Best Buy and eMachines warranty - Page 3

saiyan , i agree, i have been thinking i willg et the emac warranty.. happen to know if it is transferrable?

As best I recall, the eMachines ESP is non transferrable...which kinda stinks, but I figure by the time I get rid of the laptop, the EPS would have expired anyways.

BB warranty

I just bought my m6805, and will probably get the EM 1 yr extension. $300 just seems crazy. I don't plan on using the battery much, as this is really a 3rd desktop for me.

Well, I dropped by the local BB and grilled them about their extended warranty info. It seems that the BB extended warranty, at $299.99 plus tax, is virtually identical to the EM with the exception of the wear/tear provision. However, they didn't really give me a good example of wear/tear except possibly if you flexed the screen and damaged it. In essence, the price differential/benefit of EM vs BB comes down to an non-accidental damage screen coverage even though the BB will not replace for accidental damage. [Does this even make sense?]

Frankly, BB gave me two responses with regard to screen protection - they'll replace it if it fails based upon pixel failure as described by EM or if it just fails in the ordinary use. No accidental protection is provided. The other response was - they'll just replace it if it looks bad or the pixel problem is bothersome (in other words, in the middle).

This is the same policy has EM. Since neither BB or EM give accidental coverage, its almost a toss-up. My Toshiba systemguard warranty, for example, covered everything, including my spilling coffee on it a couple of days ago. The systemguard warranty was the same price as BB and I clearly have a much better warranty.

Spend the money on EM unless someone can give better concrete examples of wear/tear coverage...

I think the Best Buy warranty works better and picks up where the standard eMachines warranty leaves off.
Par example.
One of the LCD hinges had a crack in it. If I didn't have the BB extended warranty, I would have had to ship my unit to eMachines and they would have charged me for the repair since cosmetic damage is not included in their plan.
Instead, I walked into Best Buy and got a brand new unit. I was out there in a matter of 5 minutes.
Plus, the battery is covered too. If it starts to fail, meaning that it retains 15% less power than it should, I get a new one.
The MAIN reason I got the warranty is the manufacturer's dead pixel policy. eMachines says you have to have 8 dead pixels if I remember right. Best Buy will service your laptop if you end up with 3 defective pixels, this means they can be either on, off, colorblind or all.
silentwind:it's almost as if we've talked to two different stores about two different plans. I was told that if basically anything happens to my laptop they will take care of it. Be it accidental spill, any sort of cosmetic damage, etc. So far they stuck by what they said and now I have something to go by if they dare go back on their word.
All in all my motto has and allways will be better safe than sorry.

I just read this whole thread and I think I got the best deal regarding the extended warranties. I bought my 6809 with Best Buy 3 year ESP, then one week later, went back to Best Buy with print out of emachines ESP and price matched the policy. Best Buy's 3yr ESP for 299.99 minus 110.00 back so bascially got Best Buy's 3yr ESP for 189.99. Credit goes to a hot deal post from http://www.anandtech.com/ forums.

I'm not at all upset about getting Best Buy's ESP. I've had to return my M6809 twice (cracked hinge problem) -- well sort of, I have to wait until Wednesday for a new shipment to actually exchange my current one -- but both visits have been zero stress. The Best Buy reps were also more than willing to do something that eMachines would never do -- look for a comparable item from a different manufacturer since we continue having issues with our eMachines product. Unfortunately, no one else that is carried by Best Buy has anything close at this time, but at least they tried.

Also, if you finance it through Best Buy, you can pay for their credit protection plan that supersedes the warranty and comes very close to Dell's Complete Care package. I opted not to go that route because of its cost and the interest that would be charged on it, but once the balance on it gets very low, I may reactivate it just for that extra protection.

One side comment, don't freak out about refurbished parts. The company I work for is a Dell reseller, and 99 times out of 100, any warranty replacement Dell does is with refurbished parts. We received a number of complaints from customers that received those parts (they have a sticker on them that indicates they are refurbs) so I talked to a high-level Dell representative. I don't remember the complete conversation, but in the end I'd say you could be more confident in a refurbished component than a new one. Essentially, when a computer is returned to Dell for any reason, they remove all the parts, test them thoroughly, replace any piece that even looks like it might be wearing down, and put it on the refurb shelf. A little more research found out that this practice is pretty much an industry standard for all manufacturers. These refurbished components have been quite thoroughly tested, versus new parts that only get a cursory examination. In Dell's case, and most others, the refurbished parts go under the original warranty, so there is no more risk to the consumer than if the part had never broken at all.

Be careful about trusting a homeowner's policy. They will indeed cover your laptop just as the previous poster mentioned, but in our case, the deductible would be $1100...

