3 year protection plan worth $177

3year protection plan for $177.. Its a thinkpad.. Do they replace the unit if i drop and brake it? Anyone know how Lenovo handles it? And whats the difference between "depot" and "on site" ??

 

If it's listed as one of the Accidental Damage Protection plans, then yes, it will cover accidental damage, however, they would repair it, not replace it.

And depot is where you send it to their repair center, on site is where a certified repair agent comes to your location to repair the unit.

 

As JM said. If you are looking for coverage for drops spills and such, you will need to buy the accidental plan. If you are looking for coverage of basic failures of parts, then the regular plan is for you.

As far as if the warranty is worth it, it depends on how much you spent on the machine and how long you want it to last. I can tell you that I went for the standard 1 year warranty given at purchase and I will probably buy the extended warranty so that the machine is covered for 4 years, the time I want it to last. Do a search, there have been a lot of threads about whether a warranty is worth it or not. Different people feel different ways, but I will say that replacing laptop components(other than RAM and harddrive) can be difficult and expensive to do, unlike a desktop.

Therefore, if you want the machine to last for a guaranteed 3 years, then I would say it is worth it.

 

A single repair is going to cost you at least that much. Get the warranty.

 

My friend told me that if I wanted to replace my motherboard it was gonna cost 300-500 parts and labour. The warranty is half to a third of the normal cost and it's 3 years. Whereas a component can break easily within weeks. Although there is a hassle with depot, it's better than nothing, especially if you like your laptop. Onsite is a bit more expensive, but why not?

 

I chose for on-site because I always have issues when it comes back from the depot (on my Fujitsu). Now I can inspect while the tech is present.

 

And another benefit of on-site repair is that it eliminates the chances of damages in shipping and the insanity of depots. Scratches to systems are very common when at the depot.

 

Think of it this way, there are many integrated components on the motherboard: network, sound, memory card reader, display port, not to mention the soldered on components like GPU. I got my first thinkpad from my college and of course they included on site warranty place at the school, and I can remember when my network port just stopped working one day and they just swapped out the whole motherboard like it was nothing. A $20 repair for a desktop would cost more like $500 in a laptop.

 

Nice. Yeah i ended up spending 200 on the on-site 3 year protection warranty.. thanks guys for the advice

 

Is there timeframe to purchase the warranty? I don't want to spend another 2-3 grands right now, but I hope to purchase them later in time.

 

As I remember you have 30 days to buy accidental coverage and 1 year to buy normal coverage.

 

For example, if I purchase 2 year normal coverage, does it count from day 1 I purchased the laptop, or the date I purchased the warranty?

HP warranty seem to count from day 1 regardless whenever one buys the warranty.

 

Dell also counts from the original purchase price, and if a unit is replaced, the warranty of the second unit begins from the purchase date of the unit it replaced.
The warranty is on you, not the unit. They know it is c__p, just waiting for you to realize it too!

 

Uh, it would be ridiculous for them to give you a brand new warranty every time they make a replacement.

Warranty counts from day one.

 

Its hard to decipher the way he wrote it, but he was trying to say the warranty ends 3 years from the original purchase date, even if they give you a new replacement unit 2 years into the contract, you will only have 1 year warranty on the new replacement.

 

That's exactly how I interpreted it. And it makes perfect sense to do it that way.

 

Example: I purchased a Dell Axim, and the screen died six weeks later. Sent it back, and they replaced with a refurb. unit. The refurb was not working properly, and although the policy is that they dont replace with new after 30 days, they sent me a new unit. The new unit broke the same way the first one did - 11 days after the warranty from the initial purchase date of the first unit. Thankfully, I bought with Amex who refunded the amount; my point is that when you purchase a product with a warranty, you, as the consumer, are purchasing the right to ensure that that product will last for that duration of time. The onus is on them to perform. If not, they should be replacing your original purchase with what you bought - the right for the product to last for that time. you are not buying a time-elapsing wager based on the consumer, but on the item you bought.
I understand their side of it, the bottom line is that it shows a lack of belief in the ability of their product to last.
ATB

 

Does anyone know how long that 25% discount on warranties that Lenovo currently has is going to last?