Complaint Review: Office Depot

Read the fine print.

(From: https://www.productassist.com/officedepot/LRP/siteFAQsFromLogin.xhtml#quest4; the FAQ site for the Product Protection Plan]

" Date of purchase plan coverage begins on Day 1 for failures due to Accidental Damage from Handling in portable electronics products, power surge and bulb failures in qualifying projectors. Notebook battery coverage begins on Day 91. All other coverage's under date of purchase plans commence upon expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturer's warranty.
* Furniture plan coverage begins on Day 1 for all failures not covered by the manufacturer's warranty and covered by the Plan. All failures which are covered by the manufacturer's warranty will continue to be covered at the end of the manufacturer's warranty and until the plan expires.
* All other plans(excluding furniture) have coverage's commencing upon expiration of the shortest portion of the manufacturer's warranty. "

Meaning, if your laptop suffers from an accidental damage incident (if accidental damage plan is purchased) or power surge during the first year of coverage, your extended warranty company (N.E.W. or National Electronics Warranty) will take care of necessary reimbursement/repairs. Your homeowners insurance should cover most of the lightning strike damage and the extended warranty will cover up to the deductible cost for repair.

If any of said failures would occur while your product was under the manufacturer's warranty, your item would not receive service under their coverage. They would apologize that such a terrible incident has taken place and go on with their day.

Both the representative and the manager of the Office Depot store did indeed lie to you. The question that needs to be addressed at this point is whether or not they lied intentionally or unintentionally. Your plan does begin after the shortest term manufacturers warranty, usually one year from date of purchase, UNLESS your plan is eligible for a day one endorsement. The company that handles your extended warranty is completely separate from Office Depot and the representatives probably know as much about your terms and conditions as you did.

If you are going to invest 20% of the cost of your laptop into an extended warranty, know what you're buying. You are given a pamphlet with your terms and conditions when your extended warranty is purchased, and you obviously did not read what you were given. It isn't written in Arabic, it's plain English that outlines exactly when your plan begins and why it plan begins on day 1.

If you feel upset that the representatives at the store do not know every single detail about the extended warranty, I suggest you go back to the store to file a complaint. They'll be sure to give you a phone number for their corporate offices. Nothing illegal happened, your plan ran exactly how it was outlined in the fine print, so the person you speak to at the other end of the line will tell you this.

Take responsibility for not reading what you were given about your plan. If I personally invest upwards of $150.00 into an extended warranty, I read the terms and conditions from cover to cover. If you need help interpreting any coverage questions, a representative from the extended warranty is obliged to address those questions. You would need to request a supervisor instead of a base level customer care representative, as they are trained NOT to read from the terms and conditions to avoid individuals who are just praying they misread something (which would of course lead to a lawsuit).

Travis
Irving, Texas
U.S.A.