4 year extended warranty worth it?

Well I got my 1720 at the beginning of November, with no extended warranty. Right now they have their 4 year warranty, for $349, available with a $70 discount, and $75 coupon(gift card), so it really comes to $200 for 4 year coverage. Is it worth it?

 

To be honest, no. Not for that price. I'd save the money and stick with the 1 year warranty, or at the most, a 2 year or something.

 

If you bought it with a Visa or MasterCard, check their warranty programs. My Visa offers 3 additional years of coverage for about $130.

 

Also, isn't it real easy to void these warranties?

I'm sure I've voided the warranty on mine.

 

IMO it's absolutely worth it. You never know when an accident could happen and give you a $2000 paperweight.

 

its not worth it in my mind

 

Its not that easy to void and if you crack the LCD or spill on the thing you will instantly think its worth it when you realize how much repairing it will cost. 4 years might be a bit long though. After 3 years of beating the hell out of your laptop worry free I would just buy a new one.

 

I got the 4 year plan when I got my first notebook because it was my first laptop and I didn't know how I was going to use it. nothing at all happened for about 3 1/2 years... then I had water pour into it and the mobo was replaced.... then catastrophic damage which led to a full system replacement for free. so basically for that $300 or so I got a motherboard replacement (probably a few hundred $ worth) and then a whole new system. now I've only got about 90 days left on my brand new system... so I will probably extend the warranty again.

keep in mind, Your Mileage May Vary. if you are a gamer or power user you will probably replace your system in only a year or two... but since my system is used almost exclusively for internet and simple tasks I expected my system to be adequate for at least 5 years or so... now with a replacement system that number is extended to 8 years

 

^^^ Exactly the reason why it's worth it IMO.

 

not worth it unless you cant take care of your computer properly...

 

LOL - I like DeusEx opinion.

If you plan to keep you're machine for years to come, do it. If you plan to upgrade it in a year or so, to hell with it.

If you're worried about spilling water on it, simply don't drink around it.

Dells warranties are hard to void. Basically, they cover everything besides acts of god and what you broke. For example, you took it apart, and broke the ram in half - or - cracked you're screen by punching it for example. Those type of things Dell don't cover. Depending on warranty, Dell cover water spills and accidental droppings.

It's good to have a nice warranty, but if you don't need it don't get it.

 

Accidents can happen regardless or whether or not you "take care of your computer properly".

Sorry, but your statement is pretty ignorant and essentially says that everyone who gets Complete Care can't take care of their laptop. Rubbish!

 

No one needs it until an accident happens.

 

Yes, agree completely.

I usually buy CC if the price is right. IMO $200 for 4 years is not bad (but I'd prefer something like $150 for 3 years instead).

 

i agree it is worth if you can get it. since in my case i got the most cheap laptop i could find to be good enough, i couldn't get CC. (or ill have to be using a sempron with 512 ram etc etc)

 

I was about to respond that no it's not worth buying a 4 year warranty... buy a 2 or maybe 3 year warranty instead. But now that I see that it'll only really cost $200, I'd say yes it actually is worth it in this case, because that's what I'd expect to spend on a shorter warranty. So if you get a longer warranty for the same price, then great.

 

Accident protection and extended warratny used to be two seperate charges. Just something to keep in mind if you want coverage for spilling water/dropping laptops...

 

You still can buy a separate 3 year warranty or a 3 year + CC.

 

I would get it! I only got 1 year with accidental damage but as soon i as i get the gift card will extend it.
If something happens to your laptop and it has to replaced dell must give you equal or better configurations and the way the dell constantly changes/upgrades their products if something happens in 4 years to your laptop they will most likely not have the same configuration and send you a better new laptop!

 

I went with the 3 year extended warranty. I've already used it to replace a keyboard that developed a dead key after 2 months. Things go wrong.... especially if your laptop travels with you regularly. You could easily "fumble the ball" getting it out of your backpack. If you have kids, you'd be foolish not to go with an extended warranty that lasts as long as you plan on using it. Ever seen the movie, Gremlins? Kids are like that: cute and cuddly, but turn your back and they're torturing the cat or dumping a glass of water on your laptop.

AV1611 out...

 

well it depends on how long you are going to use it.. 200$ for 4 years seems great to me.. personally I got the 2 year plan and it was pretty expensive, I wish I could have gotten the deal you were offered!

 

Well I got the extended warranty, is the accidental damage warranty for $119 for 4 years worth it? I do move my laptop around, but I don't put any liquids near it, or at least try not to.

 

YES! I would get it! I only got 1 year with accidental damage but as soon i as i get the gift card will extend it.
If something happens to your laptop and it has to replaced dell must give you equal or better configurations and the way the dell constantly changes/upgrades their products if something happens in 4 years to your laptop they will most likely not have the same configuration and send you a better new laptop!
I think thats worth $119 more!

