Extending my 700m warranty?

My 700m is 10 months old and has about 60 days remaining on the original warranty. Over the weekend the DVD-ROM/CDRW drive failed. I wasn’t even using it. The tray just randomly ejected and that was it. The system stopped recognizing the drive. I just received a replacement drive (albeit refurbished) from Dell. The original was a Sony. The replacement is a Phillips (I have no idea if one is more desirable than the other).

Anyway, I’m getting a little worried and I’m thinking it might be a good idea to purchase an extended warranty. I’m wondering what your experiences have been with purchasing Dell warranties after the original purchase? Are there any deals to be had? Can I negotiate the price? Are there online coupons for this? Do you recommend any particular warranty plan for my situation?

Thanks in advance.

Tipsy

 

In my experience, I've never used extended warranties. I wouldn't get it - here's why. By the time something breaks, you'll probably want a new one. Laptops don't just break down as commonly as you may think. Several years will pass when your laptop requires an expensive repair, like, say, a motherboard. By the time that happens, you won't want to pay the money for a new mobo, it won't be worth it ; instead, you'll want to buy a new laptop for a little bit more cash. That being said, dont' get the warranty, you'll regret it when you end up buying a new laptop in a few years because you don't want to fix the 700m .

 

Yes but this is happening on a 10 month old machine; 10/12 warranty months might I add. Who's to say that in 3 months, something else coiuld go wrong? I mean, this could have easily happened 61 days from now. It is quite close to the warranty-end date that it would make someone suspicious for sure.

I recommend calling Dell and telling them to give you extended warranty for 2-years at purchase price (same price as if you would have bought it at time of purchase) IF you plan to use this laptop for atleast the next 1 - 2 years.

 

I would get it if you carry it around and take it places. I take my to work in the Laptop bag I bought with it to work on the train everyday. I am happy with the fact that if something goes wrong after I swing it around over the years, I can get it fixed if something goes wrong. I bought it for pure peace of mind over the next three years

 

There’s no doubt that I’m going to buy an extended warranty. I travel around the world 2 weeks every month. There is a good likelihood this machine will get damaged at some point. Just the fact that the DVD drive failed after 10 months when I wasn’t even using it is enough motivation to extend the warranty.

It’s just very frustrating dealing with Dell on the telephone. The customer service is all outsourced overseas and the reps read from a script. They speak English, but in my experience, they can’t fully understand conversational English. Go outside the box and they revert back to the script.

Very frustrating.

Tipsy

 

are you sure you have the correct department? i believe dell has outsourced some of their tech support overseas (Dell Home Support), but the sales staff is located in the US. i think you want the sales staff if you're going to be buying add'l warranty time.

 

I just returned my brand new 700m Tuesday to get a refund b/c the Philips combo drive was kind of noisy and showed signs of straining. The vibration from the drive also made me feel uncomfortable. The cd-rw drive that's used on my desktop also made by Philips and showed similar kind of problem. No more Philips for me...at least for a while.

In your case, I think it's justifiable to buy extended warranty IF it's not too expensive.

I also agree that it's frustrating dealing with Dell on the telephone. In my case, the dell staff were well-mannered, but I had to go thru hoops to get my refund.

 

You returned your whole new 700m to get a refund because your philips drive was noisy??? No problems with the NEC drive that came with mine. And even if there was I would get the drive maybe replaced by Dell and not give the computer back for a refund.

I do not think the drive was the whole problem???

 

I looked up extended warranties on the Dell website and there was a number to call that said something like “call this number to extend your warranty.” From there I was transferred no fewer than 5 times. All had Indian accents and no one could satisfactorily answer my questions. I’ll keep trying.

Tipsy

 

It's pretty much the whole problem. The drive seems like it's going to break down at any given time. After I'd played a few songs, my CD was getting "warm", the combo drive was straining and making loud noise the whole time. I tried to cover up the noise by turning up the volume but the sound coming from the speakers was getting worse. IMO, the speakers' quality wasn't even good at the beginning.

Even though I have to pay for the shipping cost plus insurance to get my refund, I think I have to do it to avoid further time loss and potential headache.

 

I can understand your pain, but the 700m could never be regarded as a multimedia machine in the first place, get a 6000 or 9300. And depending on the cd used, all my drives at certain times with certain media can rattle and roll along. I have a total of 5 drives on my various computers and some cd media can make noises in drives and some are fine.