- Does where I purchased my Dell or Apple computer affect warranty repair service at TEC Services?
- How long is the warranty period for my computer?
- Will my warranty cover any type of problem that I could experience?
- If I take my laptop to TEC Services for a repair, should I bring anything else?
- Should I wait until my Student Orientation Session at UGA to make a decision about which type and brand of computer to purchase?
- If I purchase another brand of computer other than Apple or Dell, what type of warranty repair support can I expect in the Athens area?
- How can I best protect myself from the loss of my data files in the event that my hard drive suddenly fails?
Does where I purchased my Apple, Dell or Lenovo computer affect warranty repair service at TEC Services?
It does for Dell products, but not Apple or Lenovo. If you purchase a Dell from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Costco, QVC, or Dell.Com (Home and Home Office link), TEC Services must charge a fee for the labor required to complete warranty covered repairs. Dell computers purchased through the UGA Bookstore or on-line via the Dell.Com web site (all other links except Home and Home Office) are authorized to receive warranty repairs (parts and labor) for hardware-related malfunctions.
How long is the warranty period for my computer?
If you purchase your Dell Latitude laptop at the UGA Bookstore, it is packaged with a 3-year warranty & Complete Care accidental damage coverage, which pays the cost to repair/replace your laptop if it is damaged accidentally by a liquid spill or by falling onto a hard surface. Apple is protected by a 1-year parts and labor warranty, but you have the option to extend your warranty by purchasing 1 or 2 more years of AppleCare®.
Will my warranty cover any type of problem that I could experience?
Apple’s warranty covers the cost of parts and labor associated with all hardware-related repairs that are not the result of accidental damage (dropping or liquid spills). Software-related repairs are not covered. Dell’s warranty covers parts and labor associated with hardware-related repairs unless the replacement part is a Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU). CRUs are parts that Dell has deemed as replaceable by the user – DVD/CD drives & memory units, as examples. Dell’s policy is to cover the cost of parts only for CRU-related repairs. TEC Services performs labor to replace CRUs for a modest fixed fee. Software-related repairs are not covered by the Dell warranty. Dell’s Complete Care plan covers repair costs resulting from accidental damages (spills or drops).
If I take my laptop to TEC Services for a repair, should I bring anything else?
Please bring your AC power adapter, your system restore disks (DVD/CD that contains your operating system, device drivers, and other essential software files), and the external hard drive that’s being used for daily file back-up.
Should I wait until my Student Orientation Session at UGA to make a decision about which type and brand of computer to purchase?
Yes. A wealth of information about the type of computer to purchase as well as the computer sales and service resources available to you on the UGA campus will be presented at your Student Orientation Session. Please wait until you evaluate this information before making your purchasing decision.
If I purchase another brand of computer other than Apple, Dell or Lenovo, what type of warranty repair support can I expect in the Athens area?
If you purchase a computer brand other than Apple, Dell Or Lenovo, your only choices for requesting warranty service are to: (1) Bring your laptop to TEC Services and pay us a facilitation fee of $100 to ship your computer to a factory authorized repair center; or
(2) make direct arrangements yourself with the computer company or local sales outlet that offer warranty repairs for your brand. In either case, you will typically experience a repair time of 7 to 9 business days for hardware related repairs.
How can I best protect myself from the loss of my data files in the event that my hard drive suddenly fails?
The most economical and reliable way to protect your data files is to back-up these files on a daily basis using an external hard drive. This device plugs into a USB port on your computer and with the assistance of the software provided with the drive, the computer user can daily back-up his/her files in a few simple steps. These drives vary in price and capacity, but the average price for a 320 Gigabyte external hard drive is around $120. If a sudden and complete failure of your hard drive renders your data files unrecoverable (by conventional means), you would simply bring in your external hard drive with the computer that needs service. Following the replacement of your hard drive, we would transfer your data files from the external hard drive to the new internal hard drive. If you like, we can order an external hard drive for you and assist you with any questions concerning its use.