American Express Membership Rewards - Question on Buyers Assurance

I wondered if anyone here has used the buyers assurance program. I used it once when a digital camera broke and they refunded it. This time it is bigger and need some input.

I have a Dell 9300 laptop, purchased in Sept 05 for $1200, with a 1 year warranty. It was paid on the Plat Delta Amex personal. On Mar 7th after freezing up, it would not boot. Since it was built by Dell, and the Windows XP Media edition does not have a boot disk, I called Dell and sent it through them in for $199 to fix, paid on Amex Hilton Of course today they called and it is the motherboard which is an additional $299+tax Paid on Plat Delta.
I then remembered that there was the Buyers Assurance that covers another year (up to 9/07), but the one flyer I have in my files says something about THEY have to repair it. Since in the case of a car estimate, you can have it repaired anywhere, can I do anything after the fact, as the laptop is in surgery in Memphis (I am in FL), and if I had it returned unfixed it would have been $199 down the drain.
Do I have any claim for the $500+ that I have charged on Amex for repairs, and how should I proceed? Also do I have to find the original statement or will they be able to look it up? Online does not go back as far as 9/05 I know if I call Amex, they won't grasp the concept and I wanted others experiences.
Thanks!

JudyJFLA

Call AmEx and omit the fact that you've already sent it in for repair.
AmEx will probably give you the option of having them fix it without charge or having you send it to Dell and get reimbursed for the charges (up to $750 or so).

This was what I was offered when my Dell laptop motherboard broke -- although I called before sending it out for repair. If they don't give you the option, I'd probably insist that it be fixed by the manufacturer. Not an unreasonable request in my opinion...

Worst case is AmEx somehow notices that Dell billed the repair prior to AmEx approval, but you don't have anything to lose.

Wow, $500+ to fix an almost two-year-old laptop that cost $1,200. You might as well have bought a new one. I sure hope you get reimbursed.

Recent discussion here...

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=669978

Just an update and thanks for the info on this and the other thread.
I called it in on Sunday and the rep said I needed the original statement with the charge (destroyed the house looking and could not find, called CS and am being mailed a copy from 18 months ago), the model number, serial number, invoice showing it was on Amex, and the bills for the repairs.

After about 10 emails and 4 phone calls to Bangalore to try to correct the incorrect shipping address the system picked up from my original order, mt laptop is resting comfortably in Memphis even though it said online that it had been shipped. I have only received a power adapter...

Anywho..... I had a call from the computer repair rep today from Buyers Assurance who was not working on the weekend. He asked what was wrong with the unit, asked if it was around $500 to fix (it was $498), and said he didn't need the original statement and to just fax in the invoice for the laptop and repair bills and he would take care of it immediately.... I am impressed with the service, as I was expecting a runaround.

This kind of service will keep me a happy Amex customer over Visa any day!
JudyJFLA

Anywho..... I had a call from the computer repair rep today from Buyers Assurance who was not working on the weekend. He asked what was wrong with the unit, asked if it was around $500 to fix (it was $498), and said he didn't need the original statement and to just fax in the invoice for the laptop and repair bills and he would take care of it immediately.... I am impressed with the service, as I was expecting a runaround.

This kind of service will keep me a happy Amex customer over Visa any day!
JudyJFLA

Wow, glad it worked out for you. Nice to hear stories on when Amex WORKS. ^

I bought a vacuum years ago. After a few years one of the long suction tubes broke somehow. Was still under the Amex extended warranty program. Sent in a copy of the receipt expecting maybe thirty bucks. Instead, they sent me the entire purchase price of around $300. Wow! Thanks, Amex. ^

I think they like to pay out under these programs since so few claims are made. Save your receipts! @:-)

I have a friend who bought a Macbook and accidentally scratched the case. Took it to the Apple store to get an estimate for fixing it: $800, which Amex paid him with no problems. He's very proud of his resourcefulness :)

I bought an HP multifunction printer in 9/05, that carried a one-year warranty. This week (after one year, 9+ months), the scanner failed. I called HP, and they offered me a "trade" for a new model at a discount that was laughable. The "rep" in India was horribly difficult to understand, and he had to look up my state of residence to be sure it was in the US :mad:

Fortunately, I charged the purchase to my AMEX Plat, and found the receipt. A ten-minute call to AMEX revealed that they would refund the entire purchase price, and I can go out and buy whatever replacement I like. This is well over half of this year's card fee. ^

This is the second time that I have invoked the Buyer Assurance Program; interestingly the first time was 10+ years ago, and it was also for a multifunction printer (Brother).