HP At-Home Extended Warranty & Accidental Damage Repair -- Worth the extra $$$????

Even with my prospective dv9500t system configured at roughly $1,700 (after HP discounts), the $350 for a 3-year extended warranty with at-home service and accident protection comes to about 20% of the purchase price, for what is essentially only TWO MORE YEARS of warranty, plus the knowledge that I don't have to deal with shipping the system back to HP for service, and, of course the extra $100 to get it replaced when and if I drop it off a cliff on vacation or spill a hot cup of coffee all over it, lol.

I bought a cheaper extended warranty on a cheaper laptop from Circuit City one time, which I never used, but then the laptop was primarily for my FOLKS to use, and mostly a stationary device, and this one will be going on a cross-country vacation in September AND an Alaskan cruise, lol.

Also, I just read the majority of the "HP In-Warranty Repair woes" thread, and although I realize those posts represent only the folks who had BAD experiences, I ALSO realized I DON'T want to be the NEXT ONE, lol (I've been through some UNfun with both Dell's and Gateway's tech support in the past)...

Sooooo, I'd like to read the experiences of those of you who HAVE paid the extra bucks for the extended at-home warranty and/or the accidental damage replacement guarantee and just WHAT your experiences with THIS "extra level of service" has been.

PLEASE DON'T BE SHY! I need to buy soon.
Jeff

 

I have accidental damage warrenty but thank god I haven't had to use it yet

 

Way worth it! If you purchase thought the HP Store, you can even get a 4 year warranty with ADP (accidental damage protection).

I buy um with all my HP laptops (my 9500T is my tenth HP notebook). I buy um in three's. One to use, one as an emergency spare, and one for eventual spare parts.

While the warranty is not the best, its not the worst. Every notebook I have purchased had had to go in at least once.

The warrantys are also transferrable, so when you go to sell, it counts. IMHO, the aftermarket warranties are not as good.

ADP: I have had to make a claim at least three times. A massive tea spill (with lots of sugar), left one running outside, went inside and fell asleap, and woke up to the sound of rain (the laptop had set on fire and melted down), once the laptop rolled to the floor and shattered the screen. They replaced all 3 units with better ones (and fast).

These notebooks are powerfull enough to last you 4 years. I highly recommend the warranty.

Joe

 

Thanks for your response, Joe. I think I'd read about your burning, rained-on laptop once before, but it's good to read again... However, someone who buys THREE top-of-the-line laptops AT ONE TIME, EVERY TIME, is, I think, just A BIT out of the, ahem, socioeconomic demographic of MOST OF US, so I'd like to ALSO get some responses from more "average" (i.e., mostly broke folk), like me, lol.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Ever consider a Personal Article Policy through your insurance company?

 

Might already have some of that, Kubel... How (and how well) do those work?

Oh, and by the way, have you given up on resolving your issue you started the "HP in-Warranty Woes" thread over? After reading the better part of that thread (I finally gave up on reading all of it, but read way more than 100 posts, including MOST of yours, I think the issue is that Go 6150 graphics and as long as you have that, you'll ALWAYS have that issue, and it's really just a "live-and-learn" lesson on those graphics... I believe if you can upgrade the graphics, on that system, you may solve your issue, as my GUESS (really knowing next to nothing about that particular graphics setup) is that it's UNDERPOWERED for powering external monitors, which is WHY many of us are getting our system with the best graphic card we can afford (or that is offered) with the system.

At any rate, I'm still hoping for more experiences on the at-home warranty repair and accidental damage replacements.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Actually, I am broke, and saved for 3 years for the next laptop group (and I will probably buy only 2 this time). I cant afford these warranties any more than you can, however, I cannot afford to be without a machine for more than the time it takes to swap hard drives into an identical machine (vmware is helping this situation a lot though).

Anyway, consider my review as 10 single ones, as the experience has shown that every one of these machines went back at some time (including the new one will be making a trip - the grill is comming off and it arrived that way), and some made multiple trips.

