Buying an HP Laptop from Costco?

Hi All,

I tried to search the threads and could not find an answer to this (though there are other mentions of Costco re: Alienware, Sony, etc.) so here goes:

As a prospective HP DV5T purchaser, I am trying to determine what the pro's and con's are for buying my laptop from Costco since I can fully customize it on their site the same way I can on HP's with the following pro's and con's:

Pro's
1) I get 90 days to return my laptop to Costco which is nice and also allows me time to see if Dell will release a Studio or newer XPS line with Montevino and a graphics card 9600M+ or better
2) They extend the basic warranty to two years for free

Con's
1) I cannot get the Accidental Protection warranty through the Costco site but according to HP, I can order it through them for about $250 for 2 years
2) No student discount allowed through the Costco site

Questions
Assuming my pro's and con's are correct (let me know if I'm missing anything), I am wondering about:

1) When I have a problem, I understand that I will need to bring my laptop into Costco and they return it to HP vs. going directly to HP. Has anyone had to do this and how well does it work? Is it easier or more of a headache?

2) Has anyone tried adding the Accidental Protection warranty through HP after buying the laptop and had to leverage it? Do you still go through Costco under that warranty or through HP?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. To see the price difference, I configured (on 1/1/2009) the same exact DV5T laptop on both the costco and HP site (using the student discount as well on the HP site) and selecting mostly top-end components, the Costco site still came out to be ~$60 cheaper at about $1609. However, since I will have to add the Protection warranty which I already included in the HP one at about $250 more, it seems I will be paying about $190 more for the one at Costco but will allow me 90 days to decide if I like my laptop vs. 21 days through HP.

 

Actually, you would just use HP for support as they are the ones that will back up the warranty. You can return to Costco and deal with them within the 90-days if you need to do a return (such as if you are dissatisfied with the product, I'm not sure what their terms for allowing a return are), but for anything technical you would just deal with HP support (phone).

I don't have experience with HP accidental protection, but you would go through HP and not Costco for that.

Overall, if you can get a good deal via Costco, it can be a good option.

 

Thank you for the quick response. I see, so basically you get an extended normal warranty but still all issues after the 90 days would go through HP directly? Got it.

I don't want to hijack my own thread but it does raise two other questions:

Does anyone have any experience with the Accidental Protection warranty? I have it through Dell and am using it for my wifes laptop right now and it is great. Does the HP one work well and without headaches/strings attached as well?

And yeah, the deal won't be as cheap as through HP only because of the after-market accidental protection plan and the lack of a student discount on the Costco site. I just need to decide, assuming I didn't miss any pro's/con's, if the $190 or so is worth the extra 69 days to be able to return/exchange the laptop.

 

Hi. I bought a laptop from costco today and want to know what invalidates the 90-day warranty. Thanks.

 

You may wish to look at the warranty guide.

 

Costco's return policy has tightened to 90 days since the guide was written and Amazon charges the ubiquitous re-stocking fee now I believe.

 

However if there is a major defect in the product, Costco is willing to bend the 90day return policy to keep customers happy. However, YMMV.

 

Well, I called HP today and found out that:

1) If you want the Accidental Protection plan, you can add it up to one year after you get your laptop, so you can buy it from Costco, and after 90 days, if you keep it - get it.

2) You can't get an coupon code deals or student discounts from Costco

So I'm still probably going to order mine from Costco as it's cheaper than any coupon I can find, but since you save 80$ off the $250 for a 2 year extented warranty with Accidental protection, I'll probably pay a little more after all is said and done.

But at least I have 90 days to make sure I love it, and that Dell doesn't finally release an XPS upgrade with Montevino or add a real grapics card to the Studio line in the meantime.

Or if HP ever releases a laptop that isnt a fingerprint magnet, I'd still trade for that in those 90 days.

P.S. I know you can use homeowners, etc. for personal item insurance and it's cheaper, but at least in California, if you file a claim on it, your rates are pretty much guaranteed to go up so it's best to file a large claim for what you really have the insurance for (i.e. flood, fire, etc.) So I rather get the Accidental and like with my wife's Dell, we sent it back after 2 years to get all the small things fixed since they cover anything under it.

 

I originally got my laptop from Costco. Then I found out about HP's student discount, then there was a $400 off coupon from HP. My laptop went from $1400+ down to $953, +$251 for 3 years accidental warranty. My Costco took it back without a problem (granted, I hadn't opened the box yet). You'll know within 3 weeks whether or not you want to keep it.

If you keep waiting for the latest and greatest technology, you'll never get one. You'll eventually have to pull the trigger.

 

I've bought 4 laptops from Costco over the past few years, all HPs, and have never had an issue with warrany from HP or service. Everytime I've priced them, Costco edged out any HP coupon or promotion price-wise.

 

I actually found costco to be much more expensive for me. It just wasn't worth an extra $400 after student discounts and such...(and about $600 with my coupon code)