Questions on Lenovo Accident Warranty

If I get a T61p, I am defenetly getting the accident coverage for at least 3 years. I have a couple of questions.

1.) Does the accident coverage include full protection? Asked another way, are there any kinds of damage/parts/labor it does not cover?

2.) As I said above I will defenetly atleast get the 3 year depot with accident protection. I have the option of extending that for another year for $80, for a total of 4 years. Is it worth it or am I at the point where I am spending more for the warranty than it is worth? My total warranty cost for the 4 year depot with 4 year accident warranty = $303

This purchase is already a few hundred dollars over budget but I still think it is the best deal in town. Also this might be my only chance to get the Thinkpad in its current form(IBM days design). Lenovo might change the design significantly in the following years to come. In addition I don't like the idea of the next series of Thinkpads having the ATI cards. I defenetly don't want a machine with ATI as I don't like there performance and poor Linux compatibility.

Thanks

 

Could any one please provide any insight on this? Thanks.

 

"Protection Services and warranty service upgrades help protect your product purchase in case of accidental damages, such as drops or falls, liquid spills and LCD damage. Include a warranty service upgrade with your protection service and gain peace of mind by proactively avoiding potential costly repairs down the road for only pennies a day.

This service is not available for consumer purchase in California and Florida. "

I recommend calling Lenovo if you want more information.

My personal opinion is that paying 20% of the value of an item for a warranty is silly. Do you still own any laptops or computers that you owned 3 or 4 years ago?

 

Actually this will be my first laptop purchase. I have owned various desktops in the past and currently own a custom desktop that I made. I have had it for 3 years and it is still blazing fast, especially with Linux. I am the kind of person who usually goes for top of the line and keeps it as long as possible.

I think you are correct, looks like the 4 year accident protection might be a bit much and a waste of money. Dropping down to 3 years saves me $80.

I defenetly want to do a warranty, not just stay with the standard 1 year. I was first thinking of going with the 3 year depot by itself ($95), but I read omph's horror story about the depot claiming something was spilled on it and wanted to charge him $750 for the MOBO replacement. I figured that the accident warranty would be great so that the depot won't play games with me and say this isn't covered or that isn't covered. Without the warranty the laptop will be between $1,200 and $1,300 dollars. I can't afford to take a $1,200 to $1,300 loss.

What do you suggest?

 

If paying for the 3 year with accident coverage makes you feel better, then you gotta do what makes you feel comfortable.

I'll advise against it all day, every day, but there's no reason to listen to me.

 

Some people get the 3 year accidental protection and then drop the laptop off from 3 or 4 floors up when the end of the protection nears. That of course completely destroys the laptop and they would have to replace it with an equal or better laptop. Of course 3 years from now they will not have current T61p left, not even in refurbished section I would think, so they would have to give you a "new" refurbished laptop.

Anyway, not saying that's what you should do. You should buy the warranty if it gives you peace of mind (that's some expensive peace of mind ). If you think you need it but don't get it, you'll never be able to fully enjoy your laptop because you'll be worried the whole time.

Anyway, just my 2-cents.

 

Yea...I have heard of that but would Lenovo actually give you a new laptop replacement? Sounds too good to be true...paying $400 now for new laptop in the future.

 

I would assume that Lenovo would...I know for a fact that Dell does. I work in IT at my college part time (I'm a student) and we had a student bring in a Dell D610 that had gotten puked on and Dell replaced it with a D630 under the accidental damage warranty.

 

lol - Puked on? You guys are funny....

Well, I hear what all of you are saying. Many are saying that the extended warranty is just a waste. I will be using the laptop mainly at home, my friends place and the local cafe once in a while, but mainly at home. I will not be traveling with it or using it for college and I don't have any little kids or pets. No one will be using this but me.

I am not accident prone and take good care of everything I buy. I guess what worries me about a laptop is that it has many un-replaceable parts like the GPU, MOBO etc as opposed to a desktop. If any of these parts go the whole laptop goes, and they are not worth fixing as the cost might be enough for a new laptop. Another concern of mine is with the depot center and them potentially denying me a fix during the warranty period, saying that I spilled something on it, like omph. So my options are ...

1.) Stay with the 1 year standard warranty(depot). I will be paying with my Credit card which doubles the manufacturer's warranty. So I think I will get 2 years warranty total.

2.) Spend $95 and get the 3 year depot warranty

3.) Spend $223 and get the 3 year depot with accident coverage

4.) Spend $80 more and get the 4 year depot with accident coverage - I am shying away from this cause I think it is too much.

 

You can go from 1 year to 3 year for $95? Hm....I would consider it..

Also, I think your credit card company will boost the 3 year to a 4 year. I think I would consider that since it's not a lot of money for 2 extra years.

Again, my 2-cents

 

Actually my credit card doubles the manf. warranty for a total of up to 2 years only. So for me, if I stayed with the standard 1 year warranty it would get doubled to a total of 2 years or pay $95 and get a total of 3 years. So basically it would be $95 for 1 year extra.

 

Oh...really? I thought they usually double the warranty period up to a maximum of 1 extra year (which is the situation i stated previously). Anyway, in that case I would definitely just stick with the 2 years. Paying $95 for 1 extra would be a bit too much for me.

 

"Does the accident coverage include full protection? Asked another way, are there any kinds of damage/parts/labor it does not cover?"

I know earlier someones sid they warranty spills. I don't believe they do and they are real quick to tell you that.

Alternately, they can be excellent with their warranty. i popped a Key off my keyboard and called. I had a new NMB keyboard the next day.

 

Are you sure? I think they do cover spills...or they SHOULD. I know that if you have accidental coverage on a Dell and you spill coke or something over your laptop, you can get a replacement.

 

I had bought 3 yrs warranty and plus my amex card would give another year. So it is actually 4yrs total for the price of 3.

 

Does this warranty cover theft?

 

No, accidental warranty does not cover theft. There's usually a separate warranty for that.

 

I found a great article, here on NBR that explains the various credit cards and the warranty policy. From what I found AMEX and Visa add an extra year to what you buy/have, where are Mastercard only adds the extra year if your warranty is a year or less. I will need to look into this some more. So if I understand this correctly, I will have 2 years warranty with the base option and 4 years if I buy the 3 year warranty option. Therefore I would actually be paying $95 for 2 more years for a total of 4 years, which seems like a pretty good deal to me.

 

Yea, that's what I thought at the beginning. I would totally get 2 extra years for $95. Yes it could end up being a complete waste of money, but having peace of mind for another 2 years is definitely worth $95.

 

Regardless of whether you get accidental damage coverage or not, I would get the on-site warranty, not the depot repair. For most repairs, the on-site warranty will mean that the notebook is going to be repaired at your house, right in front of your eyes. I think that is generally much better than shipping it off to a depot.

Not a huge difference in price between depot and on-site coverage, and it is worth it. You will be without your notebook for a much shorter time also, and you won't have to remove your hard drive or your memory upgrade.

Andrew

 

Visa warranty enhancements?

I have three years of warranty and accident protection. In the fourth year, who would I talk to about warranty? Lenovo doesn't know anything about it? Who pays for it? Visa?

 

I think what I read was that you call the credit card company in the last year and they take care of it.

 

I think you're suppose to file a claim when you make the laptop purchase. Send it in to Visa so they know they owe you 1 year of warranty. And then if anything breaks in the 4th year, just call up Visa to get it fixed.