Warranty Protection for New PE and EE Owners

This is not meant to be spam or an endorsement. It is provided for information purposes only. I recently purchased two Pocket Edges including one of the Amazon Marketplace $199 specials. I understand that many credit card companies offer additional protection for electronic items, but this is for those who may not have that protection. When I purchased my PE from buy.com I was offered a three year warranty with accidental damage protection for $32.99 from a company called SquareTrade. This morning I purchased another three year warranty with accidental damage protection for $39.99 for the PE I purchased from the Amazon Marketplace (using Tablet PC and $199 as the value). The price for the EE warranty will be slightly higher. SquareTrade warranties can also be purchased on Amazon's website.

Here are some reviews about SquareTrade:

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Online_St...quareTrade_Inc


Additional reviews can be found on Amazon's website most of which are either 4 or 5 stars. They have a lifetime feedback on Amazon of 97% Positive from 18,200 customers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller...=A1B45FIBP2TU2


Again, I'm not trying to sell anybody on anything but I feel in these uncertain times it is best to protect your investment. Here's a link for the details in case anyone is interested:

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/lea...warranty-buyer

When you get a quote for the $199 PE it will come up as $29.99. You can add the accidental damage protection for $10 more.


I filled out a Customer Satisfaction Survey for my buy.com warranty purchase and they sent me a discount code for 20% off which I used for the Amazon Marketplace PE (saved me $7.99). This code can be found at several Coupon websites as well:

CSTHANKU2011

Thanks. I think it's something many of us are going to need if enTourage is unable to service eDGes.

I was looking into a Square Trade warranty for my Amazon PE last week, and the description seemed to suggest that while it wouldn't cover accident losses for the first 30 days (if you purchase the warranty after you've bought the device), other than that, an ST warranty kicks in right away -- rather than in 1 year when the manufacturer's warranty ends. Is that correct?

Because if Square Trade is just going to say "sorry, contact Entourage" about any hardware defects until April 2012, as most of these extended warranty companies do, that makes it sort of pointless. I also am unsure whether they'll cover problems that may have been caused by a beta upgrade, or if that voids your ST agreement.

Originally Posted by JL6161

I was looking into a Square Trade warranty for my Amazon PE last week, and the description seemed to suggest that while it wouldn't cover accident losses for the first 30 days (if you purchase the warranty after you've bought the device), other than that, an ST warranty kicks in right away -- rather than in 1 year when the manufacturer's warranty ends. Is that correct?

Because if Square Trade is just going to say "sorry, contact Entourage" about any hardware defects until April 2012, as most of these extended warranty companies do, that makes it sort of pointless. I also am unsure whether they'll cover problems that may have been caused by a beta upgrade, or if that voids your ST agreement.

Here is what my contract says:

If your item is new and has a US manufacturer's warranty of at least 90 days (“MSP), this Service Agreement BEGINS THE DAY you purchased the item and lasts for the number of years of coverage you specify at purchase time.

ADH (Accidental Damage Handling) coverage begins 30 days after purchase, and does not cover willful damage, negligent use, theft or loss.


Software: We don't cover software issues, including software for computers, cell phones and PDAs.


So yes your are right they are not going to help you if you are having difficulty running a program on the PE or an application is freezing the PE or EE and causing you to power off and back on.

However, say you get a "white screen of death" which has been reported by a couple of other PE owners (Qwill and Jazzmind) after upgrading to Ermine. I think it will be tough to prove it is a software issue. In fact it might be a coincidence and may actually be a hardware issue as other forum members have suggested (other mobile device owners including iPod and iPad users have reported this type of problem as well). If they port the Edge and look at the Edge Info there is nothing there that says the software is Beta (it says Android 2.2.1, Kernel version 2.6.34, Build number ERMINE - 0.9).

Plus, NOWHERE in the Ermine beta agreement did it say by upgrading your device to Ermine that it would VOID your warranty with Entourage (how many of us would have actually upgraded if it did), so why would this be any different?


I'm not trying to sell the Warranty nor do I work for the company. However, I think $32 is reasonable for three years of protection against other things that might go wrong beyond software issues including breakage. Plus the reviews on Amazon suggest the company actually stands behind their warranty. The only thing I can suggest is to do the research and come to your own decision. However, based on many of the posts here I'm uncertain whether Entourage will even be around for another year should I develop a problem with either of my PEs and actually need warranty service.

Thanks for the additional info, obsessed2. I was pretty sure the ST warranty *did* say it started while the manufacturer's warranty was still in effect -- I just wanted to doublecheck because that's a definite departure from the standard "extended service agreement" type of warranty that you typically get offered with various products.

All the user comments about ST are pretty thoroughly glowing, as well.