 

If you plan on using it for that long, to bring it around alot and if you have that kind of money and you are willing to spend it then go ahead.. I'd do it

 

Oh please... Of course accidents can happen but in most cases you can prevent them. Dont drink/eat next to your computer, and handle it carefully when you carry it... That about covers it. Its common sense.

-If you are a pig and eat next to your computer then dont whine if you ruin it and spend the extra money on the warranty.
- if you let OTHER PEOPLE eat or drink next to your computer, get the warranty...
-If you arent capable of carrying your computer and are afraid to drop it.. get the warranty.

In any other case.. DONT GET IT. You dont need it... you are covered for the first year which is when most defective laptops fail... Now think about this; you will spend 200$ for the warrany for 2 years right? in the UNLIKELY case that something does fail on your laptop you should be fine with fixing/replacing it for that much. And if the repairs cost more than that 200, you can always sell the computer by parts on ebay and get at LEAST 300$ from that (CPU / RAM/ HDD/Video Card/ Barebone Case). 300+200 = 500$ (200 comes from the warranty you SHOULDNT buy). Thats already half a NEW computer...
And at the end of your laptop's life it will be outdated and new technology will be available, so it wont even make sense to keep the current computer.

I never get extended warranties for any computers i buy.. and i had one of my laptops fail (asus Z71V). I sold it by parts, added a couple hundered and bought a new laptop.

Now as for my statement being rubish and implying that people cant take care of their laptops.... No it doesnt mean that. It means that some people are POORLY informed and buy the warranty even when they dont need it, simply because they dont know any better. If you have complete care thats great for you, but if i ever bought that id feel ripped off.

 

You can be the most careful person in the world, but all it would take is one accident for your laptop to hit the ground and break. Sometimes it might not even be your fault (someone bumps into you for example).

Let's say you get 3 year Complete Care and at about 2.5 years something happens to your laptop. Odds are that specific laptop will no longer be in production and if Dell can't provide refurbished parts to fix it, they'll give you a new machine of equal or greater specs.

This is a HUGE benefit that people forget about.

It's fine that *YOU* think you'll never need Complete Care, but don't talk down to people, or call them pigs if they decide they do. There will always be accidents which you can't prevent, and I personally want to make sure I'm covered.

Your typical "Joe Consumer" also doesn't want to be troubled with having to part out their old broken laptop to make money to put towards a new one. You're not only paying for the Warranty, you're paying for peace of mind.

 

amen my friend

 

You PIG . We are both entitled to our opinions... My point is that most users who treat their computers with care WONT need the warranty. Accidents happen but how often? how often do you travel and actually hold your laptop in your hand so they can bump into you and knock it out or something along those lines? Almost never... which is how you should think about the warranty.

When do you need it ? almost never.

 

You're correct, and neither opinion is necessarily right or wrong. My problem with your "opinion" is in the wording. It came across that those who invested in Complete Care were Pigs who didn't know how to take care of their laptop. Your comments come across as being ignorant and condescending. (Keep in mind, this is purely my opinion. Others may not have read your comments the same way, however it doesn't make my opinion any less valid.)

Although this may be correct, there will always be people who prefer to err on the side of caution and have that extra coverage and that is their choice whether or not to purchase.

You seem to be taking personal offense that anyone would bother to buy Complete Care. Are you being inconvenienced by this fact, or are you just annoyed that people aren't agreeing with your opinion?

What makes you the expert on how people carry their laptop? I walk around the house, sometimes only holding my laptop with one hand at my side. I like to think I'm pretty careful, but all it would take is one wrong step, or an excited pet to potentially cause an accident.

Again, who made you the expert? It's fine that *YOU* don't feel that *YOU* need Complete Care......but *YOU* are in no position to tell others what they do and don't need.

You don't have to agree with the reasons people have for purchasing Complete Care, but you do have to accept them!

 

Yes it is their choice. and i didnt make a choice for anyone here have i ? i just advised them what in my opinion the correct course of action was.

Im not taking personal offense at all, whatever gave you that idea. I even drew a smiley face next to the word pig to indicate that im not serious about calling you guys pigs... And just because you dont agree with me doesnt mean every other person on this forum feels the way you do.

No one made me an expert. In my response i said to take care of your laptop and use COMMON SENSE. If your idea of common sense is running around with your laptop around your house, holding it in one hand, then you have indeed made a correct decision by getting the complete care.

Did i EVER CLAIM I WAS AN EXPERT ? This part of your post is completely ridiculous... In the first part YOU acknowledge that i HAVE THE PRIVILEGE to post my opinion and now all of a sudden you write this "*YOU* are in no position to tell others what they do and don't need". Im in no more position to tell others what they need than YOU are... This is a public forum... people have different opinions...

