A friend broke my Z :(

The back right corner got smashed, so the case is fractured and missing bits, the right hinge and power button are broken, and the dvd drive isn't closing all the way (and may be broken). On the bright side, the screen itself didn't get cracked...

I'm shipping it to a repair center tomorrow... I hope it won't cost me an arm and a leg to get it fixed. How much $$$ worth of damage does that sound like to you guys?

 

how did he smash it? shouldnt he pay for the damge??

 

Hmm, did your friend break it while you were around? Were you using it when they broke it?

I think your friend should pay for it, since it is their fault. I mean, one of my friends ruined the keyboard on my SR, and as soon as they'll let me order a keyboard, he's paying for it. (Of course, I have 3 witnesses, so I wasn't going to pay for it anyway.)

 

The Z was in its carrying case in my backpack, and he was screwing around and threw me to the ground... and the Z got smashed.

Yeah, I need to see if he'll pay for the damage (or at least part of it). We're both poor college students though :/

 

Do you or your parents have homeowners' insurance? They may cover the damage if you're still a dependent, especially if it was done by a third party and you can get a statement from them confirming it was their fault. Find out what the deductible is, though. A lot of them have high $250-500 deductibles, in which case, you're kind of out of luck with this unless your parents have specific riders for computer equipment with lower deductibles.

This really sucks, though! I'd probably cry if that happened to my beloved laptop!

EDIT: Here's what it says from Sony's repair center:

Best case scenario, looks like $280 in repairs.

 

Yeah, I understand. The person that broke my keyboard is poor as well... but he has financial aid, so he's using some of that. (He has around $600-800 in Financial aid though I think right nowish.)

I'm poor myself, I have about $23 to my name. xD

Hmm, was there anyone around when that person threw you to the ground? I'd get signed and dated sheets from them saying that this person did indeed throw you to the ground recklessly. (That's what I was going to do, but the person I'm dealing with is cooperative and nice, so yeah.)

 

That really sucks, if he is any sort of "friend" he will recognize that he has at least some if not all liability in the situation (obviously I don't really know what the circumstances were...). Hope things work out, it doesnt sound like its going to be cheap...
So would an extended "accidental" warranty covered something like this?

 

That's why in all honesty, I wouldn't lend anything of value to a friend. Lesson learned.

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I don't think it would. The coverage Sony provides is Accidental Damage from Handling (i.e. normal usage patterns). I'm going to guess being thrown to the ground would not be covered in this case.

I just made a thread earlier today wondering about whether I should get insurance to cover this sort of stuff, and now I'm really leaning towards actually getting this coverage.

 

talin- The person didn't lend their friend ANYTHING. It was in meteor's case which was on meteor's PERSON and the friend recklessly pushed him. It caused meteor to fall on the ground and crush his Z on the ground (probably partially fell on the part that got crushed.)

(Edit, if you meant in my case? For mine, I was using it, and my friend who was sitting pretty far from everyone was going to close his bottle of soda when our other friend (the one responsible) made a bad choice and shook the friend with the soda extremely violently, causing soda to fly all over the screen (which is all I saw, but it landed in the keyboard a tiny bit too enough to ruin some keys) as well as my two other friends' cases of their laptops. )

 

So $280 - $700
probably $700... that's pretty sucky

lol, yeah, I wish I'd gotten that Accidental Damage warranty

By the way, about the home owners insurance; doesn't it require that the accident happened in the house? (We were at school)

 

You know, I am not sure, but with some Houseowner's Damage insurances, the item has to be registered with the insurance company to get the insurance payments and stuff if it were to break. I don't think it needs to be at your home where it occurred either.

You should check for it if you have some kind of Homeowner's Insurance to be able to use *like parents, or if you live with someone with homeowner's insurance and can get coverage*.

Gosh, with that much cost, that's close to 1/2 of the actual cost... but they would have to replace the casing and the hinge most likely (and the button, maybe optical drive).

 

Some friend, eh? Sorry to hear that, meteor...

 

Actually, like I said earlier, you need to be careful about tricky warranty terms. Sony explicitly states Accidental Damage due to Handling, so technically, they could weasel their way out of it by stating that getting thrown on the ground isn't covered. Best bet is to get some sort of insurance. I looked around and companies like CSI (collegestudentinsurance.com) or NSSI (nssi.com) offer affordable accidental damage protection for a lot of your electronics & possessions. It may be too little too late, but at least next time, you'll be covered? =\

As for home insurance, you should ask your parents. A lot of them count dorm rooms as a temporary residence and if you're still listed as a dependent for them, you could still be covered, even though you weren't technically at home. I called Geico to get a quote today, and they told me that they only covered damage outside the home if it was some third party responsible (like someone else damaged my laptop or someone stole my laptop from my car) - but this varies widely depending on your policy and insurance company.

 

Buy an ADH now. Wait 2 weeks and then claim that you accidentally dropped it. Um...I think doing this is illegal. Oh no! I think I'm in trouble because I teach you do that.

 

Eh, consequences for getting caught at insurance fraud simply isn't worth it if you ask me. And hasn't meteor sent his laptop in for repairs already?

Either way, if your insurance doesn't cover it, see if your friend's insurance or his parents' insurance might cover it. There's also a part of the homeowners insurance about personal liability. It usually covers stuff like other people getting injured in your home, but maybe it might cover damage to other people's property? Explore all your options! I really hope you won't have to pay $700 to fix your friend's mistake. =\

 

Meteor, did you buy your Z by using your credit card?
Check your credit card policy, it may carry some kind of insurance that cover your purchase.

 

I can most definitely see sony not honoring an "accidental coverage" warranty under these circumstances. However, hypothetically speaking, if someone were using their Z in a classroom environment, taking notes during a lecture. For some reason this student forgot to charge his laptop so battery was running low. Luckily they sit next to an outlet so they plug it in. Now student B has to go to the bathroom, and while leaving doesn't notice the laptop plugged in, trips on the cord and yanks your Z to the ground, causing the same amount of damage that meteor's Z has.
Or even if I am taking my laptop out of my bag and I clumsily end up fumbling it to the concrete floor breaking it.
I would say these are typical scenarios where laptops break due to an "accident" under "typical" circumstances no?
Now, whether or not they would cover your laptop in one of these situations VS. what actually happened I don't know. But I know, if it were me, and I had accidental coverage (dont know if you do or not), and I was a poor college student (which I am), I would be more inclined to make it seem like an accident...
Also, as I said, I don't know the circumstances, but before everyone decides to villanize meteors friend, he may have not even known his laptop was in the bag...
Again, sorry about this unfortunate event, I know coming up with an extra $200 - $700 when you are in college is not easy, and even if you do have that cash, it just pisses you off to know what else you could have spent it on.
Whatever happens, I hope it is inexpensive to you, and relatively quick.

 

Yikes. I'd seriously hold that "friend" responsible.

 

Hm, ok, so look into the details of the homeowners insurance, my friend's insurance may include this under personal liability, and also check on any purchasing insurance my credit card may have.

Thank you everyone! I'll get on this stuff first thing tomorrow.

 

This isn't very helpful but I'm going to say it anyway. If it was me I would have screamed "duuude my laptop is in my bag". Even if it happened quickly, I would said "man my laptop is in here" *checks laptop* "omfg it's crushed". This way your buddy is in the position to say something, and should feel obligated to pay for it. All my friends know how crazy I am about my belongings, especially electronics and if they were to damage something of mine they know all hell will break loose. It might just be a material object, but it costs money and time.

Of course explore all your options before asking your friend to cover the costs.