If ST were to care at all about beta vs. official release (which they probably don't), then "version 0.9" would be enough to draw scrutiny. But as you say, WSODs, screen locks, and hibernation issues occur with lots of devices,* so it's obviously tied up with hardware or drivers on some level.

*For instance, the total POS Dell laptop I bought in 2008 with the beyond-total-POS Windows Vista (which was more like an alpha version) that went into bizarre spontaneous self-hibernate/wake-up/re-boot cycles on the eighth day and went back to the dang store on the ninth. I think of this experience every time someone mentions the perceived unreliability of Entourage, because Dell and MS were both, unsurprisingly, useless on that occasion -- it was the retailer's return policy that saved my bacon, not manufacturer tech support.

Originally Posted by JL6161

If ST were to care at all about beta vs. official release (which they probably don't), then "version 0.9" would be enough to draw scrutiny. But as you say, WSODs, screen locks, and hibernation issues occur with lots of devices,* so it's obviously tied up with hardware or drivers on some level.

*For instance, the total POS Dell laptop I bought in 2008 with the beyond-total-POS Windows Vista (which was more like an alpha version) that went into bizarre spontaneous self-hibernate/wake-up/re-boot cycles on the eighth day and went back to the dang store on the ninth. I think of this experience every time someone mentions the perceived unreliability of Entourage, because Dell and MS were both, unsurprisingly, useless on that occasion -- it was the retailer's return policy that saved my bacon, not manufacturer tech support.

After looking up the WOSD problem I found many mobile users experience it (iPod, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Tom Tom, Creative Zen etc.) so your right I doubt they would ever dig that far into it. Unfortunately Tier 1 customer support isn't always the greatest, especially for some of the bigger companies. My son had a problem with his Xbox 360 and was on the phone for nearly 2 hours with no resolve. I did a You Tube search and we had the problem fixed in about 20 minutes. Sometimes users are your best troubleshooting resource (case in point is this forum).

Of course I would always prefer to use Entourage when it comes to my PEs but a $32 investment for 3 years with of coverage including accidental damage is hard to pass up. In additon to all the good reviews on Amazon, SquareTrade got an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau:

http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-franc...cisco-ca-35878

I have several SquareTrade warranties on my electronics (including my PE & EE) and a couple of my major appliances. Google "SquareTrade coupon" and you can usually find one for at least 20% off pretty much at any time.

I recently had a DVD recorder go bad on me that was covered by SquareTrade and they sent me a check for the amount of the repair without any hassles. It took a bit of time, but they've recently implemented a guaranteed 5-day turnaround on repair-or-replace. Just my .02 worth.

Those extended warranties are generally rip-offs IMHO. You're paying 20% of the maximum claim value, so unless there's a 20% chance of the device crapping out for a covered reason during the claim period, you're losing money on average. It's not like the PE or EE is such a vital asset to one's existence that there's a peace of mind benefit as there would be with a home or a car.

I mean, the way people make it sound, ST is handing out free money. Businesses don't hand out free money (or those that do don't stay in business for long). It really is a zero-sum game; the price they offer to charge is more than they think the expected claim payout will be...and they probably know better than you do how the claims process is going to play out, since they write the fine print and have been doing this for years.

Originally Posted by obsessed2

However, say you get a "white screen of death" which has been reported by a couple of other PE owners (Qwill and Jazzmind) after upgrading to Ermine. I think it will be tough to prove it is a software issue.

When you take them to court after they deny your claim, the burden of proof will be on you to prove it was a hardware issue...and that's going to be even more difficult.

Of course they are not handing out money. By investing the premiums they collect from insured parties, SquareTrade operates like a traditional insurance company. What they do is estimate how frequently a certain product or type of products requires warranty service, and the average cost of each warranty service. Multiply that out to get the overall expense of offering the warranty and then add on a normal profit margin to each warranty sold. The difference between them and electronics stores or other retailers, is that they aren’t trying to make up their low profit margins on pricing by selling way over-priced warranties. On average you lose with any type of insurance, but when the time comes most good insurance companies won't make every claim process a nightmare, otherwise how long do you think they will stay in business, or receive an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. You are correct that the PE is not a vital asset, but I think $32 is a reasonable price for three years of protection from a reputable insurance company.

On average you lose with any type of insurance

Which is why it only makes sense to get insurance for things that are difficult to replace or do without, like cars and homes. You still have negative expected value getting insurance on those things, but the consequences of not getting insurance may be severe...for instance, being made homeless by a tree falling onto your uninsured house.

I doubt anyone here would have their lives affected at all by not having an eDGe. I like it and all, but it's not a necessity and I'd probably forget about it a month after it broke.