Warranties

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Ted

I'm considering making my next box a home built. At this point
the only thing that is giving me pause is the warranty issue. Most
of the boxed/retail components I've looked at have a 3 year limited
warranty. I've read some of the warranty docs and they don't say
much. It appears given that if one component takes out a bunch
of others you'll eat the replacement costs for the others. OK, so
you pray that doesn't happen. But what if just one component
fails within the warranty period... what are warranty claims really
like?

When dealing with a Dell, I've found it fairly easy to get them on
the phone and get a replacement part in the mail right away. IIRC,
in some cases they want the old part returned and if you want the
new part sent out before they receive the old one they want a CC
number in case you don't ship it. But all shipping is paid by them
and it is pretty painless to get up and running again within a few
days.

But lets say I build my own using top tier components... Intel CPU,
Gigabyte MB, Antec PS, something like that. If one of those parts
goes bad, what are they going to make me do? Will I have to pay
to ship the bad part back to them? Will I have to wait for them to
test it and verify it is bad? Will I have to pay to have the new part
shipped out to me? Is it going to take weeks rather than days? I
guess every manufacturer might have different policies and perhaps
I'll have to call each one to get the details, but I thought I'd throw
out this question and just see what you all have to say on the
subject. Any info/suggestions welcome, thanks in advance.
 
I've found that warranties on individual components limited to a year for
hard drives, CD-ROMs/DVD-ROMS, 3-5 years on mbs, and video cards, lifetime
on RAM, and 1 year on power supplies within the computer case. On a couple
of occasions I received components that were DOA, even from reliable
venders. I would have to pay the postage back. Sometimes I would have to
wait up to a month for a back ordered part, to be sent back to me. That made
me somewhat sore, but I accepted that fact as part of a builder; in that the
majority of parts dealers make no promise to pay shipping for defective
returns. The mail order folks I've dealt with have been very reliable if
perhaps somewhat sluggish at times. That happens at the store too. You buy
something from Best Buy or Target and it's bad. Do they pay for your gas
back to the store when you return it or always have another in stock?
That being said I've found that most components very reliable, lasting at
least through the warranty period and much longer. I'd estimate at this
point, over 14 years I've built maybe 30 new systems. Most of the limited
problems have been actually power supplies going bad of the computers I've
built rather than hdds or optical drives. At this point I keep a couple of
spare PS's around.
That being said, I gave up being paranoid about how long a component
would last when I decided to build for the first time. My goal was to learn
how the pieces worked in conjunction with each other and to fabricate a
reliable efficient computer that would be stable, work fast and be able to
do the chores I intended or for the others I was building the system.
It costs money to learn. If you're really only trying to save a buck
you're better off buying the Dell, but if you relish the idea of
understanding and enjoy the zen and can bare a limited risk of paying a few
bucks for postage, if necessary, then do some research, reading and buy the
parts to build.
 
Ted said:
I'm considering making my next box a home built. At this point
the only thing that is giving me pause is the warranty issue. Most
of the boxed/retail components I've looked at have a 3 year limited
warranty. I've read some of the warranty docs and they don't say
much. It appears given that if one component takes out a bunch
of others you'll eat the replacement costs for the others. OK, so
you pray that doesn't happen. But what if just one component
fails within the warranty period... what are warranty claims really
like?
Click to expand...

On any electronic item (not just PC components), a warranty is pretty much
useless past 30 days. That's because if you DO have a problem, you are
likely to notice it almost immediately. For example, the last bad PC
component I ran into on one of my own builds was a brand new motherboard
that was defective. I had no problem exchanging it for a good one from the
vendor who sold it to me. In general, if you get the computer working OK
for the first thirty days or so, your components (all of them) will probably
last longer than you will WANT to use them. Each individual component of a
PC is pretty cheap to replace unless you are talking about a high-end video
card, perhaps. And if one component fails, it generally won't damage other
components. HOWEVER . . . if a power supply fails, that CAN damage other
components. Your best "warranty" for a PC is to invest in a in a high
quality name-brand power supply.

I think you are worrying too much about warranty. Let me give you a good
example of a worst-case scenario. You buy a bunch of mid-range components
and throw them together to make a halfway decent gaming system. Six months
from now, you get some bad caps on the mainboard, all bulging out on you and
causing severe stability problems. That motherboard you bought six months
ago is ANCIENT now, kind of like a 10-year-old car. Chances are, you can
buy a better one to be compatible with all your other components for less
money than you originally paid for the first motherboard. Or if you want an
EXACT replacement, you can probably get a brand new one for forty or fifty
bucks at most, because that model you bought six months ago is obsolete by
now.

