Manufacturer's Limited Warranty

What exactly does that mean in SIMPLE terms. Sony makes it all confusing and i'm like ? I don't know if i should get an extra warranty or if the Manufacturer's Limited Warranty is enough for now.

 

Simple terms - standard worldwide but covered period might differ from one country to the next:

http://www.sony.co.in/support/resources/en_IN/html/Warranty_Information/Accessories_Warranty.html

Get the extra whenever you can.

cheers ...

 

Not quite worldwide; if you buy in USA you're not covered in Europe, if you buy in Europe, you're not covered in USA; in Europe, you generally get 2 years, but in UK only 1. It's pretty confusing and messed up.

 

Most of what goes wrong with a computer motherboard-wise, etc. happens in the first day, week, or month, let alone year. The issue is what could fail later -- like the hard drive or the BD or DVD drive. And whether you travel a lot and would likely run into accidental damage.

I'm convinced that many of the drive issues, etc. which are discussed on the forums and which are occurring in the first year of ownership will likely, down the line a bit, show up as hardware failures (that's part of the game of the frequent new drive releases: to tempt you to buy the newer model rather than scream like h___ that the first one failed, etc.).

So, probably two years is not a bad idea and three if you want something for what is likely the life of a notebook (life in terms of what one can "tolerate" in out-moded speed and features, and failing (through use) hinges, and power ribbons into the lid, etc.).

Note that there are ways of getting a second year's coverage without paying for it at all: Purchase a notebook (n the U.S., at least) with a Platinum MasterCard and it doubles the manufacturer's warranty up to one year. How does that work? Well, you have to get an estimate for the repair and then MasterCard pays for the repair minus the cost of the estimate, or reimburses the cost of the computer, at its discretion. No accidental coverage available -- beyond the usual 90 days' that comes with any Platinum Master Card purchase.

Funny how few people know about these Platinum MC perks....

 

Sony warranty is pretty confusing. And the service... oy vey. Just as well it's not as absolutely necessary in many cases as some manufacturers. But anyway.

The standard warranty is valid only in the country you bought it in.
You need to buy an International Warranty Extension *in the country you bought it in*
And if you want warranty over an year, you have to buy an extended warranty on top of the International Warranty Extension also *in the country you bought it in*.

So e.g. You buy a VAIO in the US, and you're going back to Europe, and you want the three-year cover.
In this situation, you need to buy both the International warranty extension and the extended warranty in/from the US. You cannot buy European packs of either.

 

Maybe, maybe not... Sony's own folks have no idea...

All Sony folks I've spoken to claim that there is no warranty extension that would get me covered in Europe (They simply say it's not possible. period). But it might just be the case that they have no idea where their own asses are; apparently you can buy this mythical warranty extension somewhere. Just good luck if you ask at Sony Style.

As for Europe, EU is EU and Sony seems to give you 2 years for all countries, except UK, which for some obscure reason gets 1 year. From what I managed to piece together, if I buy a laptop in, say, Switzerland, I'll get 2 years everywhere but UK. So if I'll be in UK (and I will) and my laptop breaks (hope not!) then I'll have to seek service in other EU country.

Outside EU? No idea; probably no man's land...

 

The people in EU may not have any idea.

It works the way that I said. If you purchase international cover *in the country you bought the machine* and buy the extended warranty *also in the country you bought the machine*, then you have extended international cover. The 2-year EU warranty is in the EU only, so e.g. if you want an EU machine covered in the US for 1+ years, you must buy the international warranty extension + extended warranty.

As far as I know, international service (IRSP) is only available at Sony dealers, and those dealers may not have any knowledge of the existence of IRSP - so anticipate a good 20 minutes of them finding out about it when you buy the notebook. I haven't seen it online.

Oh yeah - as a further gotcha, the International cover is International to the extent of the countries listed in the cover. Check it carefully to make sure you don't get bit on the behind, as it were...

And one very last mention, some non-US laptops have international cover as part of the warranty. However finding dealers to acknowledge it is rather like finding definitive signs of aliens. To prevent this, Google "VAIO VIRS" or "VAIO IRSP" for the country of purchase of your notebook and do research as to exactly what piece of paperwork that you got (or can get) that definitively says that you get international coverage, and HANG ONTO IT WHILE TRAVELLING.

And yes, it is a total pain in the you know what. Get with the 21st Century, Sony.

 

Speaking of the drives, I went to the Toshiba website to find my specific drive located in my FW and I noticed it comes with 3 years standard warranty. My Sony came with the 1 year limited manufacturer warranty, same as my original Toshiba laptop. The thing is, my Toshiba also had a Toshiba drive, which said it comes with 3 years warranty after checking online

After about 2 and a half years (well beyond the 1 year standard warranty), my drive in the Toshiba just straight up decided to give up on me and I talked directly with Toshiba and told them my drive failed (I didn't tell them any extra information, like it was inside the laptop, etc.) and they actually changed the drive without any questions.

So, I'm thinking that if the drive in my Sony fails within the first 3 years - even after the 1 year warranty expires, I'll take it directly to Toshiba and chances are they will give me a new one

 

In some countries, you have a 2 years reclamation right that can't be waived or overridden by a less comprehensive manufacturer's warranty, no matter what the "warranty terms" state. The store you bought it from is responsible for all reclamations, and whether they have to send it to the manufacturer or not is not your problem or expense.

In the US, you get 90 days with limitations, i.e. nothing. Which is why you also pay less -- you get less.

For travelling, the best bet is to ship the machine back to the country you bought it from, no matter what your warranty says. Finding someone skilled at repairing a "foreign" model can be a crapshoot. Not to mention that they may have to order replacement parts anyhow -- a US repair shop is unlikely to have spare "å" keys or Punjabi OEM versions of Vista.

 

Correct - what I meant was the standard text (worldwide use) of the (local) coverage.

Thus the recommendation of getting an extended warranty.

cheers ...

 

Vogelbung, I've talked to people in the US ;-)

Most of them claim such thing doesn't exist and never existed; but again, they probably have no clue. Someone from jr.com said they have international warranty options (after another person from jr.com said that there's no way they could offer that).

Another question is, would anyone honour your international warranty ;-) Probably you'd have lots of problems having your laptop fixed abroad...