Warranties & Registrations

NOTICE

This document is intended to be used as a guideline to the
most common warranty practices available today. It is by no means a legal
statement of the warranties provided by AVADirect or other manufacturers. For
AVADirect Warranty terms, please see http://www.avadirect.com/warranties.asp

For other manufacturers, you will need to visit appropriate
warranty pages or consult your warranty or owner's manuals for exact warranty
information.

This guide's intention is to bring forth common warranty
policies seen today, as well as potential benefits that many manufacturers
offer, so that the consumer is aware and can properly take advantage of such
offers.

Introduction

When you purchase computer components, they usually come in
a very pretty box, neatly organized often packed with various accessories,
documents and CDs. If you're like most of us, you typically tend to discard or
ignore most of these things and get right down to business. As everyone else,
you're excited to get your brand new part or a computer that you sometimes
overlook a lot of important documentation that comes with your part.

Each custom system we build at AVADirect is made up of parts
which we receive in those very boxes, along with all those manuals and CDs. We
pack these accessories and give them all to our customers so that they can
review them. Many of them include coupons, registration information, warranty
upgrades, as well as many useful accessories, adapters and other miscellaneous
items.

Each part in your custom computer, whether it comes from
Asus, Corsair, Antec, Thermaltake just to name a few out of hundreds, carries a
manufacturer's warranty. Most of these warranties range from 1 year up to 5
years on some products. These manufacturers ultimately replace the parts,
whether you buy it straight from them or from a reseller or a system builder
like ourselves. Of course, AVADirect offers own warranties on custom built
systems, but each part can usually be exchanged directly through manufacturer
to which it belongs.

Manufacturer
Warranties

As mentioned previously, most manufacturers provide 1-5 year
warranties on their products. Items such as cases, mice & keyboards,
speakers and others usually carry a 1 year standard warranty. Most common are 3
year warranties, and they're typically attached to motherboards, hard drives,
solid state drives, video cards and similar components. 5 year warranties are
usually offered on parts like enterprise hard drives and power supplies.

Of course, these are generic guidelines, as some
manufacturers will have variable warranty periods even within the same product
line-up. Always check directly w/ manufacturer on exact warranty terms of part
number in question.

The most important thing to note about these warranties is
what they can and cannot do for you. In most cases, standard warranties are
offered should the component fail prematurely due to some kind of a
manufacturer defect. Most warranties do not cover accidental damage or physical
abuse. Liquid damage is also not covered. Of course, every manufacturer will
lay out all the legal terminology in the documentation for you, just be sure to
check it out before you request warranty work. Sometimes those terms feel like
a whole lot of reading that doesn't often make any sense. This is
understandable, as most warranty terms are not written to be easy on the eyes.
However, if you think about it in practical terms, as long as any kind of
damage was not inflicted by you or any third party and the equipment simply
failed on its own, chances are the warranty should cover a replacement or
repair, provided the item is still within the warranty period. Again, it's
still best to check with the manufacturer, but this is a pretty good guideline
to stick to.

Registrations

Earlier we talked about all those papers and manuals that
often come with your computer component or a custom system. Not all of these
documents are just legal terms, as some of them may contain useful information.
For example, a lot of times there will be a coupon to software like
applications or games or most importantly, extended warranty or other benefits
that can be taken advantage of.

Some manufacturers will limit the warranty until
registration is complete, while others make this optional. It's recommended to
register anyway as it is very easy to lose receipts or forget after 2-3 years.
By completing a registration early, you lock your product in, thus making any
future warranty replacement or service much easier and faster. Of course,
there's likely going to be a lot of promotional stuff that's not all that
great. However, many times you'll have a choice of opting out of many
promotional offers while still being able to enjoy warranty extensions and
similar “good” promotions.

Extended Warranties

One of the best things about registrations is that some
manufacturers offer extended warranties, sometimes as long as the lifetime of
the product. Now, they typically give 30 days from purchase to complete
registration. Some give longer, but check with the manufacturer to make sure.
If you register within this period of time, you're likely to receive an
extended warranty for your product. On the other hand, if you allow the time to
pass and try to do it later, it will not be possible, so make sure you take
advantage of these offers as soon as you get your product. We often recommend
waiting about a week just in case there is some issue with the product to allow
you to return it for refund or replacement.

Also, during the registration phase, other warranty packages
can be offered as well. Some manufacturers offer accidental damage coverage for
additional small fees. This can be useful for example if you are building a
liquid cooling system, where there's always a potential for things to go wrong.
Of course, none of these options are required, but they're nice to have and
provide a peace of mind in case your components fail. Also, since most of them
extend the warranty you'll be able to get replacement parts even 3-4 years from
date of purchase or even longer.

Accessories

Lot of components like video cards and motherboards come
with an array of various accessories, adapters and tools. It's always a good
idea to go through all these and see what you received. There can be many
useful cables, adapters or other things that can come in handy when you try to
make certain connections. Sometimes miniature tools are included for
installations of machine screws in case you don't have your own hardware. This
is great so you don't have to go out and buy tools specifically to install just
a small component. Buying some of these accessories can get very expensive quickly.
Having them already included with your product can often bring forth reasonable
savings.

Items such as display adapters, video cables, power cables,
screws and mounting brackets can all cost quite a bit, combined with shipping
costs you can find yourself paying $20-$30 for accessories that would've
otherwise been free. So, it's important not to discard your boxes or
accessories, as you may need them or may know a friend or someone who needs
them. They are a real treat to have around when time comes.

Conclusion

We hope that this guide was able to shed some light on how
important original documentation, boxes and accessories can be. We live in a
time where these items are typically discarded or thrown away upon receipt, but
as we saw can contain many useful benefits that extend your ownership
experience by that much longer. A few extra minutes spent reading the
documentation before you begin using your product can save a lot of hassle and
headaches in the future.