Toshiba Warranty sucks

[ACC-Major]

Here is my story:
I bought a Toshiba laptop from HK when I went back to China half a year ago. And now it's broken (nothing responded when I hit the power button). It has International coverage for a year. I called Toshiba and they said my laptop is still under warranty, and told me to take it to that Toshiba place in Markham (Victoria park a and Steels). They took it in and said it's under warranty and I left it there for a few days. Then I called them 3-4 days later and they told me they have ordered parts (4 parts, including motherboard etc..) and said the price will be around $1,000+. Then i told her that $1,000? that laptop is not even worth that much, and I thought it's under warranty. Then I told her that I don't want it repaired, I will just get a new one. She then said that I will be charged with $80 service fee for opening up and looking at it.

so what gives?

[AmberMoon]

So, what was their answer to it being under warranty? I'm sure they gave some reason, and did you try calling Toshiba again and talking with them to see where the problem is if you do in fact have a warranty? Kinda left out the important stuff, to me its a she said he said thing

[ACC-Major]

So, what was their answer to it being under warranty? I'm sure they gave some reason, and did you try calling Toshiba again and talking with them to see where the problem is if you do in fact have a warranty? Kinda left out the important stuff, to me its a she said he said thing

ya I guess u are right, I will explain better after work. lol with factors such as currently working and pissed at the service, I was unable to make it clear. I will clarify after work.

Edit: I just found out that they say it's spillage which is not covered under warranty. However, I am sure there isn't a drop of water at that time when I surrendered my laptop. Man, is it their common practice? Same thing applies to my cell phone last time (another spillage), but there wasn't a drop of water.

[GVRtrader]

You sure you didn't spill anything on it? Its very unlikely they will make a bogus claim like spillage if you didn't spill anything (at least Toshiba). Then again Nikon did something similar to me when i returned my camera for warranty. They said the lens was cracked but it wasn't when i took it in. Of course to their surprise, i actually took pictures of the exterior of my SLR with my point and shot canon sd1100 (well kinda, it was in the background)...:cheesygri Still even after they fixed my SLR (D80), my next SLR = a canon.

Anyways, if they claim its spillage and you're sure you didn't spill anything, you are still probably out of luck because their tech probably spilled something and don't want to take the blame for it. You will have to pay for service fee if there is no defect on the unit as per Toshiba policy (assuming its in their policy, look at the site, etc and see what it says... some companies offer free analysis, i.e. Nikon).

If they don't offer free analysis, then yes you owe Toshiba the 80 bucks as stupid as that is. They did do some work (rather its of any value to you or not). I personally never had problems with Toshiba warranty and my parents used their warranty quite a few times for 2 tube TV (30 and 35" like uhh... 10 years ago?).

[ACC-Major]

man I am 100% positive that there aren't any liquid, bummer, now I am faced with $85 + tax = 96.05.

[brunes]

Companies base spillage detection on this slip of stuff that is under the case that turns color permanently when it gets wet. The thing is though, it has been known to change color *WITHOUT* water contact, from just lots of humidity from the air. Search around on the web some about it.

If you honestly did not spill anything, press it, ask for the manager at the warranty center, etc. Get a lawyer to mail them a letter announcing a small claims court action, and that you have evidence against their spillage claim. At the end of the day it is your word against theirs and all they have to back up their claim is a piece of technology known to be extremely fallible. And it would cost a lot less to launch a small claims action then get a new laptop.

[AzNCrAzYcOoLeR]

I brought my computer there to have my motherboard changed under warranty, took a week and i had no problems

[rems]

I had my laptop fixed twice (new hard drive) through warranty and never had a problem

[ES_Revenge]

Anyways, if they claim its spillage and you're sure you didn't spill anything, you are still probably out of luck because their tech probably spilled something and don't want to take the blame for it.
Yeah but that makes little sense. If that were the case wouldn't the shop just say those [spilled-on] parts were broken and order the new parts and fix it anyway? Toshiba is presumably footing the bill and sending the parts in a warranty claim, so how would they know any different if the shop just diagnosed it with more parts for their repair (covering themselves for whatever they damaged spilling anything on it)? I doubt Toshiba tells their authorised repair centres to send back parts (or do they?). So how would they ever know anything was spilled?

Companies base spillage detection on this slip of stuff that is under the case that turns color permanently when it gets wet. The thing is though, it has been known to change color *WITHOUT* water contact, from just lots of humidity from the air. Search around on the web some about it.
x2

[grantg24]

My old Toshiba laptop had a couple of problems when I got it. Took it to the location in Markham. It was fix in a few days. My news laptop is a Toshiba because of this.

[DragonZealot]

I had a Toshiba LCD TV that had an intermittent problem I took it in and they replaced it no question asked. Took a bit of time because the model was discontinued and they had to get authorization to order a newer model.

Are you sure your lappy never got spilled since new? May be they found some coffee stain from a while ago.

[Sprite_TM]

international warranty sucks, just a ripoff. i bought a sony TZ in hong kong with international warranty and canada would not accept it and they didnt fix anything. i will never buy any international warranty ever again