Chris was fixing his neighbor’s Toshiba laptop when he discovered that the hard drive was defective. Just like how he does at his job where he is a professional computer technician, he wrote “FAULTY X” on it to indicate it shouldn’t be used again. When he sent the computer, which was still under its 1-year warranty period, in to Toshiba, he was dismayed by the reply he got back. They refused to replace the hard drive because “the label was written/torn” and “Toshiba does not cover the cost for this type of damage.” Now they $417.58 for the repair.

Here’s the email they sent Chris:

During the Diagnostic procedure our technicians found that your unit’s HDD is defective but the label was written/torn. Unfortunately Toshiba does not cover the cost for this type of damage and as such we will have to charge you for the parts $357.85 and labor costs $60. Total charge: $417.85.

Please inform me on how to proceed, if you choose to go ahead authorize the repairs we will need your billing information (Credit Card Number, Expiration date and cardholder name). Please respond within 3 business days otherwise we have to ship back unrepaired.
To provide your billing information please call me at the number below, or let me know when would be a good time to reach you. Please contact me within 3 business days otherwise I have to ship your unit back un-repaired.

Those are some damn expensive stickers! Takeaway: if you don’t follow the warranty repair rules to a T and try to “help,” be ready for your good deed to not go unpunished. Better to just do exactly what they say and get the dang thing replaced for free.

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