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Old 04-25-09, 07:23 PM   #46 (permalink)
FrinkTL
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Nassau, NY
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Device: Motorola i560
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Don't Give up on Next Day Warranties

Originally Posted by kam33mitch View Post
I've had my 210 since November and bought it on ebay used for a great price and I've been absolutely happy with mine. I've followed these battery problems with a lot of interest and they are posted all over the web but no one has been able to nail down the cause. I've seen solutions ranging from having the password lock on at startup to not using the CF card to not using X software. I do know that I've never had the problem and I don't use a CF card and I do have the password on so maybe that is the reason. I've also run down my battery a few times and charged it up when it got down to 40% on other occasions and some days it sat on the cord most of the day. I just can't think that the way the battery was charged would be the cause.

I do understand everyone's frustration and I know that if it was happening to me I'd be really mad but I hate to see people stay away from a device I've found to be a major upgrade over my X50v in terms of everyday use.

I gave up on "Next day" replacement warranties over 15 years ago when my watch that had just lost a pin got exchanged for a gift certificate which was hardly what I needed considering the stores no longer had the watch in stock. I'd be curious how many times it turned out to be worth it versus how many times you had to argue with the companies to get them to replace the item.
First, I agree with you, as I have had my iPAQ211 for just about 2 years now without hardware incident (since the initial ones that caused me to get a couple of replacement models). The machine is simply awesome...and the screen quality is way beyond the X51v I replaced it with.

As for your comment on giving up on Next Day warranties, I sincerely hope that you have more reason for giving up on every single vendor's Next Day warranty than a single bad experience that you had with a watch 15 (woah, FIFTEEN) years ago. I mean, SERIOUSLY? You've got to be kidding. Every vendor is different, especially when talking about different technology "silos" (e.g., computers vs. TVs vs. stoves vs. washing machines).

Within the computer silo, there are still companies that stand behind their products and warranties. Dell is one, HP Home (in my experience) is another, Sony too. Granted, you have follow them down their scripted path to get the service fullfillment, but there is a reason for that. They simply cannot afford to replace every computer just because you took the time to call their 800 number; they'd go bankrupt within a few months to a year. And with computers running a Windows OS, nearly any software or device driver could have been installed that could render hardware completely inoperable or the system unbootable. I've been on the side of the expert user who knows what's wrong and just needing to get them to accept the list of possible causes I've been able to isolate - and I've lived that fustration personally. But I do understand their position of the near-impossible task of supporting a system that is so open that it allows its users, essentially, to crash it. The sheer number of possiblities of what could be installed on any computing device is mind-boggling.

I always buy next day/on-site extended warranties for my mission-critical computing devices. Even if the service turns out to be less than I'd hoped, it will always be better than if I didn't have the service at all.
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Tim:)
HP iPAQ 211
2GB SanDisk SD
ThinkOutside Sierra Bluetooth Keyboard
Pharos GPS w/ Bluetooth Dock

HP 2133 Mini-Note
1.6GHz VIA, 2GB DDR2 RAM
120GB 7200RPM HDD with Drive Guard
10/100/1000 Ethernet with Bluetooth 2.0
running Windows XP Pro

Kid's Pocket PC (to make homework fun):
Axim X30 (High)
ThinkOutside IR Keyboard

PLUS the following RETIRED (but still functional) devices:
1. Sharp Mobilon 4100
2. iPAQ 3150
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