Ulog #11: Save your stuff, pay attention to warranty agreements

I brought my laptop for repair to an authorized service center this morning. I got frustrated with the initial handling of my problem and I thought I'd get upset with the technician but, be still my heart. Getting upset will not help repair my laptop or even accelerate the repair. The technician was saying it is already out of warranty.

"No. It is still under warranty. I bought that with two years warranty and still not passed that. I have my receipt."

"But it is what is stated on the manufacturer's website for the serial number of your laptop." He tilted his computer monitor and showed to me the status of my laptop on the website that he is looking at.

"So what do we do now? I am certainly chasing for the warranty that is packaged with my purchase."

"We will contact the distributor for them to contact the manufacturer and for the latter to update their database. That is when we can order for part replacement. It will take longer than usual and we cannot commit a timeline because that would depend on how soon the manufacturer would respond." I sighed. Replacement. So I was right. The monitor needs to be replaced.

Last week, I was watching video on my laptop when I suddenly noticed a horizontal line on the lower half portion of the screen. I thought the video file I was watching is damaged but when I switched windows, the line is still there. I rebooted the laptop and again, the line is still there. That confirms my suspicion, there are dead pixels on the LCD.

Spot the horizontal line

I almost ignored the problem because I was not sure of the warranty expiry, I did not want to take time digging for the receipt from two years ago and the LCD is still working anyway. I thought I will just live with it. Then while looking for the receipt of a washing machine I purchased few weeks ago, it was the laptop receipt that I found out. It is still under warranty until August 3! Indeed, things happen in the right time and sometimes in unexpected ways.

Throwback from two years ago. I saw the laptop being promoted on the distributor's website with two years warranty and it became one of my top considerations for such laptop model. When I bought it, there is nothing mentioned on the receipt about the extended warranty. It was just the pre-printed default warranty clauses for one year so I asked the distributor to write explicitly on the receipt and countersign it. He customer representative said he does not need to write it because the model of the laptop I am buying is automatically being sold with two years warranty. I insisted.

Back to present. I do not know for how long I would have to be patient using just my phone but I will surely miss my laptop while it is on hold at the service center. I just requested the technician to expedite repair if there is any way they can.

If I did not insist on the written extended warranty clause, I really have to live with dead pixels on my laptop. What if the damage is worse then I have to shoulder the expenses of the repair? Now I realized the importance of carefully reading through and not just go by the sales talks when it comes to purchase agreements. It is a contract.

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