Complaint Review: SquareTrade Warranty Services - San Francisco California

I was considering a computer through Amazon because of the warranty option via Square Trade.

My usuage is high on my laptops, about 5 to 6 hours a day so after 2 years they seem to all have 'issues'.

I had previously bought my warranties directly from HP and have had an excellent consumer experience but the pricing per warranty is higher than Square Trade.

However, 'everything' is covered with HP's waranty and the service time is really amazing for door-to-door service so I think I will stick with them even though the pricing is higher. It is worth it to have a no exclusions type of service.

Please post this complaint on Amazon.com.  I started to purchase this service based on the reviews that are there then I came here and saw all the complaints.  On Amazon this company has five stars and no negative reviews.  Please help other know of your experience.  Thank you

Extended warranties are a profit maker for the insurance companies and for all the retail commissions that are generated for each sale.  I don't purchase extended warranties for electronics because the item is old and obsolete in about six months.  Maybe you can have the OEM help you and waive the repair fees with the issue you describe.  From what you also describe, the extended warranty picks up after the OEM warranty expires.

Oops. It was a late night at the end of a shift. I misread the opening article. I thought you denied fixing his computer (i.e. a processor problem) because he hadn't serviced his fan. I hope I'm not giving you any ideas. 

I've bought six separate squaretrade warranties, but apparently and thankfully never had to use any of them. I will be returning my most recent warranty, and will stop recommending the service. This is reprehensible. 

Having purchased a warranty from squaretrade in the past for my washing machine after reading good reviews of their service, I now see thanks to this report that they are like any other insurance company in that they look for any possible way to avoid fulfilling their contracts. I am disappointed to see this. It seems very obvious to me (and im sure to most other laptop owners) that laptops are difficult (and expensive if paying a shop to do the service) to disassemble for cleaning. Furthermore, if the owner is capable of doing this service themselves, they still would not have receipts to document it was done, so there would be no  way to prove it to squaretrade. Asking someone to spend a minimum of $25 - 50 in service fees for laptop disassembly per year is rediculous, and the fan replacement service needed for this customer would cost about the same as what squaretrade wants customers to spend for cleaning each year so why not cover it and keep their customer? That is horrible service. I will not be purchasing warranties from this company in the future if this is how they treat their customers.

As a computer technician and the owner of many laptops over the years, I have had several laptops repaired/replaced for heat issues under warranty. I have never, and I do mean NEVER, been told by any warranty or service provider that case or CPU fans are user serviceable. The "cleaning" that most reputable companies recommend is blowing out the vents with canned air at least once a month, more often if you smoke around your computer or have pets. Theoretically, the user could simply wait until the fan stopped working completely. This will, in most cases, cause the CPU to overheat to a degree that it must be replaced along with the fan. This would cost the warranty provider more money than replacing case and/or CPU fans when the bearings start going out -- which is what it sounds like is happening in this gentleman's case. After reading this report I will certainly not be using SquareTrade's services for a warranty on a laptop, if they refuse to replace a CPU or case fan that is failing. That is an internal part, very different from a keyboard that needs cleaned or a battery that is a consumable part by nature.

No matter how much we want to make our customers happy, we unfortunately can't approve every claim. We'd love to, since we pride ourselves on our great ratings from our customers, but we also have to make sure we're being fair and abiding by the rules of our warranty policies. Since our product is a warranty and not a prepaid maintenance program, we can't approve claims for normal device maintenance or normal wear and tear. Much like we wouldn't be able to pay for new batteries, keyboard cleaning, etc, we aren't able to cover this particular issue. I can personally assure you that we really do everything we possibly can to make our customers happy because our satisfied customers contribute significantly to the success of our business. Regards, SquareTrade Jill http://blog.squaretrade.com