Phillips Warranty Issue on NP5670 (Long but I really need help) - Page 2

I completely agree with you both that I should get a gaming machine. However, as all employees of Philips continually point out to me, the terms and conditions of the warranty contract allow them to determine what is "comparable equipment". So while it makes no sense to me or anyone else I've talked to, that's what everyone who got a Philips warranty agreed to. On hindsight it would have been good of me to read the details before I bought it.

I took a good look at all the laptops and the HP Pavilion ZD8220 has almost exactly the same specs as my computer did (other than manufacturer) and it's going for $1699 on HP's website. It's missing my 7200rpm hard drive though so my plan for Monday when I talk to them again is to ask for the $1699 + price difference between the included hard drive and a 60GB 7200rpm hard drive (which is what I initially had). I haven't gotten that number off the configuration thing on HP's website (like Add $115, or Subtract $65) but I expect it to add another $50-$100 onto the price. That HP does however have a 17" screen (which is only XGA so it still has a lower max resolution than my old computer did at 15", but anyway) so they may try to tell me I'm getting a deal but I see that as their problem not mine.

Bottom line is there's nothing I can do 'til Monday and I think if I get extraordinarily lucky I'll walk away with $1800...not quite enough for a new 7620 so I guess my new project, regardless of what I get from them, will be building my own desktop. Any suggestions on parts? ...only kidding.

Thanks again.

Not much because Philips is not open on the weekend (or at least their 'Logistics' department isn't). Basically I have had the weekend to mull over their offers and decide what to do next. I'm going to attempt to get the cash value of the HP ZD8220 plus the cost of upgrading the hard drive to 60GB 7200rpm ($1700+$80-100). I don't really see Philips budging at all because they're @#$%@#$% who don't care about their customers. So when they reject my 'counter-offer' I'm going to take their offer of $1599 and build my own desktop and pray I never need a laptop again for any of my classes.

I would definitely prefer to get a new 7620 but I simply don't have the extra $700-$800 I would need to cover the difference between their offer ($1599) and the price of a new comparably equipped 7620 (somewhere around $2300-$2400).

I've already picked out most of the components I'll be using for the desktop, but as this is a notebook forum I don't see the need to get into that here unless someone is dying of curiousity. In short though I'll be building a pretty sweet AMD-based desktop here soon which is what I wanted before the College of Engineering here at VA Tech decided we all had to have laptops (which haven't been used as anything but desktops since freshmen year).

This is much longer than it needed to be, but that's where things stand now. As I've said before I would strongly reconsider purchasing the Philips warranty if you're about to buy a Sager and although I've not looked into it too much I believe PC Torque allows you a choice of warranty providers with one (I think it's called Warrantech) being significantly better than Philips (do your own research first though, I won't be held accountable if I'm wrong and anyone from PC Torque or Sager can refute the validity of that statement if necessary). With the relative speed that new models are introduced, it seems ridiculous to me that Sager and/or Philips did not have the foresight to keep a supply of discontinued parts for cases just like this and I fully believe this has happened to people before and will happen again. End rant.

Anyways, I'll let you guys know what happens when I get a chance to speak with Philips again on Monday (probably sometime after 4:00pm EST).

The base 7620 would no doubt be better than what I had, especially in terms of video card. A base 7620 is $1753 at PC Torque but this does not include an OS, a 7200 rpm hard drive, or the second battery my 5670 had (we all know how these things eat through their batteries). If I add just those things onto the base 7620 I'm looking at $2133. That's a far cry from the $2300-$2400 I was predicting, but it's also without a warranty. I had two breakdowns within the first 6 months, which would be covered by their Umbrella Policy no matter where I buy it from, but if it broke just outside of a year I would be SOL. I can't make too much sense of the warranty offerings at PC Torque, but it looks like 3 year addition (what I had before) would be $175, which brings my total to $2308. Certainly I could just get the base system w/ Windows XP and then upgrade the hard drive and second battery down the road but that's a bit of a hassle (probably not any more so than building a desktop though) and then I'd lose all my data and so on.

You're right about their legal rights...I chose not to read the terms carefully because I just wanted my sweet new laptop but I've certainly learned my lesson. Nevertheless, I'm still a little ticked at Sager for selling this POS extended warranty in the first place. As much as I liked having, for all intents and purposes, a portable desktop, I can build my own (non-portable obviously) desktop which I could actually upgrade to a newer video card in a few years for well under the $800 or $900 Sager wanted to do the upgrade to 5690. The only reason I hesitate at all to go this route is school, but if I would just go ask my academic advisor I'm sure I'd know whether or not I'd ever need a laptop again for any of my classes.

