Nightmare experience with Emachine tech support

I bought my M6810 laptop brand new in a factory sealed box from an online vendor (not ebay) Nov 27, 2005. I called into emachines tech support to get the HDD replaced (went bad). Per request, faxed in my reciept. Called back the following day and was told...

"You did not buy your laptop from one of our authorized vendors, therefore your warranty is backdated to the time of manufacturing (June 2004) and hence you have no warranty."

I escalated my plight to a tech supervisor (Eli) to argue this nonsense policy . I felt my warranty should be honored because...

1. None of the documentation included in the retail box notified me of this policy. If it had, I could have made an informed decision when I purchased it and returned the laptop to the vendor and bought one somewhere else. By not informing me, you took away my options.

2. The HDD is still under warranty through Hitachi though they will only accept an RMA through Emachines as I'm considered 3rd party. So in essence, it would cost emachines almost nothing to replace the drive.

This whole idea of only honoring warranties from date of purchase ONLY if you bought the equipment through an authorized vendor is a bunch of BS. I have NEVER heard of such a ridiculous policy. Over my lifetime I've made several warranty claims of things I bought and provided I had a receipt showing the date purchased, the manufacture could care less where it was purchased. To make matters worse, Eli was a total a$$. To give example...

1. Repeating cooperate policy over and over again like a damn parrot

2. Constantly trying to talk over me when I was speaking (see #1)

3. Took a hostile tone with me often shouting.

4. When asked direct questions, refused to answer.

5. After repeating myself several times, finally confirmed he had the authority to make exceptions to the warranty process and validate my claim, but did not feel my case justified such an exception.

Keep in mind, I never got hostile with him or used any kind of profanity. I called back in customer service and requested to file a report for Eli's behavior requesting our conversation be pulled for a superior to listen to. Was told managers dont have their calls recorded. So in short, it's his word against mine.

Anyone have a similar experience or know of a different road to take with Emachines in trying to validate my warranty?

I understand your point Anaconda, but the fact remains there was NO documentation of any kind stipulating this policy in the retail packaging of my M6810. Had I known about this policy (IE documentation), I would have immediately returned the laptop to the vendor even if it meant eating a restocking fee and sought a "authorized" vendor. How are we (consumers) to know who is "authorized" and who is not and the consequences of not buying the laptop from an authorized vendor? I had no idea my laptop had no warranty at the time of purchase and that is the main basis of my argument. If your going to make a sweeping policy like this, I feel you have a duty to inform/warn your consumer base at time of purchase, NOT 6+ months later when filing a warranty claim!

I totally agree with you.

Now, put yourself in my shoes for a moment and ponder this...

If emachines completly fails to inform you at the time of purchase with documentation in the box explaining their closed circuit vendor list and the consequences of buying outside that list, HOW is the consumer to know these things? Do you think it's fair I call in six months later and then for the first time be informed of these policies when it's too late for me to take corrective action? Should I be punished for this critical oversight?

Do you understand my point?