Dude dell sucks. I have had two sisters with dells and lemme tell u their service sucks big time. THey spent countless hours with ppl on the other side of the world who bearly spoke english and knew even less about computers. They may "fix" your computer no matter what happens to it but it will be with refurbished parts and, from experience, never run as well as it once did and it is many times more likely to need future servicing. I hardly think dell is apart of a dying breed, they don't give a **** about you. THey are apart of a retail monster breed. I will be spending my money at Best Buy because of their 3 strikes policy. If it needs fixing more then 3 times they will replace it for the amount it was purchased for. in 2.9 years if it breaks for the 4th time u get a brand spanking new laptop. In my eyes that cannot be beaten. I have also heard from a BB employee that if the in store techs can't fix it they will simply replace it, they have some sort of agreement with EM. I don't need coverage for spilling pop on my computer cause I woudn't treat a piece of hardware that I earned the money for be ****ted on like that. Sorry if i'm bein an ass but both of my sisters wasted alot of money on Dells and they certainly aren't happy with their purchases, and I feel like an ass for having recomended Dell.

So, you just bought the original BB ESP and in week walked in with a print out of the 2 year EM ESP and asked them to match its price?
Did you have to grill them or what? They agreed to shed 110 buckes just like that? Is this a policy of BB to price-match the ESPs of products they sell?
Please tell us as much as you can cause I really like the M6811 but I am worried by these cracked hinges and these are not covered by the EM ESP but are covered by the BB ESP. The problem is that paying another $300 just for hypotetical peace of mind is way too much for the limited budget I am on.
Thanks again.

Acutally, I called the store first and asked about pricematching the service policy, the guy put me on hold and went to talk to his assitant manager or some managerial person and ok'ed it...he said just bring in my receipt and printout of the competitors service policy, went in to Bestbuy, showed them my receipt/printout and told them I called in about it already, the girl calls up their manager's line and makes sure she gets permission, copies printout then all done

Andevian - What is this credit protection plan? Is it through the BB credit card?


Sounds like a great deal if you can get the BB store to price match the Emachines EsP. I'll have to try that. I was looking at an alternative. Get the Emachines ESP and pay Safeware.com $98 a year for complete insurance including theft, spill damage, etc.. (except earthquake). Might be a option for others as well.

I was thinking of adding on the Safeware insurance thing. I just haven't read any good or bad reviews. They do have a good rating with the BBB.org though. How do they determine if you dropped or spilled your laptop was really an accident or done on purpose? If it needs to be replaced what if they give you a crappy replacement?

From what I've seen and read they are one of a variety of computer insurance companies that provide additional coverage, and that they are well known for providing it. I think I remember reading something good about them but I can't seem to find the link again.

I assume determining whether you dropped or spilled something on the laptop is the same as other insurance companies, you face fruad charges if you file a fruadulent claim, they may inspect the damage, and you may have to provide police reports or other proof of theft or damage.

Here's what they say about replacement:

How will you replace my system if they no longer make it when I have a loss?

We would replace your equipment with as close to like kind and quality as is available on the current retail market, at the time of the loss. Often we can find replacements for equipment that have been discontinued.

Seems like better than nothing if a laptop bites the dust. There's more info here: http://www.safeware.com/faq.htm

I haven't been able to find any reviews, good or bad about them either, so I'm curious if anyone in this forum has had any experience with third party supplimental laptop insurance. Maybe we should start another topic on it. For $100 dollars a year though I think it would be worth trying.

I'm sorry if this was already posted. I read the beginning of the thread and didn't feel like reading through 4 pages of it (sorry).

If you are a homeowner or carry renter's insurance (for those who don't have homeowner's policies), contact your insurance company. Most insurance companies will cover computers in their policy or include a floater to add them. For example, my insurance company covers desktops and laptops in their base policy for up to $3,000 total. If you need to go beyond that, you can go up to $5,000 total protection for an increase of only $10 per year. I very much doubt ANY extended warranty can match that. I also asked about if it protected for spilling a drink on it, theft, dropping it, etc., and it does. You can guess how important those CompleteCare-type deals and the extended warranties were to me at that point. Anyway, just a tip to check with your insurance company to save a bunch of cash on these warranty deals. My own personal thought is that store-bought and extended warranties are nearly as big a waste of money as lottery tickets.

Good luck!
Sey

I agree, this is another option I thought about. In my circumstance, I'm a renter that I doesn't have renters insurance. I probably should but it has been something I've only gotten when out of town for extended periods. Having insurance just on my laptop, I may find that it is all I own after a fire, burlary, etc! I didn't think it would cover spills or other accidents on laptops. I'll have to look into this further! Thanks for the bringing it back to focus.