Best Buy Vs. Sony warranty

so i've decided to get a sony SZ2xx the question is if its gonna be pre-built from best buy or customized from sony website. but i've been reading about the customer service horror stories from sony and nothing from best buy. so which one would be better just in case something happens? thanks.

 

well, i do not have warranty from bestbuy for a laptop but for a desktop. One time my computer was broken and they did not sell my model anymore. Instead they gave me a new computer with better specs. instead of sending it out to fix.

 

Best buy also has some horror stories regarding their warranty services. In addition to that, both have some positive stories.

I'd assume sony should be more familiar with their laptop products, making the services easier, but then I could be wrong.

I'm not sure if Sony's warranty has some "no lemon" policy, where after 3 failed repairs (any problems with your laptop that requires some actual repair on the hardwares), they will credit the total amount you paid back to you for use in getting a new laptop. Bestbuy's warranty has this, and you can request new batteries (mostl likely 3rd party) without charge.

 

I had a Toshiba laptop that took 6 repairs before they qualified it for 4 repairs and eventual junkout. Best Buy also took an average of a month to get things fixed per send out. The no lemon policy almost cheated me out of $1000. Of the two stores I went to, the manager said the exchange would be for a similar model in specs. So that summed up to be a $1000 computer for my 2 1/2 year old laptop I paid $2000 for. Eventually I found a manager in South Coast, CA that would agree to give me the full purchase price I paid originally. That is how I got my new Viao SZ120. Otherwise if I did not complain and do my own research, I would have been stuck with a $1000 Gateway or something.

Now that I have the Sony Vaio, I decided to get the accidental damage insurance from Sony directly. It was $399 for 4 years, including accidental damage of any kind, ( they told me even if my case is dented, though on this forum some people complained about not being able to fix that). Plus it includes on site service. They are sending someone out on Wed to replace my spacebar and a dent. ^_^

I heard Best Buy's insurance went up to $425 for 3 years with accidental damage. When I researched it and called Best Buy's corporate office they would often tell me how accidental damage does not really cover every sort of accident.

Anywho, I decided on Sony's insurance. It has it's own problems, but there's no way I'm going back to Best Buy's strange protection plan. It was just too hard to deal with, and the no lemon policy was such a hassle to use. I felt like I needed to be a lawyer in order to get the insurance to do what they told me it was ment to do.

 

Oh, one thing about the Sony insurance...
They deduct the repair charges out of the original cost of the laptop. So I guess it's more like you're paying $400 in advance for a coupon book worth aprox. $2000 in repairs (depending on your laptop market price).