That was a worst case scenario. For the money, do you really want to bother
with a warranty claim? OK, so you call up the motherboard maker to tell
them that you have a six-month-old defective motherboard that is covered
under their three year warranty. Only problem is, they aren't open, call
back at 10AM Monday (THEIR time). So 10AM Monday you call and are stuck in
voicemail hell for the next half hour. You finally get a live person on the
phone. The live person is working from a script that they MUST follow that
starts with "Is your system plugged in?" and proceeds to "Have you tried
reinstalling windows?" along with many other extremely stupid questions in
between. It might take you three or four phone calls over a couple of weeks
to get past the flunkie to someone who has the power to RMA your board. Now
you send it in and wait A FEW MORE WEEKS for them to test it, find out it's
bad and send you a refurbished one. (what, you were expecting a NEW one?!?)

I think you can see that for just about any computer component that fails,
it's not worth the hassle to even mess with the warranty. Spend the forty
bucks or so for a new one and be DONE with it. But then again, if your
component works out of the box, it is highly unlikely that it will fail on
you before you want to replace it anyway. Warranty? Why bother to even
ask? -Dave
 
Ted said:
I'm considering making my next box a home built. At this point
the only thing that is giving me pause is the warranty issue. Most
of the boxed/retail components I've looked at have a 3 year limited
warranty. I've read some of the warranty docs and they don't say
much. It appears given that if one component takes out a bunch
of others you'll eat the replacement costs for the others. OK, so
you pray that doesn't happen. But what if just one component
fails within the warranty period... what are warranty claims really
like?

When dealing with a Dell, I've found it fairly easy to get them on
the phone and get a replacement part in the mail right away. IIRC,
in some cases they want the old part returned and if you want the
new part sent out before they receive the old one they want a CC
number in case you don't ship it. But all shipping is paid by them
and it is pretty painless to get up and running again within a few
days.
Click to expand...

This is, of course, one of the advantages to buying a complete system from
someone who offers good support: they are responsible for the *whole* system.
But lets say I build my own using top tier components... Intel CPU,
Gigabyte MB, Antec PS, something like that. If one of those parts
goes bad, what are they going to make me do? Will I have to pay
to ship the bad part back to them? Will I have to wait for them to
test it and verify it is bad? Will I have to pay to have the new part
shipped out to me? Is it going to take weeks rather than days? I
guess every manufacturer might have different policies and perhaps
I'll have to call each one to get the details, but I thought I'd throw
out this question and just see what you all have to say on the
subject. Any info/suggestions welcome, thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You really would need to see what the individual manufacturers provide and,
as with any buying, check reviews to see how good their service really is.
In general, however, I'd bet on a return, you pay return shipping, and wait
a few weeks for replacement. Remember, you have roughly two built in for
regular UPS ground shipping (1 there and 1 back).

The issue is complicated a bit with whether the thing is DOA, or fails
within 30 or so days, and you are dealing with the retail dealer or if it
fails later and you're dealing with the original manufacturer.

And then there is the processor, which can be had in OEM form, with
whatever warranty the dealer is providing (commonly DOA or 30 days) and the
full retail version which carries the manufacturer warranty (Intel- 3
years) which, of course, is why the OEM version is cheaper.

The bad news is, YOU become the 'OEM' system builder and are responsible
for making everything work. That includes component compatibility and some
suppliers are not particularly thrilled with the 'buy, try, return' method
of determining it. The good news is that modern electronics are incredibly
reliable and most failures, with the exception of hard drives and other
mechanical devices (which is why people should make backups), are usually
DOA manufacturing/handling defects so that once you're past that point
subsequent failures during a normal lifetime are rather rare (barring
lightning, power surges, and other acts of God; or Johnny kicking the case
over and down the stairs and other acts of man). Not that DOA is all that
common either and I can't remember the last time I had a *new* component
arrive DOA.

My personal horror stories? I had a Western Digital 30 gig hard drive that
failed within a few months and the replacement failed even faster. On the
third try they had apparently run out of 30 gig replacements and sent a 40
gig, which has been working fine ever since. Worst was an unusually small
case with proprietary power supply that failed and the replacement failed;
both times for no apparent reason. I've given up on it.

Bottom line is, if you absolutely need it, and need it now, and can't
tolerate the potential for a bit of risk then buy a ready made system with
good support realizing that's what you're paying some extra money for. It's
a perfectly legitimate reason. If, however, you can tolerate a delay in the
rare event, but non-zero possibility, something comes in defective then you
can enjoy the learning experience and have the satisfaction of building one
to your own specifications. Which is, IMO, worth some money too.
 
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