Is this PC Doa?

[Mark]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 12:56 PM,  <mdovell at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I bought it from amazon and unfortuatly the warrenty for computers is a
> month. It is a Zotac and Zotac does not have a warranty unless you send them
> back the card and the documentation
>
> is long gone. :-(
>
I hate to belabor the obvious, but you really do get what you pay for.
 I am always wary of purchasing from rock-bottom-priced dealers of
pretty much anything, but especially computer retailers of any kind.
I make it a point to shop for the best deals, but there are always
gotchas and it seems that you have fallen into one of them.

Frankly, I've never even heard of a warranty for (any) new equipment
that wasn't at least three months, but OTOH, I got snagged a couple of
years back when I bought my laptop on a fire sale through eBay.  It
was an Everex PC for the outstanding low price of around $152, plus
shipping.  I was even offered an extended warranty which I declined
because the manufacturer's warranty was 1 year and I figured that
should be enough.

I should have checked beforehand - Everex had gone out of business and
their warranty was completely worthless.  As a result of that and my
stinginess in not wanting to shell out an extra $30 for a two-year
third-party warranty, I have no extended sound (headset plug doesn't
work) and it will probably cost me another $50 minimum to get it
fixed.  (I tried to poke around in it myself - what the heck, there's
no warranty anyway - and I can't quite figure out how to get the
damned thing all the way open; there's some hidden catch in the middle
that just won't let go and I'm not about to break it.)

But, I did learn something from that.  I found an outrageously good
price for a 25" HD monitor a couple of weeks ago, researched the
brand, found that people either love it or hate it, and opted to
invest an additional $40 for a 3-year extended warranty through the
store to minimize my outlay if the thing goes bad before then.  For
now it's right beautiful.

I suppose the moral is that age old Aesop addage, look before you leap.

In your case, you might be able to get away with replacing just the
hard drive, which will come with its own warranty, and minimize the
damage that way.

There may be some good news, though - depending on where you live,
there are limitations on warranty restrictions like the one you cite
about warranty registration.  In California, the warranty is mandatory
with or without registration, and I believe it is binding on any
product sold in the state, so if you live here, you may be in better
shape.  Check with your "local" department of consumer affairs (or
equivalent).

Good luck.