Is It Worth Extending Lenovo Laptop Warranty

bigbadboogieman on 16/02/2020 - 12:17

Thanks in advance to people offering genuine advice.

Short version: My Lenovo laptop warranty is about to expire in the next couple of days. Is it worth renewing?

Detailed version
Hi OzBs

I bought a new Lenovo Legion Y530 laptop last year which came with 1 year off-site depo warranty. I did use the warranty once and not unsatisfied with it. The laptop originally came with a slightly defective touchpad which I didn't give much thought at the time of receiving the laptop (misaligned height of touchpad buttons with the lower right-side button going lose after the initial few months). After a few months I did raise the issue with support. Since I was out of the initial one month period they wouldn't take the laptop back for refund or replacement but (after I kicked up a bit of a stink) they did offer on-site replacement of the full front keyboard panel (separate touchpad replacement wasn't possible). Poor design laptop though because the technician literally had to disassemble the whole thing to replace the keyboard panel (I saw it because I was sitting right there). Long story short the keyboard panel was replaced and it's been working fine - no issues since then and it's been more than 7/8 months.

Now the warranty is about to expire in the next couple of days. The on-site 1 year extension costs ~ AU $113 which is like 10% of the cost of the laptop. I am completely torn 50-50 on extending the warranty. On one hand the issue with my laptop was quality related attributed to Lenovo and should not have happened in the first place. Also the fact that it was a new laptop and logically issues are likely to crop up in later years (where it won't be covered) rather than the first couple of years. On the other hand an issue did occur and was fixed without relative cost because I had the warranty and there is always the possibility of another issue cropping up resulting in costly repairs without warranty.

Q1) Do you guys renew your laptop warranties? Do you think it's worth paying the $113?

Q2) How many years do you guys keep the warranty renewals going?

Computing Lenovo

Comments

  • Tech5 on 16/02/2020 - 12:28

    I'll just offer the fact that the Warranty prices are calculated to always work out in their favour in the long run, over a large sample size.

    • JimmyF on 16/02/2020 - 14:03
      -2

      Yes, but its what risk do you want to take on, They work on say 1 out of 10 having an issue that might cost $800 to fix. So profit about ~$300 out of it. Just an example I don't really know what they work on. But lets go with that.

      So you might be that 1 in 10 and having to pay $800……. or you can 'gamble' and pay $113 now.

      You'll also need to factor in the down time while you seek your own repairs if out of warranty, so if this is a machine you use daily and can't really wait a month to get 3rd party repairs, then a OEM warranty might be more suited for you.

      Each to their own and what level of risks they want to take on.

  • Hithere on 16/02/2020 - 12:31
    +1

    You will still have certain rights under ACL which are free even though your laptop's original warranty has expired.

    It must last a reasonable length of time, warranty or not.

    An extended warranty is often not worth the hassles.

  • scrimshaw on 16/02/2020 - 13:13
    +1

    There's something in reliability engineering called the bathtub curve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

    in the early life of a product adhering to the bathtub curve, the failure rate is high but rapidly decreasing as defective products are identified and discarded, and early sources of potential failure such as handling and installation error are surmounted. In the mid-life of a product—generally speaking for consumer products—the failure rate is low and constant. In the late life of the product, the failure rate increases, as age and wear take their toll on the product. Many electronic consumer product life cycles strongly exhibit the bathtub curve.

    Basically, the best time for your laptop to be covered by a warranty is usually for the first year of it's usable lifespan, but once you're approaching the low end of the bathtub curve there's a much lower chance you'll observe hardware failures.

  • netjock on 16/02/2020 - 15:02

    Didn't you buy it on a credit card with extended warranty? Might check it out if you are already covered first.

    • bigbadboogieman on 16/02/2020 - 15:19

      Did buy on an extended warranty credit card which covers for 1 year extra after the end of the standard warranty.

  • Nutrino on 16/02/2020 - 16:51
    -1

    Que the obligatory acl comments.

  • ahoihoi on 16/02/2020 - 19:17
    +1

    Q1) Do you guys renew your laptop warranties? Do you think it's worth paying the $113?

    No, my experience is that the extended warranty is not worth it. Especially if it cost 10% of the new price.

    Use Statutory Warranty under consumer right or (if you have one) credit card extended warranty if the former fail.

    Q2) How many years do you guys keep the warranty renewals going?

    Generally I expect to keep budget notebook a minimum of 3 years and premium notebook for minimum of 5 years.

    In that sense, if I was having the extended warranty, I want it to cover for that amount of time.

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