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My2Cents
@start.ca

My2Cents

Anon

and thats why I use Credit Cards!

Long story short, bought HP laptop last Christmas, broke down friday. HP wants receipt, didn't have it. Called CC company for record of transaction, turns out it was purchased 370 days ago. HP's response was "Too bad so sad, buy another one at full price". Calls CC company, explained, and asked if there could be any processing delay.

Here's a kicker, CC agent said "You know that you have an extra year of coverage with us right?"

Two lessons learned from this fiasco.
1. Never buy crap from HP. Unreliable and quits right after warranty ends.
2. Put it on a CC, extra year of coverage, where extended protection plans from BB and FS are plain old ripoffs.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

1 recommendation

Gone

Premium Member

When I worked for HP they would have honored your warranty at 370 days. That company has turned into such a shithole.

I've started purchasing anything important with my Amex for that exact reason. Double warranty.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to My2Cents

Premium Member

to My2Cents
said by My2Cents :

Long story short, bought HP laptop last Christmas, broke down friday. HP wants receipt, didn't have it. Called CC company for record of transaction, turns out it was purchased 370 days ago. HP's response was "Too bad so sad, buy another one at full price". Calls CC company, explained, and asked if there could be any processing delay.

Here's a kicker, CC agent said "You know that you have an extra year of coverage with us right?"

Two lessons learned from this fiasco.
1. Never buy crap from HP. Unreliable and quits right after warranty ends.
2. Put it on a CC, extra year of coverage, where extended protection plans from BB and FS are plain old ripoffs.

But check with your credit card company - not all do what yours did.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

Yeah, I have a Visa card that doesn't extend your warranty. All my Mastercards and my Amex do, but the PCFinancial MC I have specifically excludes computers which is a big bummer in itself.

urbanriot
Premium Member
join:2004-10-18
Canada

urbanriot to My2Cents

Premium Member

to My2Cents
said by My2Cents :

1. Never buy crap from HP. Unreliable and quits right after warranty ends.

What model did you get?

My2Cents
@start.ca

My2Cents

Anon

The Second Gen Envy 14, looks nice but the quality ain't so...

Ian1
Premium Member
join:2002-06-18
ON

Ian1 to My2Cents

Premium Member

to My2Cents
How exactly is it broken? When you get the replacement from the CC company, may still not be a bad idea to get an estimate on fixing it. Maybe one of us would buy it.

And I don't like HP either, but there's a statistical chance that any laptop will break down over that time-frame, no matter who built it.

OverrRyde
join:2007-04-10
Waterdown, ON

OverrRyde

Member

said by Ian1:

How exactly is it broken? When you get the replacement from the CC company, may still not be a bad idea to get an estimate on fixing it. Maybe one of us would buy it.

And I don't like HP either, but there's a statistical chance that any laptop will break down over that time-frame, no matter who built it.

you don't get a replacement under extended warranty, it basicaly duplicates the original manufacturers warranty

urbanriot
Premium Member
join:2004-10-18
Canada

urbanriot to My2Cents

Premium Member

to My2Cents
said by My2Cents :

The Second Gen Envy 14, looks nice but the quality ain't so...

Hmm that's unfortunate, the specs are reliable on paper (but I hate the touch pad).
highwire2007
join:2008-05-17
Nepean, ON

highwire2007 to My2Cents

Member

to My2Cents
I bought a MediaSmart server (EX495) from them a few years ago. When I had an issue with it within the warranty period, customer service was very good (it was out of New Brunswick). Then HP got into some financial difficulty, and they abandoned the entire line which means absolutely no service or updates. For consumer products, I'm no longer a fan.

As for credit vs. debit cards, if somebody somehow gets your PIN, with debit card they get away with your real money. With a credit card, you're better protected.

lugnut
@communications.com

lugnut to My2Cents

Anon

to My2Cents
I basically buy all my machines from Acer. Good build quality and good prices and they all play nicely with Linux.

On the other hand, back when laptops were still crazy expensive I always used to opt for the extended warranties. The one time one of my old laptops needed service Acer honored their warranty with no muss no fuss.

Nowadays I rarely spend more than $500 on a machine and to me it's simply not worthwhile to get the extended warranties anymore.

As for my credit card, it's a cash back card with no fees. If I weren't such a miser I'd have extended warranty coverage on it but I refuse to pay a fee for the "privilege" of giving Visa my money
Gami00
join:2010-03-11
Mississauga, ON

Gami00

Member

The "fee" is normally the Bank attached to the Visa.

that's why you can get no fee visa's, and some gold/plat/club whatever visa that does have a fee. It all depends on what extras the card has.

edit: maybe i'm thinking about interest rate.. it's probably both..
mostly likely Visa charges the Banks a flat rate for anything with their Visa/MC card branding transaction system.. Though I'm pretty sure all the extras (services/extra warranty/cashback) and fee are all the Banks/lender though.
Madwand
join:2002-12-03
Toronto, ON

Madwand to Gone

Member

to Gone
said by Gone:

Yeah, I have a Visa card that doesn't extend your warranty. All my Mastercards and my Amex do, but the PCFinancial MC I have specifically excludes computers which is a big bummer in itself.

You can't get everything for free. I put everything on my card, spend $25-40k a year on it and even when paying the fee I still get my money's worth. Look around, there are plenty of good cards out there.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

I'm well aware of that. I use my Amex as it warranties everything except for car parts. So does my MBNA Platinum card.

My2Cents
@start.ca

My2Cents to Ian1

Anon

to Ian1
said by Ian1:

How exactly is it broken? When you get the replacement from the CC company, may still not be a bad idea to get an estimate on fixing it. Maybe one of us would buy it.

And I don't like HP either, but there's a statistical chance that any laptop will break down over that time-frame, no matter who built it.

It was a mobo failure, utterly useless without a full mobo swap.

True on the failure part, although some manufacturers have lower 3 year failure rates than others. Failure at 370 days is just bullshit. Last time I checked, ASUS had the lowest failure rate at 15% ish in 3 years. Although my OLD IBM ThinkPad from 2000 still works fine.

Gotta love my american AMEX, superb service for $75 a year. Excellent in watching for unauthorized charges, you buy something and its unusual, they call you to make sure. Also super harsh on unscrupulous merchants (eBay etc). You really do get what you pay for.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by My2Cents :

Gotta love my american AMEX, superb service for $75 a year. Excellent in watching for unauthorized charges, you buy something and its unusual, they call you to make sure. Also super harsh on unscrupulous merchants (eBay etc). You really do get what you pay for.

Canadian Amex cards are like that too, that's why I love my Amex as a consumer. As someone who has a merchant account at a business, that combined with the obscenely high merchant fees is why I refuse to take Amex
Mango
Use DMZ and you get a kick in the dick.
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
www.toao.net

Mango

Premium Member

said by Gone:

obscenely high merchant fees

+1

My2Cents
@start.ca

My2Cents to Gone

Anon

to Gone
said by Gone:

Canadian Amex cards are like that too, that's why I love my Amex as a consumer. As someone who has a merchant account at a business, that combined with the obscenely high merchant fees is why I refuse to take Amex

They are not entirely equal, the only reason why I hung on to my Amex is because of the extremely poor offerings here.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

They offer some additional things on US cards, but there are some limitations to some of the offerings (particularly the lost/stolen replacement stuff) that are worse in the US than they are here.