Laptop & BestBuy Extended Warranty

D

DeepSpin

n00b
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
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44
Hello,

I did some cleaning today and found my BestBuy receipt and warranty information. Come to find out that my three year extended warranty does not end until May 5, 2004. The laptop, HP N5310, has a bad battery, keyboard keys are coming off, Windows ME is throwing numerous errors and the LCD screen is showing signs that it will go out soon. Also with the three year mark coming up, I wont be surprised if the hard drive does not go out soon. I use this laptop every day and I'm surpised that I have not had more problems. BestBuy's policy is that they will replace the parts or if unable to be repaired or I guess the unit needs a lot of repairs, they will replace the laptop with a comparable unit or issue a voucher for the purchase price. Does anyone have any experience with the BestBuy service? Does this laptop have enough problems that it would just be completely replaced by BestBuy? Any comments/advice would be great.

Thanks
 
just go in and ask for the voucher, since they likely dont carry the model anymore, get yourself a nice centrino lappy ;)
 
Actually, I just did this yestarday. Took my HP N5475 in, walked out with an eMachines M5312. However, it was the fourth time I had taken my laptop in for service. They can pretty much fix everything, since they send it to their repair center and they order parts and whatnot. You will probably have to bring it in 3 times before they will replace it, since that's what their warranty says. The warranty is great if you take advantage of it though...basically for me, it's new batteries every 8-12 months, and a new laptop every 2-3 years for $200 (I of course buy the warranty).
 
Ok here's what to do, I'm a Best Buy Service tech and deal with Laptops alot.

The Battery: Go to the store, get a tech to verify the battery is dead. Have him create a no repair/no service Order and make sure you get the number. It'll be a pretty long number and the first 5 digits will be the location number (ie my store issues Service orders: 00218-XXXXXXXX) Once you got that SO Number, call 1-888-BEST-BUY and get with somebody in parts&Service, have your PSP info ready. Give the phone rep your SO# that way you won't have to go through troubleshooting or alot of BS (or have to wait for the rep to call the store to ask the tech) They'll ship you out a new battery....I'm not quite sure if they ask for the old one or not.

As for getting a new Laptop because this one has so many problems... ain't gonna happen. Feel lucky though that ADR (Best Buy's third party Laptop servicer) won't get it. THEY NEVER would fix anything and often sent back Laptops with broken screens or other new problems. We now use a company called DEX and not only are they competent but the paper work they send back with the notebook shows in great detail what exactly they did. They will be able to replace and repair all problems with the notebook. To avoid any problems getting your laptop returned it might be best to just have the Laptop sent back to the store when DEX is done with it. If you've moved since you bought the PSP DEX might not get your address information correct. If not they'll send the Laptop directly to you. Takes ~ 2-4 weeks for service or more if DEX has to ship it to HP.
 
I have dealt with this on an old HP AMD k6-2 laptop. I got it in mid-2000, and it lasted till around the end of 2001. At that point, there was little to no battery life left, it constantly overheated (maybe because of the SETI - who knew?) and the hard drive would stop functioning as soon as the computer was picked up.

So, I took it in, they sent it off, and within 2 weeks the store called and told me they got it back from the service center. Highly skeptical, I went in, fired it up, picked it up off the desk, and it shut down. Within 2 weeks, they called, told me the motherboard was bad, and offered me the full purchase price towards a new laptop.

This new laptop (HPZT1130) has been flawless, so I don't think I'll be able to take advantage of the extended warranty this time, unfortunately...
 
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