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    Should I ditch the dell warranty and go with squaretrade?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by claudenm, Apr 18, 2011.

  1. claudenm

    claudenm Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all,

    I'm thinking about getting a refund for my dell in home warranty service, and getting a square trade warranty. The drawback would be that if the dell breaks down in the first year I have to pay for shipping. On the other hand, Dell's customer service is pretty poor, and Squaretrade's is pretty great. Plus with square trade I would get accidental damage coverage for three years.

    Thoughts?

    Thanks!

    Claude
     
    claudenm, Apr 18, 2011
    #1
  2. huai

    huai Notebook Consultant

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    Square trade kicks in after manufacturer warranty runs out. For first year you'll be using Dell's warranty service.
     
    huai, Apr 18, 2011
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  3. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    On contrary, Dell's customer support is far superior to anyone else's. Try going to HP or Acer and then talk about poor customer support.

    The problem with Squaretrade or any other 3rd party warranty is they only value their warranty for the value of the notebook. So if say you buy a 500 dollar laptop, and the motherboard goes bad outside Dell warranty and the motherboard replacement is 300. Then you have only 200 dollar left on your warranty. So should anything else happen they buy out your notebook and you get the remaining value.

    Manufacturers will fix a notebook if there is genuinely a defect "unlimited" times. However many after 3-4 repairs they consider getting you a new unit.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Apr 18, 2011
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  4. crudo20

    crudo20 Notebook Guru

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    Is this still true for warranties? My dell warranty just ran out and I'm thinking about trying squaretrade instead of dell - but sounds like a bad idea based on what you're saying there.
     
    crudo20, Mar 12, 2012
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  5. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    It's not a bad thing, but that's how Squadtrade and other 3rd party companies warranties work and why they are so much cheaper.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Mar 13, 2012
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  6. ray4jc

    ray4jc Notebook Evangelist

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    You only have a limited amount of time after the initial purchase to purchase a squaretrade warranty.
     
    ray4jc, Mar 13, 2012
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  7. dave-p

    dave-p Notebook Deity

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    +1 for going with the Dell warranty,
     
    dave-p, Mar 13, 2012
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  8. crudo20

    crudo20 Notebook Guru

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    Do you guys ever see deals going on the warranties, or are the prices pretty fixed? I think a 1 year is $180 (next day service)
     
    crudo20, Mar 15, 2012
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  9. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    I think it depends on what you buy (XPS, Inspiron, Alienware). A 3 year warranty extension (includes onsite) on my R2 is 512 dollars, while 1 year for my brother's M5030 is 120. You can always call in, and say you are on the "fence" for upgrading the warranty, they should provide some handsome discounts.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Mar 15, 2012
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