Complaint Review: National Electronics Warranty - Sterling Virginia

A little over a year ago, I purchased a laptop through Office Depot. Due to the fact that the screen on my previous laptop had cracked twice in the first two years, I went with the 2-year extended contract, which cost $200. 

The laptop recently needed a minor repair, because the power cord jack was broken. I submitted a warranty claim, and was told at the time that the repair process would take 7-10 business days. This sounded long to me, so I called a local repair shop. I was told that the required part would be about $20-$30, and that with labor it would come to $130. I was also told that the repair itself would take several hours, but that also the part might need to be ordered, which would make it take a bit longer.

However, since I had the contract with Office Depot, I decided to send it in. When it arrived at NEW (or Warranty Logistics, I don't actually know who physically received the computer, though it seems that NEW is the company that actually owns the repair center), I was told that most repairs would be ready to be sent back within 5 business days. 

However, 5 DAYS later I received an email saying that it had been determined that a part needed to be ordered, and that this would "only take a few more business days". However, when calling Office Depot, who then called the repair center, I was told that the part would take 3-5 business days just to arrive, and then several more business days would be required to complete the repair and re-send the computer. So, all in all, it could take 12-13 business days for the repair, and adding the 2 days shipping each way (which, in itself, is totally reasonable), would put the total repair time at 2 and a half weeks.

I find it totally unreasonable that it took five days to simply determine what part was necessary to order, as the employee at the local shop already had a good idea (based on my description of the problem over the phone) what it would entail. So either they spent most of the first 5 days doing nothing, or, even worse, they were fishing for possible "repairs" to perform that were not requested, on things that weren't broken. I don't know why it would be in their interest to do that, but I have read other reports that suggest this.

And that's the other problem--NEW clearly absolves themselves of liability for the data stored on the device. You can bet I backed it up before sending it in, but for a computer with a working hard drive and processor (which mine had when I sent it in, because I was still *using* it), a consumer should not have to risk loss of data and needing to take time re-installing software. Neither should a consumer who needs a new memory card, display backlight, etc. And you can bet that a competent repair shop wouldn't handle a computer so roughly as to make the need for repairs *greater* than what the customer has agreed to pay for. But I have read reports of people having data missing, problems with restoring the OS, etc., who sent in a computer with a perfectly functional hard drive.

Plus, NEW wanted the administrator password for the computer when sending it in, to do who knows what. I declined to give it, exactly because I didn't want stuff tampered with. But again, this is another example of how this company makes a mountain out of a molehill. At least not a penny in monetary cost is passed on to the consumer, but the time factor absolutely is!

So, as it stands now, I'm out $70 ($200 - $130) and have waited over 10 times as long as I would have, had I not bought this stupid contract. It's possible that in the next year I will have a major repair needed, and then I will have saved money, but even then, I dread thinking of how long they would drag their feet on a much more complex repair.

I must add the caveat that I don't know if NEW is any worse than other repair companies that require computers to be sent to them, and don't allow them to be brought to a local service center. The whole concept seems conducive to bad service, since once a device is sent in, there is no way to get it back and/or take it anywhere else, so the consumer has no recourse. My old laptop had a contract where a technician would come to your home/workplace and perform the repair there, and obviously with the customer looking over their shoulder, a technician is not going to waste time, especially if they have other jobs later.

So, in my experience a service contract through NEW was a VERY bad idea!