Water damage on Laptop - what should I do if it breaks?

DrScotsman

Back in January I spilt water on my laptop. After taking the battery out, turning it upside-down and leaving it for a few days it fixed itself.

Recently I've been having problems with the laptop. I'm about fairly certain these are software problems (ah Vista :rolleyes:) and hence irrelevant, but some chkdsk errors have got me thinking what I should do if the laptop does fizzle out. I have accidental cover on my contents insurance, but my renewal is coming up. The laptop has a 4 year warranty which obviously doesn't cover water damage. So I think I have THREE problems here.

1. If the laptop breaks due to the water damage after my insurance renewal and I decide to make a claim, would the claim be on my current policy, the policy when the incident happened, or would I not be able to claim at all?

2. I thought that usually any accidental damage automatically invalidated a warranty, but the terms say that "All repairs necessitated other than electro-mechanical faults, ... , accidental or malicious damage, are chargeable to the customer at the standard rate at the time the fault is reported." I THINK this means that if I could prove that a fault wasn't due to water damage then it would still be covered by the warranty, does that sound right?

See I'm considering the position where the warranty refuses to repair it because of the water damage, but an independent tech says the problem isn't due to the water damage, meaning my insurer wouldn't pay out (I assume) and would leave me nowhere.

3. If the laptop broke, and the whole thing to be replaced (e.g. not just the hard drive or some other replaceable part not worth claiming for) and I had to go through insurance, SHOULD I claim? The laptop cost £600, my excess is £50 and I think I have new for old over (it's a student policy btw, but the policy after my next won't be). I could afford to replace it myself if I had to.

Any advice appreciated.

Astaroth

1) Its the policy in force at the time of the incident

2) Would need to see the full wording rather than a summary to be honest

3) You need to do the maths.... a £600 4 year old laptop is now going to be entry level so probably £300 (having just bought one myself), so you get a cheque for £250. You need to work out the loss of your no claims discount, plus the increased premiums for the next 3-5 years. AD claims are the most premium impacting unfortunately.

Simulacraton

Chkdsk errors are a sign of a failing hard drive, this is wear and tear and almost certainly not covered by home insurance unless in an accidental damage event, which you should have decalred at the time, but obviously didn't as you gave it a chance and got it to work.

Should be covered by manufacturer warranty.

I very much doubt water would cause the surface damage to a hard drive platter seeing as they are sealed units.

DrScotsman

Astaroth wrote: »

2) Would need to see the full wording rather than a summary to be honest

Here if you want it: http://pastebin.com/f7159b06a (Yes, I'm childishly and illogically paranoid and so trying to prevent the warranty provider from Googling this post). I only posted a little bit because I didn't think there were any more get out clauses for them, only relevant part seems to be number 6.

I forgot to mention it's not a manufacturer's warranty by the way.

3) You need to do the maths....

I will try that. I just thought I'd ask here first in case the amount was so obviously clear-cut not worth it. And comparing home insurance when you're a student who doesn't know anything about the property (e.g. types of locks) becomes tiresome , unless you only look at lazy student policies (which I have found to be cheaper)

Can I ask, if I'd taken out separate Laptop insurance and claimed under that, would I have to declare THAT claim when getting new contents insurance?

Simulacraton wrote: »

Chkdsk errors are a sign of a failing hard drive, this is wear and tear and almost certainly not covered by home insurance unless in an accidental damage event, which you should have decalred at the time, but obviously didn't as you gave it a chance and got it to work.

Well I was having constant crashes, and obviously a hard shut down can corrupt the file system (prompting chkdsk errors) without the hard drive being damaged. I did a full surface scan and got some errors, but my next full surface scan a few days and crashes later came up with nothing. It's been stable for over a week though after I removed some software (ah, AVG, Live Messenger :rolleyes:).

I very much doubt water would cause the surface damage to a hard drive platter seeing as they are sealed units.

I know, but unlocking a phone doesn't do ANY damage to the phone, but what happens to your warranty? By the same logic if they could tell I spilt water on it they may refuse to do anything.

Astaroth

You should disclose any incident which could have resulted in a claim irrespective of if you did claim or not (being realistic, people don't)

That has to be the worst written terms and conditions I have ever had the misfortune of reading - and believe me, I read a lot of them! I would argue as it is written it then accidental damage is covered on the basis the first sentance starts and ends.....

All repairs necessitated other than ....... are chargeable to the customer at the standard rate at the time the fault is reported

AD, Malicious damage etc are all listed in the place of the dots and so are in the "other than" and therefore not chargeable

dtaylor84

Astaroth wrote: »

You should disclose any incident which could have resulted in a claim irrespective of if you did claim or not (being realistic, people don't)

That has to be the worst written terms and conditions I have ever had the misfortune of reading - and believe me, I read a lot of them! I would argue as it is written it then accidental damage is covered on the basis the first sentance starts and ends.....
AD, Malicious damage etc are all listed in the place of the dots and so are in the "other than" and therefore not chargeable

Wow. I want a policy that covers malicious damage!

DrScotsman

Astaroth wrote: »

You should disclose any incident which could have resulted in a claim irrespective of if you did claim or not (being realistic, people don't)

Because everyone tells insurance companies every single thing worth more than their excess that they accidentally break

Astaroth wrote: »

AD, Malicious damage etc are all listed in the place of the dots and so are in the "other than" and therefore not chargeable

Yeah, I thought it was poorly written too. I think it's supposed to be read like this:

"All repairs necessitated [by]

• [incidents] other than electro-mechanical faults
• calls to the machine where the services of a computer engineer prove to be unnecessary
• etc."

Simulacraton

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Components/HardDrives-Internal/2.5inchHardDrive/

They don't cost much!

Sounds like the issues have gone away anyway, so why bother with worrying?

AVG had a massive update recently with a completely new client and there are some issues being ironed out with it. It could have been that, but to be honest the errors you have had are impossible for me to judge as I have no hard data to look at.

I don't think the water is related to your issues. Home Insurance wont pay out unless you have had an event relating to Accidental damage. They may not cover the laptop if over a certain value and not specified under laptop cover either. Depends on your policy, look at the policy wording.

If you had made a claim under specific laptop cover on a separate policy, then tried to insure it under a new policy then yes you would have to declare it if within the time span they ask about claims history.