Below I detail a problem I encountered with my 2005 F-150 pickup and what I thought were covered damages and repairs under the initial warranty or the ExtraCARE extended coverage.
warranties
Ford's $5698.37 Pinging Noise
By 9.22.08
Ex-Best Buy Employee Regrets Selling Warranties Now That He's A Customer
By 9.15.08
We just got an email from reader Mike, who claims to be a former Best Buy employee who regrets selling all those extended warranties now that he’s actually trying to use the one that he purchased.
Nintendo Repairs Out-Of-Warranty Wii In One Day, For Free
By 9.12.08
I have a first generation Nintendo Wii and I recently bought the game Boom Blox for it. When I put the game in to start playing it would often lock up at the health warning screen and I would have to restart my Wii by unplugging it since no other method would work.
Sears Offer To Mail Customer Missing Key To Floor Model Snowblower
By 9.6.08
Aaron visited Sears to pick up a new Craftsman snowblower he bought for 10% off on Sears.com, but the store only had one floor model in stock. Aaron agreed to take the unit after staff assured him that it came with a warranty, manuals, and all the things normally bundled with new snowblowers. Of course, Sears couldn’t find either the manual or the keys. A salesman promised that “Ray from Lawn & Garden” would mail the key whenever he returned, an offer Aaron refused. The salesman then offered a key from another snowblower, promising “the keys are basically universal.” That key didn’t work because, as a different associate later discovered, the unit was missing its electric start socket.
Update: EEEPC Return A Recursive Hellhole
By 8.28.08
Mike writes in with an update on what he’s doing to get his Asus EEPC fixed. We think his number one way to solve the problem is to activate the extended warranty protection on his credit card. His reply to that is, “My credit card has an extended warranty but since it is still in warranty with Asus, that can’t help.” Not that we want to embarrass Mike, but since this can help other people, I need to point out that this isn’t true.
Personal Finance Roundup
By 8.14.08
When should you spend to save? [MSN Money] “Are warehouse store memberships a good deal? How about extended warranties? It all depends on the products — and on you, the shopper.”
Whatever Acer Is Doing To Your Laptop Is The Opposite Of Repairing It
By 8.13.08
Reader Alex bought an Acer laptop with a 3 year extended warranty, and honestly, we lost count of how many times he’s sent it in to Acer for repairs — but every time Acer sends it back it seems to get a little bit less functional. Now he’s finally had enough and is demanding a replacement. This has lead to a 5 month stand-off in which Acer is refusing to send him a replacement because it would be a “downgrade” from his current broken laptop. Alex has already replaced the laptop and was going to give up. We’re his last hope…
CompUSA Repairs Laptop After New TAP Company Refuses
By 8.7.08
Assurant Solutions, the company that’s supposed to be honoring any outstanding TAP agreements with former CompUSA customers, likes to refuse service for arbitrary reasons. Luckily for TAP-holders, CompUSA has said it will honor any TAP agreements if Assurant doesn’t. The guy with the broken laptop wrote back to let us know that CompUSA indeed came through for him after every attempt he made with Assurant ended in rejection.
Despite Bankruptcy, Olevia Says Warranties Good
By 7.28.08
Even though they filed for Chapter 11, the makers of Olevia brand TVs have pledged that they will continue to honor their warranties, reports Marketnews. The news should come as a relief to worried consumers. Olevia was known for making good HD-LCD tvs at a good price.
Man Shoots Lawnmower With Sawed-Off Shotgun, Voids Warranty
By 7.25.08
Not only is it illegal to shoot your lawnmower with a sawed-off shotgun, it’s illegal to own a sawed-off shotgun. Apparently, no one bothered to share this information with Keith Walendowski of Milwaukee, WI.
CompUSA Says They'll Make Sure Your TAP Service Is Honored
By 7.23.08
Lonny Paul, the director of e-commerce for the rebooted CompUSA, contacted us today regarding a reader’s tale of TAP woe. Lonny writes,
10 Secrets To Getting Better Tech Support From Asus
By 7.16.08 — Updated: 3.18.13
An Asus technician has stepped forward out the shadows to give us the 10 insider tips for getting through and getting better and faster tech support from the computer and computer parts maker. Some things just can’t be fixed though, but it’s at least to know the soul-crushing math they’re using to destroy the customer experience. Considering how bad their tech support is, you’re definitely going to need these tips…
Don't Get Ripped Off By A Shingle Warranty
By 7.14.08
If you’re not careful, a shingle warranty can leave you soaked. Shingle warranties usually only pay out when the shingles themselves are defective, and most shingle failures are due to improper installation. The shingles themselves are only 10-20% of a roofing job. Most of the costs are from labor. If your shingle warranty covers only the shingles themselves and not the warranty, the shingle warranty will only be worth a few hundred dollars. And watch out for prorated shingle warranties – their value may decline precipitously after the first few years. Learn more about shingle warranties and what to watch out at The Roofery.
Olevia TV-Maker Files For Bankruptcy. Goodbye, Warranties.
By 7.10.08
If you have an Olevia TV, your warranty is probably going to be worthless now. Parent company Syntax-Brillian has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Olevia is going to be spun off into its own limited liability company. An Engadget commenter suggests that after the bankruptcy proceedings, Syntax-Brillian will have no assets, only liabilities. In accounting terms, outstanding warranties are a liability. It’s just an educated guess, but don’t plan on counting on Olevia to fulfill their warranties (not like they were so great at service to begin with). Instead, if you bought an Olevia on a credit card, you may have extended warranty protection through your credit card company, as Meghann describes in a recent post (see number 6).
HP Offers To Fix Your Defective Laptop For Free, Then Changes Its Mind. Twice.
By 7.8.08
Reader Amy’s HP laptop is defective and HP offered to fix it for free–then changed its mind and wanted $800. Amy asked them to return the laptop, and when she got it back, she found that it was even more broken than when she sent it in. She contacted HP again and again they offered to fix it for free. This time, they let the laptop sit around for 3 weeks before calling her to let her know that they were voiding her warranty because of “liquid damage.” Amy says the first repair ticket has no mention of this mysterious liquid damage…
Hungry HP Repair Dept Captures Another Laptop
By 6.12.08
You gotta hand it to Hewlett Packard—they’re able to improvise quickly when it comes to making up excuses. Dustin wrote to let us know that so far, over the three weeks that HP has had his laptop in for repair, he’s heard these reasons for why they haven’t sent it back yet:
- laptop warranty voided because of dog hair under keyboard
- repair placed on hold because they need to reformat the hard drive
- hard drive needs to be replaced
- OS could not be replaced because product sticker in back was gone
It may not surprise you to find out that Dustin sent in the notebook to have the AC jack repaired, because it had started to come loose and the power cord wouldn’t stay securely connected. The keyboard, hard drive, and OS were all just fine.
UPDATE: I Am Fed Up With HP And Bought A Macbook Instead
By 5.20.08
Reader Katy, whose laptop had disappeared into the black hole that is the HP repair department, writes us with an update. HP sent her computer back, but it’s still sort of broken. She’s going to work with HP to get the laptop fixed under warranty (so she can give it to her brother), but she’d had enough and went out and bought a Macbook.
