New computer-any in home service available, without extended warranty?

joemardo1

Hi there,

Will be buying a new computer sometime in the future. Just wondered does anyone know of a well known company or brand that will give you in-home service without taking out the extended warranty. I'm thinking along the lines of something like mastercare that does the curry's after sales service. A lot of the companies that you buy a computer from like Mesh in london or Evesham I believe will only offer in home servicing for the mainland (england)
any tips appreciated.

Joe

talksalot81

Dell will do it - but you will pay for it!

If you run AV/spyware/malware software and avoid the likes of kazaa and limewire, chances are you will never have any issues and the warranty will be un-needed. However, if you intend this for teenage use - there is no way you'll keep the ship that tight!

IvanOpinion

Do you not have any computer mates that might like a chinese and a pint while discussing your problems While I would generally say to avoid extended warranties like the plague there is a certain merit in them when it comes to computers (not for the sake of the hardware which is no different to anything else but simply because somebody can accidently stuff the thing by pressing a few wrong buttons).

Make sure you take an external backup of all important data (DVD, CD or external hard disk), make sure you keep all installation disks and make sure you get a product recovery disk. If something goes wrong then you can always reset the computer back to factory set up, reinstall your software and reload your data. If you get stuck then you can always ask a query on the technical seciton of this (or other) boards.

Ivan

Browntoa

most "support" options normally only relate to hardware....the likes of PCWorld just reformat your hard disk and re-isntall which is not really a fix !! and exclude "software" problems

New Dells come with a restore partition that resturns the PC to the same set up as when it left the factory, as long as you keep you data backed up then this is a free last resort to fix things

the techie part of the forum normally offers good FREE advice for curing all your PC woes

joemardo1

Ah thanks for replies. Naw I'm refering to hardware related probs only like maybe motherboard probs. Not software related. I didn't make that very clear in my post. I have a lot of backups acronis true image etc. Its just that if a hardware prob arrises that it would be nice to have in home servicing.

Merry Xmas to everybody,

Joe

jamstaruk

in home servicing is a waste of money computers arent really complicated at at only hardware that may fail is cd/dvd writer which is very easy to replace yourself as is the hardrive,if something goes wrong with power supply,motherboard or processor it would then have to go back to get fixed and while these are still fixable but more complex why should you as it would be covered in years warranty

dan2002

hi have to say always said never take out the extended warranty on computers but was talked into it in pcworld for an emachine and was never so gald I did ,power supply went 3 times ,harddrive went ,and a few other things,they also come out to the house to fix it on the day that I was told ,so dont just knock these warrantys as you never know when you are going to need it and if you have to leave it into a shop to be fixed its going to cost more than the warranty was in the first place,remember some of these shops have a £25 fee just to look at it and then you pay for parts,also if you take out the warranty for 3 years a lot can happen in that time ,its like travel insurance we all dont like to pay it but all do pay it just in case anything was to happen and by the way would Never buy another Emachine again.I now have brought a new Compaq and yes got the extended warranty and found it not that dear so just think before you buy