellite L-310 2 weeks back and my monitor is cracked by my mistake. I have 2 yrs of international warranty but they are asking to pay to replace.
Pls suggest will it not be covered under warranty. pls provide me some ideas to recover the problem.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:30 am
Sarah,
The System Guard warranty covers accidental damage and your broken screen should be covered too. I think you are fine, they will replace the screen at no charge.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:15 am
Ok i have a question for you guys, I have a toshiba qosmio that I had to buy through best buy because it was being discontinued and the website didn’t have anymore.
I got the System guard 3-year warrenty
Called today and they say that it is the same as the toshiba warrenty which here [ http://www.toshibadirect.com/t.....oid=306845 ]
Says it covers accidents and mentions screen damage/repair in the first paragraph.
My brother recently had a screen break and they gave him a new computer, I’m trying to find out whether my warrenty actually covers broken screens or not. Or if there is anyway to upgrade to the ‘oops’ warrenty at this point (bought the computer in 2005) so that when it goes kapootz I can get a enw one.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Marlene,
I wouldn’t worry about shipping my laptop to another state a lot.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
When I bought my toshiba laptop at Compusa aug. 06 I happily bought Compusa’s extended warranty for $200, it would have covered broken screen and everything else, who knew that they would go out of business and now my laptop will not charge or run on AC power and will probably cost me $200 to fix when it would have been covered under the warranty, they gave me another company that would cover the warranty but I would have to send it to Mass. and I don’t know if I trust that.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Leah,
This is not true. The “System Guard” warranty from Toshiba covers physical damage including cracked LCD screens, it just cost more then a regular warranty.
You can try replacing the LCD screen yourself, I’ve posted instructions here: taking apart Toshiba Satellite A105 display panel.
If you can give me the laptop part number I can find part numbers for compatible LCD screens. After that you can search online for a new screen and then try replacing it yourself.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I have a Toshiba A105 sattelite Notebook. The screen cracked and I called both Toshiba, Frys and the service centers for Toshiba
All of them told me GET A NEW LAPTOP
They told me that even with the best warranty Toshiba does not cover the hardware damage in a Laptop. Thats crude!!!
One place evn charged me 700$ just for repair and thats 200 more from when i bought the PC.
The notebook is still broken, And I dont know anymore what to do