If the specifications of the computer hardware/gadgets suit our requirements, the first thing we question about is the warranty and after sales support. Today, we are quite familiar to hear a number a few notches above unity. Processors and Motherboards in general have around 3 years warranty, Hard drive break the law of averages to give a massive 5 year warranty, Display units and Optical Drive too carry at least a couple of annum’s of warranty. It is not uncommon to see a couple of years of warranty even on portable devices like pen drives, mp3 players and even laptops. This was certainly not the case in the past. A year of warranty or two seemed quite satisfactory back then. But, off late I have faced a lot of issues claiming warranty on some of my precious hardware. This makes me wonder, whether hardware warranties have become a misnomer and quite possibly a gimmick to boost sales by manufacturers and vendors slapping the buyers trust right on the face.
Warranty would mean the manufacturer would repair or provide a replacement (generally a used piece), if the hardware doesn’t perform as per specifications or in extreme case faces a complete failure. Well, most of us know there are between the lines - fine points which often make the decisive difference. Here are a few issues that I have faced over time with warranties.
1. On an old motherboard, there was a power issue which made the PCI slots on the motherboard act crazy. I returned the board well within its warranty period to the dealer. After about a week, got a callback that the problem was due to a power failure which had burnt some circuitry on the PCB which couldn’t be rectified and there was no replacement available. End of story. Some local technician at my place fixed it for a price.
2. Issues with optical drives and hard disk drives have taken weeks for a replacement.
3. Recently, the sound port on my mp3 had kinda gone loose in normal use. Carrying a 2YW, I was least worried about such a small issue and hoped that I would be rectified. That was not the case to be – therein came a reply over the counter – ‘This is a deliberate mechanical failure. No warranty on tampered devices.’ The service center even denied repairs on payment.
4. A few similar issues for the laptops: A month old laptop had the LCD display blanked out due to moisture. The Service center was kind enough to charge a fee for this coz they reasoned it to be due to a jerk or a mechanical shock - which usually is the culprit for such a problem. Not to mention - warranty on laptops which manufacturers offer doesn’t bind on everything. Like a 1 year warranty on laptop, only translates to a 1 yr warranty on pieces and not on the entire laptop. Generally, optical drives, batteries, adaptors are offered only 3-6 months of warranty.
The solution – get branded computers? I think its silly going in for a branded computer too for personal use. Even if you don’t have much technical know how – your next door pc vendor, who arranged for the assembled system can provide you the necessary service, even better than the assembled once, on both software and hardware. Not to mention, you kick your own foot with the axe by accepting the 1 year warranty with just a seal on your cabinet. If you had gone on with an assembled system on similar lines (don’t forget to stick a ‘warranty void – if seal is broken’ sticker), you would have got a longer warranty on most of the components. It has been long debated, and would go on.
I agree, the manufacturers cannot be blamed entirely for such issues claiming warranty. Competition, shooting prices of the parts and lack of affordability for the same are responsible too. But isn’t it silly when you are denied a claim for warranty for a lame reason? It was your trust on the provider that any problems arising would be rectified or taken care in the future. You are left with nothing but regret for your decision in the end for choosing a wrong product or messing with the product knowingly or unknowingly.
I am sure many of you have similar stories and issues that you have faced while claiming your warranty on IT hardware. So start cribbing about the same and chalk out the changes you would like to see.
I have avoided the names of the brand on purpose for obvious reasons. Let’s not judge by the brands and discuss about the warranty in general.
Hardware Warranty Discussions
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