Insuring your PC

Now retailers have to give customers 30 days to consider the warranty.

The price and terms must remain the same as initially offered in-store, on a website or on the phone for 30 days after the item has been purchased - including any discount offered at the point of sale meant to tempt the consumer into buying the insurance.

Customers also have a right to cancel and obtain a full refund within 45 days of purchase.

In addition, a customer can cancel an extended warranty at any time and obtain a pro-rata refund.

So consumer protection has been beefed up but what about that value question? The truth is that some types of extended warranty can be useful for some people. But with the price of PCs falling, this expensive insurance is beginning to look out of date. Indeed, retailers are turning to new ways of presenting such insurance as the term ‘extended warranty’ is tainted by the abuse it was previously submitted to.

DSGI, the company behind PC World, now has its Tech Guys service, which offers expert help for specific PC projects, such as boosting memory or cleansing a computer of spyware or viruses, in store or at home.

Some services are charged individually, others attract a yearly subscription. The Geek Squad provides a comparable service, as does BT’s Home IT Support and emerging companies such as PC Home Help.

Our view is that these services offer better value than the old extended warranties because with most you can pick and choose what needs fixing. That said, many of the services on offer are things that the average home PC user can easily deal with.

Annual subscription options could cost you as much or even more than the total cost of the goods in the first place. Ultimately, you need to decide how much peace of mind is worth. As most of us will have noted from quotes for car or home insurance, ultimate peace of mind (in which a defective PC is completely replaced, for example) attracts a higher premium.

Home cover
Talking of home insurance, if you’re planning to buy a new PC, television, hi-fi or any other form of expensive electronic kit, it’s worth contacting your current home contents insurer to see if the new addition can be included.

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association and big insurers including Direct Line, Churchill and Stirling, told us they cover a home computer if it is stolen or destroyed in an insurance peril such as fire or flood. Please remember, though, that the guides we’ve given here are general points and that you should consult your own policy documents or insurance company for details relevant to you.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) advises people that, although most standard household policies will insure a PC and make sure that it is covered on a new-for-old basis, a user will get the equivalent for their PC and not a new top-of-the-range one. Insurers say that because PC technology advances so quickly, the price paid (and therefore the amount covered) for a computer bought more than a year or so ago will not be enough to cover a top-spec one today.

According to the ABI there is no need to inform your insurer if you buy a PC after you have taken out home insurance so long as the price of the PC does not push the estimated cost of the household’s contents over the maximum cover limit.