Buying Peace of Mind Online - Buyers Guide

Home Office Computing, July, 2000 by Mark Kakkuri

WHEN BUYING COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, you're probably of two minds. Your consumer side is tempted to snare a great deal online. But your business side won't bite at anything that doesn't include a warranty, extended service plan, or technical support extras offered by the bigger brick-and-mortar retail chains.

"Because there's no salesperson offering a warranty at point of purchase, sales of service plans in online stores average less than 1 percent, compared to 40 to 50 percent enjoyed by brick-and-mortar stores," says Matt Spragins, vice president of development of Laguna Beach, Calif.-based eVU Inc.

But those numbers are due to shift as several third-party warranty package providers, eVU among them, offer online retailers the ability to match their physical competitors by providing protection and support packages, too.

This is especially good news for "heavy users of high-priced computer equipment and peripherals, [such as home office users], who have more use for warranties than the average home computer user," explains Mark Mirken, executive vice president of strategic alliances at Dallas-based How2.com, an online provider of extended warranties, rebate processing, and product manuals.

In a slightly different approach, San Francisco-based WarrantyNow is gearing up to provide extended warranties and service plans to both online retailers and discount brick-and-mortar stores that lack them, such as Los Angeles-based discount electronics retailer Crazy Gideons. Currently, WarrantyNow offers extended warranties for home PCs and peripherals, electronics, cars, exercise equipment, tools, furniture, and jewelry. In the coming months, it will add business PCs, servers, and office equipment to the list.

Online support services also save home-based workers time and money. "Calling software and hardware manufacturers and resellers is time-consuming, frustrating, and often expensive," says Cliff Rowlands, vice president of marketing at PCsupport.com's Mountain View, Calif., office. Instead, Rowlands's company provides free access to tech support via chat rooms, free unlimited backup with up to 30-day recovery, advocacy help if you're dissatisfied with a vendor, disk maintenance utilities, and software update tracking.