The PC Support Source
The PC Lifesaver

(847) 259-0410 

Call Anytime. The first 10 minutes are free!
 

Business
Home Office
Residential
On-site
Remote
Chicago
and Suburbs

In This Section:

Warranty Trap

After twenty plus years in the PC industry, we've watched the warranty game from a number of different vantage points. Inside the business, the extended warranty was always considered a terrific way to extract margin dollars from a sale, and it still is. But as PCs and their components became better manufactured, and standard component warranties extended further past the one year year mark, the extended warranty looked like it was no longer going to be viable. People were getting wise to the better manufactured PC and skipping the warranty add on. 

Just as PC reliability should be at an all time high, Manufacturers like Dell and Gateway (E-machines) are often only offering 90 day warranties on their new low-end machines.

Today, however, a disturbing new trend has surfaced. Just as PC reliability (should be) at an all time high, manufacturers like Dell and Gateway (E-machines) are often only offering 90 day warranties on their low-end machines. Traditional logic is that you offer warranties commensurate with your quality. Has that quality of these machines now dropped so far as to warrant such a reduction of in guarantee? That's unknown. What is known is that the extended warranty now becomes an issue again for John Q Public. "Standard year warranty is ok. But 90 days? that seems a little thin. Maybe we should buy the extension, honey". 

Once that discussion gets started, look for the PC price to rise precipitously. This is the same tactic the car people use once you have negotiated that great price for the new car. Then they sit you down with finance guy, and they get it all back. The beauty of this back-end extra (for them) is always the psychology - once you have decided to buy, your chances of walking away from it (no matter how many ups and extras) are virtually nil.

On a typical bargain PC from Best Buy, a $500 machine commands a whopping $150.00 premium to bump to three yrs. parts and labor.

How high the moon? On a typical bargain PC from Best Buy, a $500 machine commands a whopping $150.00 premium to bump  to a three yr. parts and labor. this is nearly a 30% increase in the cost of the PC, And it is a depot warranty, so you still have to carry it in. Yet many people pay it thinking they are buying value and peace of mind. For that, you could get on-site delivery, setup, and two hours of orientation from the PC Support Source.

A fair warranty should reflect what is real about the PC industry. If you build your PC with quality components, you can warranty the machine for a long time as part of the price, and still give your customers peace of mind.

The moral of the story - just as with anything you buy - always get the total cost of the purchase, upfront, before you commit to buy it. 
 

PCSS Advantage Standard Warranty - Included on All Desktop Systems Entire System 1 yr. Parts and Labor On-site. Motherboard, CPU, Monitor  3 Yrs. Parts Hard Drive 5 Yrs. Parts Memory Lifetime Parts Peripherals 1 yr. to Lifetime Parts Depending on Mfg

Where do you want to go now?   

Look At New Systems
Back to Archive Menu
Compare Gateway VS PCSS System

The PC Support Source, Inc.  

675 Cedarwood Ct.   Wheeling, IL
 (847) 259-0410

Copyright © 2005 The PC Support Source, Inc. All rights reserved.  

Thanks to rainbow directory , Dex Computer Guide and Computertroubleshooting.com for their support!