On Sept. 1 2006, I purchased a Kenmore HE2 Washer and Dryer from a Sears store located in Richmond, VA. These were full-sized units with the dryer stacked on top, and it was installed inside a utility closet in my kitchen by Sears technicians. I paid an additional $233 for a 5-year warranty for the washing machine.
As I will document below, Sears failed to live up to its warranty on multiple occasions, and because of this negligence my home has experienced considerable water damage.
SmartMoney has added its opinion to the argument of what warrants extended coverage and what doesn’t. Here’s their list of when and why you would want to buy that extended warranty—adjust their advice accordingly based on your own tolerance for risk and your history with dropping and spilling things.
Hewlett-Packard took over three months to fix reader Mark’s ailing laptop, which they then shipped to the wrong address. HP charged Mark several hundred dollars for the repairs in July, and gave an expected delivery date of August 5. In early September, Mark was told that the laptop would definitely ship by September 24. On October 10, Mark learned – after sending an email to the CEO and leaving ten messages – that his laptop could not be repaired, and that he would instead receive a new Compaq Presario by October 23. The laptop finally shipped on October 25 to Lavergne, Tennessee. Mark lives in Iowa.
Reader Chris writes the CEO of Sears to let him know why he’ll never step foot inside Sears ever again.
Dear Mr. Lewis,
The executive editor of Consumer Reports spoke to Newsday about warranties and service plans for consumer electronics, and how it’s pretty much always an unnecessary add-on that you should avoid. The stories that make it to the Consumerist are usually the exception; in reality, it’s rare that consumer devices break before you replace them anyhow.
“While moving to our new house last week a friend who was helping us accidentally spilt beer on my son’s DS lite and it stopped working. I knew that his DS was still under warranty, but I also knew that I would not cover physical damage caused by neglect. After checking Nintendo’s website, and confirming that spilling liquid on it would not be covered and that I would have to pay for the repair.”
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Carey will be on the FOX Business Network, discussing our reader’s fabled dusty PS3, this Friday morning at 7:45 AM.
We now have pictures of the Playstation 3 that Sony refused to repair under warranty because the unit was too dusty.
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FOX Business Network picks up our Sony PS3 “excessive dust voids your warranty” story [FOX Business Network]
Dan bought an Aquos LC-32D40U 32″ LCD TV’ and one month out of warranty it developed a thin black line on the right side of the screen. Sharp didn’t want to talk to him. Best Buy wanted to charge him $100 just to come out and look at it. Something had to be done. Dan writes:
A Sony CSR admitted to reader Ive that dust should not void a Playstation 3’s warranty. Transcript and audio, after the jump.
“I just got off the phone With PS3 customer support who kindly informed me that my PS3 is “too dusty” to be replaced under warranty. But won’t provide pictures unless they are subpoenaed.”
“This is Stephanie, I emailed you a couple of weeks ago about my MacBook’s cracked screen, and how the manager at Apple in Chestnut Hill was basically the worst person ever.”
A friend of ours bought a Sharp Aquos LC-32D40U last year. Its warranty expired in August. Naturally, this month, it developed a strange liberation. There’s a thin black line on the right side of the screen. It sorta looks like it’s not completely hiding the letter boxes when you go to full screen format. When he called Sharp, they didn’t want to help him because his warranty was over. Best Buy, where he bought it, will charge $100 to come out and look and it.
Last Wendesday, I was sitting in my dorm room by myself, doing homework on my Macbook, which is less than two months old. After typing my essay for a while, I went on my bed to do some other homework. Nobody else was in the room at all during this time, just me. After about 10 minutes, I returned to my computer, opening it only to see that 1/3 of the screen was broken.
Dell has decided that Saundra’s warranty, which ends in 2008, ends in 2007, and won’t repair her motherboard for free. Saundra has informed them of the error and sent them the relevant documents, to which Dell has shrugged. Saundra has now decided to sue Dell in small claims court. Which mall kiosk which she deliver the court papers to? Who knows, there’s got to be thousands of them around the nation… Her story follows.
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