I think that complete care is a complete waste and YOU wasted your money. But it doesnt matter because that is MY opinion. Once again the point of this forum is to allow people to make educated decisions based on the information provided by other users. The guy who started this thread will look at what I wrote, at what YOU wrote and make the choice for himself. YOU on the other hand need calm down.

 

I think you need to have an accident with your laptop so you understand the value of Complete Care.

Takes more than you to get me riled up.

 

i wont have "an accident" because i take good care of my computer. And i never did get riled up, i just felt i had to post a point by point response. Other than that Respect

 

No one plans to have an accident, especially the people who take care of their equipment. That's why it's called an "accident".

 

yes but i do take extreme care of my machine and i try to anticipate and prevent accidents. So far in 6 years i never even came close. Here is what i usually do:

1. Carry laptop with both hands. Always. Or in a bag with padding.
2. Never eat or drink near the computer.
3. Never let anyone inexperienced use my computer. If i do i tell them "you break it , you take it". (and pay of course).

those things about cover it. I mean what else could happen? A mechanical failure i can probably fix and if not i always like the idea of upgrade to a more powerful computer.

 

I believe that 3 years is the sweet spot. After that, if you need to you can probably extend the warranty another year or so.

I really wish my T23 still had a warranty since I could have had $260 worth of parts replaced. Instead, I went through the ever-reliable Ebay. I found a very good seller of Thinkpad parts though named lady_fixalot and I managed to get a new screen, battery, AC adaptor, keyboard, ethernet card, and i/o board for about $105.

I have never had a Dell laptop though, so your mileage may vary. I would go with the 3 year warranty, and then if you need to you can purchase parts on Ebay after that time since parts usually are cheaper for systems over 3 years old.

 

Don't you think it would be easier to spend the $200 and not have to be so anal all the time?
But thats just my opinion ANYWAY
Accidents could happen to ANYONE at ANYTIME!
The whole list you ran before about selling the laptop for parts on ebay for $300 and saving $200 by not buying the warranty then adding $500 to it and buy a new laptop makes no sense!
The person with the accidental warranty could get the same laptop for only the original $200 he spent on the warranty! Save himself the trouble of listing it on ebay and adding another $500 to buy a new laptop!
All because as stated 3 times before on this thread Dell must give you equal or greater configurations and we all know that in 4 years time the configuration you have know will most likely not be offered!

 

Dictionary.com

ac·ci·dent

No matter how careful you are you can't prevent the unexpected. What if I bump into you on the street while drinking my Big Gulp and spill it all over your laptop (laptop bag). Assuming you can't get me to pay for it because I ran for the hills then I just ruined your (presumably) new laptop. At least you can have the fun of upgrading to a "more powerful computer".

And assuming insurance covers it your deductible will be above the cost of Complete Care.

 

what if a meteor hits his house, god that would suck wouldn't it? haha

Anyway for that price personally I would get the insurance because I am planning on using this pc for 3-5 years.. if it was 400$ then I wouldn't have gotten it.. simple

 

Accidents could happen to anyone at anytime, but everyone can control their chances of an accident by taking simple precautionary measures.

Let me help you out with this one.
Let's say you bought your notebook for $1000 (Let's say this one here: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2376)
... along with a 3 year warranty for $200 ($338 for 3 year accidental damage for the vostro 1500)

Let's say at year 2.5 you damaged your notebook, (note the review date) and got a replacement.
Let's see what our numbers look like at this point.
The value of your replacement notebook ~400. If you take away the warranty cost ($200) this means that if you mange to sell those parts for ~200 or 'as is' http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-Inspiron-6...yZ140080QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem then you break even with the warranty. The only difference being, with the warranty, you are stuck with a depreciating notebook, and without the warranty, you have cash in your hands.

Of course, there are several variables that could change the outcome and results, I am simply using a realistic example that I can find.

Dell is not obligated to give you a new machine, I am not sure if people are willing to bet a huge amount of money for a 4 year comple care warranty.

 

I actually have never followed those points. I'm using laptops for 7 years and I yet have to see an accident Maybe I'm just lucky all this time.

 

I didn't realize you could extend the warranty after you buy the laptop. Say I bought a laptop with a standard 1 year warranty but later wanted to use my gift card to extend to 2-3 years or add accidental coverage.. How does work exactly in terms of cost?

Thanks.

 

If you do it within the first 30 days of the laptop's ship date you can get the extended warranty at the same cost it was offered to you when you ordered. Otherwise, you can extend the warranty, as long as your machine still has a warranty, at the full warranty price.

Go to support.dell.com and hit warranty then pop in your Service Tag. You will then have a link saying "Purchase Options" or something. Hitting that will show you the costs to extend your warranty.