Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[Afernung]

     My Son spilt a glass of Coke all over the laptop, it was a heart stopping moment. I had just sat down to eat and I was on the laptop getting ready to do some work. My son tossed an oversized ball at me which hit the glass I had just sat down. The coke seemed to cover most of the face, I had JUST turned the laptop on too, it was booting up, and plugged in. The first thing I Did was grab a blanket and try to sop the coke up, I also pulled it from the plug, trying to get it away form the spill. It started to sink into the laptop and it began to make a humming noise? I ran to grab a towel to try to drain it, and when I got back the laptop was powering on and off all by its self with the charging/power light blinking? It would act like it wanted to turn off, and then would power down, try to turn on like I restarted it and then back off again. I turned it on its side, and what seemed like a gallon of coke began to pour from the cracks and crevices. I dont know what to do, the power button doesnt even light up now. I have a 3 year ADH with Best Buy, but I dont know what all it covers, I would have to dig out the receipt and the brochure they gave me when I bought it. Please let me know what I have to do next. It wont turn on, will we lose our photos on there as well? My Wife just put all of our Christmas photos on the laptop from the camera and cleared the card, I was more upset about losing those than I was anything else on there. Anways, someone please let me know what I can do, I wiped it down with a towel to get the sticky off the bottom and top, but I think there may be some coke left inside too.

[Smith]

Take out the battery, and let the coke dry out.

[Afernung]

It happened last night, I took the battery out to keep it from trying to turn back on, but now theres no power at all, i plugged it back in and pluged it into the wall, and it wont do ANYTHING.

[Afernung]

No Help?

[Afernung]

Should i Named this Thread, Best Buy Support, more like BEST RIP OFF SUPPORT !!W@(#&^@, Cause im gettin nothin here...  Seems like those threads get noticed lol.

[Smith]

Sorry for the length between my replies, I had to go to work. Did you say you had some kind of accidental damage warranty on your laptop? You should try using that, I don't know the exact way your plan works, but in my dealings with other electronics companies the replacement for your laptop should happen quite quickly.

BEFORE doing that though (check the warranty to see if this voids it first, I doubt it will, but be sure), you may want to take out your computer's hard drive and clean it off.  Swap that hard drive with another laptop to get the photos off, and onto a flash drive or dvd.

[Afernung]

I Called the nearest Best buy and the lady said to take it in asap. She looked up my info and said i DID purchase the ADH, so it owuld be covered. She said they send it out to see if it can be repaired, and we would go from there. I hope I dont get stuck in an endless loop of crap like it seems alot of others get stuck with. If it all goes smoothly!!!

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Welcome to our forum, Afternung!

How horrifying!  It must have seemed like slow motion as the soda was spilling.  Fortunately, these types of spills are exactly what the ADH coverage includes.  It's hard to know if your data is safe as you're unable to power it on, but the Geek Squad can help you find out if any of it is recoverable (please note that data recovery is not covered under your service plan).  Please let us know if you have any questions or need assistance as the repair progresses.

Thanks,

[Afernung]

UPDATE: They just emailed me and said to give the store a call. I called and was told it was unable to be repaired. I asked what the next step was and he said I would have to come in to pick out a new one? Whats that supposed to mean, do I have a credit I will have to use based off what I paid, or Will they give me a junker to make up for my old one? I bought an HP because of the brand/quality, from stuff ive been reading it worries me that theyre going to try and pass off an Acer, or Toshiba? I paid 1050 for my laptop, I know 1050 then isnt 1050 now, but i dont want a 500$ peice of crap, just because its close to the Base Specs, Im concerned about the Light Speed for burning images on the Lightspeed DVD's and CD's i burn, the Media Remote, I had XP, which I dont think I can get anymore, i had to pay for an HP xp disk because Vista was horrible, I had built in mic(s) and above all, I LOVE HP, I have had friends who cheaped out and bought acers and toshibas before and regret not spending the extra, i even had added RAM, which was destroyed when the laptop was fried.

How do I go about getting an HP replacement, and not getting stuck with a Bad Brand. I read about a guy who bought a 13 inch sony something for 2200, and a year late was given a 13 acer(for kids) because it was the same screen size, and the specs were "as close as they could get" for that size screen, he ended up getting in a fight with the manager who gave him 1200 Credit for something in the store. Do i have a choice, or what?

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi again.  Thanks for following up!  The plan provides for a comparable model not to exceed your original purchase price.  I'd encourage you to express your desires to your local store, and I'm sure they can work out an acceptable replacement for you that meets everyone's standards.  Please feel free to contact us back though if you have questions or concerns after going to the store!

Thanks,