Korean Job Discussion Forums

Kim Cummings · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Location: Timberlea, NS, Canada

Thanks to all those people who posted advice about laptops, where to buy, etc...

Yesterday, I bought an HP notebook from Future Shop (Canada) & got the big sales-pitch for the 3-yr extended warranty which has a global component. At $299, I'm wondering if it's worth it. (I hope to be in Korea soon, probably Jeju.)

Without listing all the details of the plan here, I'm wondering if anyone who's experienced dealing with service outlets, trying to get the necessary paperwork for the insurance carrier, etc. might have some advice, warnings...I know experiences will vary depending on where you are in Korea, the type of lap top, etc, but I'm just trying to get a general sense of whether it's worth it or not.

Two friends have said extended warranties are money makers for the carriers, and are seldom worth it, yet I've also been told lap tops frequently develop problems that can be very costly to fix.

I only paid a $1000 for the lap top & it has a one-yr HP warranty with a global component...

cruisemonkey · Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:20 am Post subject:

Those extended warranties are for people who don't think lotteries are a tax on the stupid.

$299 to extend a warranty for two years?... that's absurd.

jvalmer · Joined: 06 Jun 2003

You guys should keep your computers constantly on, whenever possible. Also, laptops don't usually last as long as desktops because people tend to turn them on and off way more often than desktops. Anytime you power up/down a computer, it tends to shorten the life of HD and various other parts in the computer.

Kim Cummings · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Location: Timberlea, NS, Canada

Well, I've never bought a lottery ticket...

I decided I will NOT get the extended warranty - as good as they made it sound. And yes, $299 is crazy...

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

Check that it has a global first year warranty.

It might be limited to Canada.

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

My neighbor has a global warranty with his Toshiba laptop. Sure enough, he went to the A/S center and got his laptop repaired.

There was a problem though. His hard drive crashed and it was a 200gb laptop drive. Toshiba Korea doesn't have any 200gb hard drives. They could only replace his drive with a 160GB (the largest capacity they have).

The good news is they said they would order the 200GB from north America Toshiba and when that came in, they'd swap out the 160gb for the 200gb.

SHANE02 · Joined: 04 Jun 2003

I have had an Compaq (now HP Compaq?) laptop for 5 years and it's fine.

However, I payed for ane extended warranty, and it sucked. When I had a problem I called the service centre in Korea who said "that model is not sold in Korea, so we can't service it here".

I called the service centre for Australia/NZ too, who gave me the same line.

The exact same laptop was sold in Korea ( at Hyndai Dept Store for eg,)with a different model number. Same specs on evrything, i checked it all out in detail.

So much for "Worlwide Warranty" . I only paid the extra because I was travelling.

I fixed the problem myself. The laptop is old, heavy, but running great. Compaq/HP however can suck my dick.

newteacher · Joined: 31 May 2007

Normally I would say don't bother with the extended warranty, but since it's an hp I'd say you should buy it. Just make sure it covers you in South Korea. My laptop has a manufacturers international warranty, however, South Korea is one of the few countries that it's not covered in. I only paid 400 bucks for mine though so I'm not too concerned.

I'm a little biased because I've had bad experiences with hp computers. Their customer service is decent, they pay for shipping if it's under warranty, but some of their mother boards are faulty and have a tendency to burn out the week after the warranty runs out. I had a pavilion that went through three mother boards in the first 18 months I owned it. I final trashed the lemon and decided never again to buy an HP.

jen_the_great · Joined: 09 Sep 2006 Location: Gangnam, Seoul

I have an apple macbook and after a few months in Korea it started getting wonky and filthy. I didn't know before I came that nothing stays white in Korea. Apple has excellent warrenty coverage and I brought it in and got it fixed with no problems. They even changed the casing so it's white again and the repair shop spoke perfect English.