Dell Breakage Insurance?

[v3rrv3]

My dad was recently looking at buying a notebook from Dell and besides their usual Warranty they have some breakage insurance for somewhere in the neighborhood of $100. Is it useful or is a along the lines of Best Buys extended warranty and the like?

 

[pcgeek11]

If you break it it is!

Actually Dells Complete Care Coverage is well worth the money for a Laptop / Notebook due to the potential for damage.

A friend ran over his book bag with the car and they replaced the notebook within 5 days with a brand new one. Didn't cost a dime, not even shipping.

pcgeek11

 

[aCynic2]

I agree, for a laptop it critical since you're more probable to drop a laptop.

 

[zig3695]

i just bought a laptop off the bay, brand new from a guy who got it directly from dell. it has the standard 1 year warranty, can i add complete coverage to this? or does it cost half of what i paid in the first place ($600)

 

[aCynic2]

Call Dell and ask them What's the most that can happen? They contract a hit on ya?

 

[TheStu]

I had 1 year accidental damage coverage on an older Axim PocketPC, the charging connector (sort of like an ipod's dock connector) broke after 11 months. Called Dell, they shipped me a refurbed Axim the next day with the return label in the box ready for me to send back my old one.

 

[zig3695]

yeah but they would have had to fix it under the standard warranty too, a bad power jack is not an accidental breakage, its a material defect.

i see that the limited warranty costs $200 for two years, or $250 for 3 years. this gets added onto your existing 1-year contract of course.

you can also get the 'complete care' for $300 for two years, or three years for $400- too much for my taste. the benifit is you get a no-questions asked policy, basically. but i only paid $600 for this laptop, it wouldnt make sense to spend half what i paid in just warranties.

ill probably add the $200 two year limited plan, giving me a full 3 years before i really have to worry about this laptop. i mean sell it.. heh.

 

[BladeVenom]

I don't think it's worth it. Almost half the cost of the laptop for the small chance you break it. Maybe if you're clumsy and break things all the time it might be worthwhile.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: zig3695
yeah but they would have had to fix it under the standard warranty too, a bad power jack is not an accidental breakage, its a material defect.

You are probably right, but part of the coverage included next day shipping, so that was a nice perk.

 

[zig3695]

well for the limited warranty you still get the next day delivery. honestly i think the complete care coverage is for the suckers. unless your laptop is obviously abused, dell should replace or fix anything under the limited warranty. i dont know, for $100 a year for the limited, it doesnt seem too bad. likely i could get insurance for this laptop for half that through safeware.com but there sure wouldnt be any next-day delivering on parts...

 

[Syran]

I don't know about the pricing now, but it used to be around $100 to add complete care to any length of warranty. I get it for all our corporate laptops, and it has really come thru, various spills, drops, etc (funniest one was laptop meeting ground at roughly 50 miles per hour, how someone leaves a $2k laptop on top of their suv still gives me kicks). So it's been a well worth it reason, but the shorter your warranty, the less value it has imho.

 

[RajunCajun]

Bought a new e1505 4/25. With all the extras the price came to $775. I got a letter from Dell in May making a one-time offer of 3 years (plus the 1 year that came with it) for $229, PLUS get an additional $75 Dell Dollars to use within 120 days of coupon.

This sounded like a pretty good deal for 4 years coverage. So I called with the letter in hand - it had the offer # on it and was available via phone only within 45 days of purchase. I waited till the last day of the offer. The lady I spoke to offered me Complete Coverage till 4/25/11 for only $75 more, so I jumped on it, along with the $75 Dell Dollars. Total cost was $229 + $75 = $304 plus tax for 4 years of total coverage!

I usually don't but these on $500-$700 lappies, since the total cost is roughly equal to cost of laptop! But this deal was too good to pass up. FWIW, I did buy 3 year warranty on my m170 (a $2000 laptop at the time!).

If you want the extended coverage I'd suggest wait till after you buy it - they will make you a better deal vs when buying with system.

 

[zig3695]

damn, that is AWESOME man. i paid $630 for a 1501 brand new, but it was off ebay so i dont think ill be getting any dell offers. i did register the service tag in my name though, so well see.

you got a steal. the 1505 has the features i wanted like bluetooth and svid out. otherwise they are the same i guess. i dont care about media buttons, the fn key works good. 4 years of complete coverage... damn. i would be BEATING THE HELL out of that thing! right now im treating mine like its not mine, but i already scratched the bottom with a broken piece off my glass tobaccy pipe!