Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[timvelleca]

I purchased the accidental damage guaranty from Best Buy on a new MacBook Pro when I bought it.  This was August, 2009.  The warranty is good for 3 years.  The video display on my computer was damaged recently.  Best Buy confirmed that the warranty was good and they would repair it for free but it would take 10 days to complete and get it back.  I am a small business person and can't live without my computer for a week and a half (I don't know who can, even if it is simply used for personal use).  This is very disappointing to me and I would like a better repaid option.  I am based in Atlanta.

This is very frustrating.

[CrystalWoW Community Veteran]

That is actually a pretty darn good turn around as it is normally 14-21 days. There unfortunately isn't another option besides sending it out for service.

[CrimsonRain]

Please don't take this the wrong way because I would never presume to tell anyone how to do their job or run their business, but if your computer was critical to your job, why wouldn't you have a backup or secondary computer? Prices on computers have drastically dropped in the last decade. I am a college instructor by day and level 85 troll hunter by night and I definitely do rely on my computer for grades and research. With that said, I keep regular backups of my data. I even back up my backups just in case.

Reminds me of my days in the Geek Squad when business people and students who claimed they'd go bankrupt or fail a course because their computer would have to go out for repair. I'd ask the same question and no one could ever give me a good reason. One businessman called in literally days after dropping off his computer and said he had to fire an employee because he was losing money by the day. He even had an exact amount somewhere in the realm of $12xxx. I told him he could have saved that employee's job and the $12k if he would have spent $400 on a desktop computer to get by. Silence, then click...

A week and a half turn time is actually pretty good. I know that Geek Squad Agents are told to quote 2-3 weeks (or 7-10 business days because customers tend to like the word "days" over "weeks") for anything that has to be sent out for repairs. It is generally faster than that but the estimate is for unforeseen events such as ordering parts or awaiting approval for repairs.

[NoNoBadDog]

First, you were never promised direct replacement.

Second, if you *did* get a direct replacement, it would be a refurb as your model is no longer available.  You would lose your original computer in this scenario.

Third, as stated, 10 days turn around is a phenomenally goo d deal!  You have no room to complain about such a short turn around. 

As far as the outlandish tales of having to fire employees because a computer is being repaired, I have never know that to happen, and if it did, said business was doomed to failure anyway.  If an employee got sick and had to go to the hospital, it would be the same result.

The cost of the computer is immaterial.  All are treated the same under the warranty.

All things considered, you were very fortunate!

[timvelleca]

I hear what you are saying.  First of all, I have a complete backup so that is not the issue.  I don't have a secondary computer because I wouldn't use it except in this scenario and this is rare so it would become obsolete without ever having been used.  A second computer would be a waste of money in my situation.  You state that I was never promised a direct replacement computer but that is not so.  When I purchased the plan, I was told that, if the computer was damaged, it would be replaced.  I did not sit there at the register and read the full warranty language and that is my fault but that is the way it was explained.

I asked what they would do if the computer was a total loss.  The employee told me that it would be a much quicker turnaround because they would still send it to Louisville but the repair center would just send them a note to give me a new computer.  I do not want to completely destroy the computer for that advantage because I think that is unethical but it seems counterintuitive.

A refurb replacement would be fine in any case.  My computer is a year and a half old so I don't need a new computer or replacement, just something that works.

[timvelleca]

I would not go bankrupt or any crazy theories like that but I own two restaurants and am opening a third.  I have heavy daily transactional volume, both sales, invoices and journal entries.  I also am in the middle of a loan closing, working on architectural drawings, and lease negotiations.  A week and a half without my computer would really cause problems.  This is a Mac so to buy a second Mac to get by would be very expensive.  It's not like buying a $400 PC.

[hydrogenwv]

This is exactly why you need a spare. Cases like this may be rare for you, but look at the situation now. I am in college, and rely on my computer a lot. I have a spare netbook, in the rare case my desktop goes down. That $400 netbook saved my butt once when my PC went down and I had a paper due...

    Either way, your computer will likely have ot be sent off for repair. Maybe it's time to buy that spare. Looks like you have a lot riding on it.

[agent19593]

Wouldn't buying another computer to allow you to continue work save you money from lost productivity?

[timvelleca]

I am a Mac user.  Spending over $1,000 seems crazy to me for what was supposedly a 7-10 day turnaround.  By the way, I went ahead with the repair, am limping by using my wife's computer with backups all over the place and lots of software loads on her computer, and I am almost at three weeks on the repair (today is Saturday, Monday will be three weeks) and the computer is not back yet.  I can check the status of the repair on line (although the status rarely chages).  The repair is complete but has not been reviewed by a Supervisor or shipped.  It will be close to four weeks before the computer is finished.

Not a good experience for me.

[Im_Spazzoid]

"hear what you are saying.  First of all, I have a complete backup so that is not the issue.  I don't have a secondary computer because I wouldn't use it except in this scenario and this is rare so it would become obsolete without ever having been used.  A second computer would be a waste of money in my situation.  You state that I was never promised a direct replacement computer but that is not so.  When I purchased the plan, I was told that, if the computer was damaged, it would be replaced.  I did not sit there at the register and read the full warranty language and that is my fault but that is the way it was explained.

I asked what they would do if the computer was a total loss.  The employee told me that it would be a much quicker turnaround because they would still send it to Louisville but the repair center would just send them a note to give me a new computer.  I do not want to completely destroy the computer for that advantage because I think that is unethical but it seems counterintuitive.

A refurb replacement would be fine in any case.  My computer is a year and a half old so I don't need a new computer or replacement, just something that works."

I'm guessing what they really said was "if we can't fix it, we'll replace it"