Anyway, it's late and I've got 2 fun tests tomorrow so I better go to bed. I'll post up with the results of my phone call

Tell Everyone You Know Not To Buy The Philips Warranty

I'm so fed up with all this @#$^. I called Philips today to resolve the issue once and for all I thought... I need a computer for school because it's getting old fast using my roommates' and so after trying my aforementioned ideas I just agreed to the $1599 to get the money and get a new computer I thought.

WRONG.... First I have to sign a legal document agreeing to the payback amount and that their warranty obligations are fulfilled and then they get to take 15-20 BUSINESS days to get me a check. I got shafted on the amount, my own fault for not reading the contract, but I'll be d@#$ed if they're going to hold MY money for another month and earn interest on it or whatever the hell they're going to do. I asked her, "how long would it take for me to get one of those replacement computers you offered?" She said "7-10 business days" so what's the hold up? Now I have to wait for a call back from her supervisor...he was less than helpful before and I'm sure nothing's changed and so I'll have to climb the ladder again. If I lived closer to Indiana I'd do arbitration based on principle alone.

So in closing:
DO NOT buy a Philips Warranty under any circumstances.
DO tell everyone that it is a bad idea to do so.
DO spread the word to every corner of this forum

because if you need this warranty one day it WILL NOT help you and the people working there couldn't care less. I know I have no reputation on this board but everything contained in this post is 100% true. Maybe nobody buys the warranties in the first place but me, I don't know, but I would be ecstatic if Philips lost (A LOT?) of business because of their bad publicity. I know Gary Pandher is getting a does of their nonsense now too.

Hell if anybody wants to complain to Philips' logistics department be my guest, their number is 1-800-240-2269, option 1, option 4. Tell them you want your money back for your warranty and that you read about all their bad service online.

PC Torque, Sager... don't sell these warranties anymore. Sager told me they didn't know Philips didn't buy it's customers new laptops, but I've called and told them twice now. PC Torque, I didn't buy my laptop from you but you sell the same POS Philips warranty that Sager does...stop letting it be an option because you DO NOT want your name associated with this company. I will never own another Philips/Magnavox product nor will I own a product of any company that does business with Philips (this means YOU Sager).

To the people out there who are thinking, "you should have read the fine print". You're right, I should have... my good faith placed in Sager and Philips was not deserved and I have learned my lesson about both companies.

Finally, to everyone reading this, YOU could be next. We've all heard the story that goes something along the lines of "when they game for the <insert minority group here> I did nothing, when they came for the <next minority group here> I did nothing..so on and so forth...when they came for me, there was nobody left to do anything for me". I do not mean to draw a parallel between the suffering of people in Nazi Germany and this computer mishap, but I think the point of the story is clear.... send a message by not buying a Sager computer...not even a Clevo computer. The only way these companies learn is if you hit their pocket books.

To all, enjoy your Sagers until they break.... you WILL be out of luck when that happens.

(edit: spelling error)

Well I did finally get some good news today and some important info that may apply to others who ever need to deal with Philips. My advice is to be the biggest pain in the butt possible. The first two levels of people I talked to could not (or would not?) budge from the company line in any way. So I finally left a heated message for the Level 2 guy telling him to either a) call me back and tell me that I'll have my check within 7-10 business days, or b) forward this message to your supervisor because that's who I'm going to ask for the second you tell me you can't (or won't) speed things up. I left that message at 5:30pm last night (they're supposed to be open until 6:00pm according to their recording) and at 8:00am I was getting a call back from another person, who I think to be on the next level up (Level 3 in my terminology). For her demeanor, it sounds like if I had adopted these tactics, as Synergi suggested, earlier in my dealings I could have got even more money. Then again, they may have only accomodated me in the processing time because I agreed to the settlement...I guess it's one of those things I'll never know for sure.

All I can say is work your way up the chain. I've worked in a call center before (DishNetwork) and I was the first person you'd talk to when you called about a tech support issue. If something needed to be fixed, we charge you $99 to have a tech come to your house. I could never do a thing about that (even though in some cases I felt that they didn't need to pay), but my supervisors sometimes could. Point of the story, the people that you talk to first either can't or won't help you. Get their supervisor and be firm with whoever you talk to. From Philips I got from "it takes 15-20 business days, that's our policy to tell customers" to "checks get cut every Thursday, so return the form to us by this Thursday you get your check early next week, next Thursday you'll get it the week after."

Aside from the little warranties I bought on my car speakers from Best Buy (which I was easily given what I was promised) this is my first experience with an insurance claim (I'm only 21). I'm sorry to hear about your house though, I can only imagine how ridiculous they could be about something like that. As far as par for the course, I guess I can believe that, but I'm still going to assert that Warrantech, through PCT, offers much more customer-friendly terms for its warranties. So while they're all PITAs, some are going to be worse than others and Philips is one of the worst.

Thanks for the advice everyone, but my time on this board is short-lived because I won't be getting another Sager any time before I graduate. Time to go price desktop components and place some orders.