On September 28, 2003 I purchased a Compaq Presario 2100 laptop. Since the Dell I had been using had some issues shortly after the warranty expired, I broke my personal rule of “never buy an extended warranty” and paid out an additional $165 for a two-year “CityAdvantage Protection Plan”.
Around last November the battery showed signs of deteriorizing - progressively not holding a charge for as long as it used to. This continued for a few weeks until the battery was completely shot.
So we’ve been getting along without the battery, until finally today I had both the paperwork in hand and time to go about getting it replaced under the extended warranty.
4:10 PM
Type in “cityadvantage.com” into browser. Site 404’s. Try again with “WWW” in front (even though brochure doesn’t have that). Site loads.
Click “Create Claim”.
Asked for 12 digit “ticket number” from my Circuit City sales slip. I have the slip in hand. I enter the number and receive this message: “No contracts found that match the specified criteria. Please try again.” I try again, and get the message again. Great help text there.
There’s a link for “if you don’t have your ticket number” but I decide to try phoning.
4:16 PM
After 5 options, I’m told I can better expidite my claim online (thanks, but no thanks).
4 Rings to answer.
I tell the operator I have a laptop computer and believe the battery is dead. She asks if I need service. I repeat that I think the battery is dead. She gives me the Service Center’s phone number.
I ask if I’m going to be able to file a claim, or are they going to try and “troubleshoot” the issue with me over the phone. She answers the troubleshooting, but then says “I will tell you that the battery isn’t covered”. I ask where I can view details about what is and what isn’t covered. She tells me the Circuit City website.
4:23 PM
I visit the circuit city website, and type “CityAdvantage” into the search engine. One of the result links is:
CityadvantageSM Protection Plan benefits
I click that and read:
Notebook PCs, digital cameras and PDAs
-Repair, shipping and laptop battery replacement
-These products require special care, so we’ll send you a postage-paid container for shipping the product back to us. If we can’t fix it, we’ll replace it. And, if your notebook PC battery fails, we’ll replace it.
I click the link for the detailed plan information (a .PDF file) and search on “battery”. The guide again says:
“The CityadvantageSM Protection Plan for Computer Products begins on the date of purchase with power surge protection and notebook PC battery coverage.”
Back to the phone, calling a number in the guide specifically for computer support.
This time the telephone system told ME my ticket number - must be connecting it by caller ID and my phone number.
Then the system does the most basic troubleshooting (is the power cord plugged in, etc).
I answer y/s no questions…3 times.
Now the system rings me through, but then says all tech reps are busy.
4:28 PM
at 4:30 the phone is answered.
Now I have to give the human my name, phone number and make/model of computer (funny how the system knew my ticket# which contains all that information…)
I’m put on hold to “look up my contract info”. The tech comes back and tells me my battery isn’t covered. I reply “your website says it is”. I’m told the New contract covers batteries, but my contract does not. (How nice that the website makes this so clear, with no indication of any different contracts. Also how nice that I was never offered an upgrade to my plan to cover the battery).
Now the tech says the “Charging system needs to be calibrated” before we can determine it’s the battery. I’m already suspicious.
I’m asked if I use the laptop for DVD use. We do. That’s bad, I guess - I’m told somehow the battery can overcharge (which personally sounds suspect).
First I have to download drivers for the system bios and keyboard battery controller, so we visit the compaq website.
No drivers available.
Then we do 20 minutes of rebooting and reconfiguring, getting the laptop to reinstall the power management system. The tech bails on the call before the last reboot, saying if the battery still doesn’t work I’m out of luck.
4:50
Battery still isn’t charging.
My brochure says the plan has a money back guarantee. Actually in one spot it says “cancel at any time for a full refund (less any service fees paid, administrative fees, and proration that applies)”, while in another spot on the brochure (and on cityadvantage’s website) it says “Fully and easily refundable within 30 days of purchase.”
Phooey - my first reaction was to call and get whatever refund they’d give me. But after thinking about it, I’m guessing they’ll “service fee, admin fee and prorate” me down to about $1.50.
So now I’m out an hour, $165 for a so-far useless extended warranty, and a 15 month old laptop that won’t work on a battery.
I’m not impressed.
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sparky on January 04, 2005
David Najdowski on January 17, 2005
Michael Boyink (Author) on January 17, 2005
alberto jacinto on February 10, 2005