All the previous (non-adp) repairs were motherboard related (and that costs well over $500 to replace). Waiting 5 or 10 days for an HP repair beats the heck our of 3rd party repairs (tried that) and those can take weeks.

I guess it is all a matter of how much money you are willing to absorb if something goes wrong. Almost anything going wrong will set you back 2 or 3 hundred, and a display or motherboard will cost $500+. Dont forget, almost everything is connected to the motherboard. That firewire connector (for example) aint too sturdy, and if it goes loose, I believe the only fix is a motherborrd (it is on the ZD7000's).

Of course, you can also try to do self repairs. I wanted to repair one of my ZD7000's that got hit by lighning, but the they are commonly going for more than $700 on ebay (fours years later), and I just could not see spending that sort of money to repair an old laptop. I also see the aftermarket prices for parts hit the roof after a couple years on these machines, and HP will not carry all the parts forever (they horde them for thier own warranty claims).
I actually believe the aftermarket folks are the ones jacking up the prices on eBay.

I do consider the Hp warranty to be a good investment (although pricey, and you have to send it in). It is a gamble. Your machine may never need repair.

In my case, I would have lost every time (9 machines x number of repairs), and most of those machines received very little use, and spent there lifes just sitting there and file serving.

Just an opinion,

Joe

 

You have to send it in EVEN if you get the "at home" version of the extended warranty service??? I thought with that version, they came to YOU (or sent a local tech they work with -- probably either Geek Squad or Firedog) out to work on it under contract, and took it back with them for further service ONLY if it was something BEYOND what they could do "in-home." I see two different levels of extended warranty service offered, at different prices, with the higer priced one indicating "in-home" service, so I just assumed that's how they do it.

At any rate, I would think if you purchase a system with that WORDING on the sales contract for the extended warranty, and then you have a need for it, they're LEGALLY OBLIGATED to come to your home and do as much as can be done before they take the computer back for more comprehensive, in-lab servicing. Otherwise, they'd be in breach of contract and committing fraud in interstate commerce, which is a FEDERAL CRIME punishable by LARGE fines and/or imprisonment.
Jeff

 

I do not think they offer in at home verison. If they do, do yo have a link, cause I want it!

Joe

 

Well, Joe, I COULDA SWORN I saw an "at-home" option in the extended warranties section, but I just went back to the HP site, where I DID have a saved cart with a dv9500t in it (a less-than-week-old SAVED CART -- their website says they'll save for a week), but they changed their specials in the past week, so they unceremoniously DUMPED my cart, and I had to build my system all over again... Funny thing, though... I THINK I came up with the SAME price... Then again, maybe those specials were gone LAST WEEK, too...

Perhaps it's DELL who offers that "at-home" option... If so, maybe I'll be getting a Dell... I'm REALLY not big on the thought of shipping my laptop off to some factory repair site somewhere and have who knows whom do who knows WHAT to it when and if I need repairs... especially not if for roughly the SAME PRICE (for the extended warranty, that is), I can get AT-HOME repair service... If NOBODY offered "at-home" repairs it would be different... I've been flipping and flopping between the Inspiron 1720 and the HP dv9500t all along... if the extended warranty options make the difference, that just might do it (Unless I buy a preconfigured system at Best Buy and get THEIR extended warranty).

Gawd, I'm SO confused!!!
Jeff

 

The problem was a ground loop. My laptop was dumping current through the ground which was picked up by my monitor as horizontal static/interference, and the cycle continued because both my monitor and laptop shared a ground connection, but through different paths. All I had to do was disconnect the loop by refusing my laptop a connection to the ground plug (and I did that with a ground adapter). A simple $.50 adapter fixed months of agony dealing with HP.

As far as Personal Article Policies: You would have to check with your insurance company, as I'm sure rates and policies differ. But I hear it's a good alternative to buying accidental damage protection.

 

Sorry to bump an old post, but I thought I would add to this incase someone else stumbles upon it with a search.

I believe in-home (on-site) option is only available on the hardware warranties, not the separate accidental damage warranties.