I’m pretty bummed today as my Tablet PC went on a holiday and refuses to come back. I’m pretty sure it’s a problem with the hard drive as the last event viewer message I saw was a warning that the system detected an imminent hard drive failure. That’s when I started backing everything up.
Hey there buddy, thanks for the heads up, but if you see it coming, can’t you do something about it?
The worse part is that I am getting the warranty runaround and I am not yet sure who is at fault. Toshiba is telling me that my warranty was only good for 90 days because it’s a factory reconditioned system. Well that’s odd because the warranty pamphlet that came with it says that I have a year warranty. Specifically it says...
One (1) Year Limited Warranty ENCORE Notebook Computers
For ENCORE (Remanafactured) Notebook Computers Purchased within the Fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia.
If that weren’t enough, the sticker on the back of the computer says the following:
This Toshiba Computer Product has been reconditioned, and although not new, is warranted by Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. under its standard Limited Warranty, excluding any coverage for external blemishes.
Now let’s see, I bought the computer in Californ-eye-aye, which qualifies as being a member of the Fifty United States. A Tablet PC is a notebook. And it is remanafactured. Now I wonder what leads me to believe I am still covered?
The nice lady in a far off country on the phone for Toshiba told me that some remanafactured PCs come with one year and others come with three months. She says I?m in the three months camp. She says resellers such as Tiger Direct (her example, not mine) sometimes tell customers what they want to hear, and not the truth about the warranty. I wonder if she’s blowing smoke up my rear (an impressive trick) or if indeed, the retailer pulled a fast one on me.
So tomorrow I need to call PC Video Online to find out their version of the warranty story. Worst case scenario, I’ll purchase a new and even better hard drive. Either way, this sucks.
UPDATE: I called PC Video Online and they told me that they are indeed an authorized Toshiba reseller and that they don’ open the boxes they receive from Toshiba. Therefore, they have no responsibility for the warranty materials packaged within.
As Walter (a brilliant lawyer I might add) pointed out in my comments, it does appear that I am entitled to a one year warranty. From various reports around the web and my comments, it seems that hard drive failures in the M200 is quite common. At this point, I don’t necessarily want the same old hard-drive anymore. I just want Toshiba to honor its commitments.
[Listening to: Remind Me - Röyksopp - Melody A.M. (3:39)]