** Important extended warranty information **

[Guest]

[edelson9]

First I must credit charlieboy for considering that the extended warranties may be backed up by insurance (see thread "we know know the situation"). I thought this was important enough to make it a new thread so that no one would miss it. The extended warranties are insured by:

Wesco Insurance Co.
59 Maiden Lane
NY, NY 10038
(877) 528-7878

There may be hope. Please post any additional information anyone gets.

Steve

[charlieboy]

Guys there is more than hope. They are legally bound. Unless there is a doomsday clause in the warranty. I have never seem such a thing in a UK extended warranty, but I do not know about in the US. But I stress if you have an extended warranty and your unit develops a fault before month 13 DO NOT contact the insurer till you are into month 13. You have no cover at all till month 13. They could refuse a later repair if you say there is a fault before month 13. But someone needs to read the policy to see what it actually says.

[edelson9]

Of course with no parts available, they may just make a blanket offer of $X per unit that is broken, and I can guarantee you that none of us will like the X part of that.

[charlieboy]

Does not work that way. They have insured a product to be free of defects for a period from start of month 13 till end of month 36. Therefore if they cannot obtain parts to repair they are in material breach of their contract with you. This is obviously subject to no doomsday clause. Usually in these policies it states they would provide an alternative equivalent specified product if the original product is no longer available. This is usually a safe bet. Take  a high end laptop of 2 years ago and a value of $2,000 today you could replace it with an equivalent spec for $750. This is why extended warranties on PCs and laptops are such good business. they value of the policy is based on the sale price. But the replacement risk dimishes to 60% of that in 12 months 40% in 24 months and say 30% in 36 months. ie the older the unit is the cheaper to replace. So the question would really be how one defines a similar spec.

[mjolah]

Actually, if OQO files bankruptcy, all of it's obligations (including its warranty obligations) may be avoided by order of the Bankruptcy Court.  If the extended coverage is indeed insured, there "may" be hope.  If the owner of the unit is the "insured" then great, but if OQO the company is the insured, then the owners of the units would have to fight to be recognized as "third party beneficiaries" to force the insurance company to make payment for repairs.  Otherwise, you're still at the mercy of OQO, which may not exist.

There are still a lot of uncertainty in this area....

I for one have downloaded every driver (even Vista, even though I don't use it) and documents from OQO that I could, including my order history, just in case.....

[mjolah]

Charlieboy:  I "guarantee you" that the contract with the insurer has a clause that limits their liability in the event defects can't be repaired or replaced.  Many such contracts actually will limit their liability in those cases to the price paid for the extended warranty.

The insurance company has a lot of lawyers on staff..... I can guarantee that as well....

[edelson9]

Actually, if OQO files bankruptcy, all of it's obligations (including its warranty obligations) may be avoided by order of the Bankruptcy Court.  If the extended coverage is indeed insured, there "may" be hope.  If the owner of the unit is the "insured" then great, but if OQO the company is the insured, then the owners of the units would have to fight to be recognized as "third party beneficiaries" to force the insurance company to make payment for repairs.  Otherwise, you're still at the mercy of OQO, which may not exist.

There are still a lot of uncertainty in this area....

I for one have downloaded every driver (even Vista, even though I don't use it) and documents from OQO that I could, including my order history, just in case.....

Good point, bankruptcy is a very fickle thing. One thing to note is that the warranty is not transferable. So if you bought a unit with the extended warranty from from another owner, the warranty is not transferrable to you.

[edelson9]

  sigh - the sound of hope fading. The Fijutsu U820 is starting to look better all the time to me.   

[charlieboy]

Wow you guys get a bad deal in the US. In the UK the user is the insured party. In the event of non repair replacement offered. Glad I am not in the US, what is the point of a policy that they can get out of and say our maximum exposure is the cost of your policy. Very few tech products will still be made for 3 years. Often spare parts will not be available at the end of an extended warranty. Like I said at the start a Doomsday clause may exist in the contract someone just needs to read it. But if it is not in there then you can argue that part of what you were insuring against was the non availability to you as an individual user of spare parts.

[mjolah]

Well, I can't speak for UK warranty law, but if your extended warranty is through a U.S. based insurer, then you'll be subject to the orders of a U.S. based bankruptcy court.  My guess is that OQO is the insured, and the insurance only covers OQO's costs of providing repairs.  Hence, we're S.O.L....

Has anyone actually seen a policy?

[roger]

All this conjecture about insurance is pointless without reference to the policy.

First it was only available to customers in the USA.
Second the full text was only available to those who had a code to insert on the insurer's
site.

Don't you people explore web sites ?

[mjolah]

and how did one get such a code?  I've been exploring websites, and OQO's website seems to be not working well right now....

[trf]

The contract states "If we cancel this service contract, we must provide you with a written notice at least 15 days prior to cancellation at your last known address, with the effective date for the cancellation and the reason for cancellation.  Return of the premuim is based upon 100% of the unearned pro-rata premium."

I assume this means that they can cancel at their discretion.  Lack of available parts would no doubt trigger this option.

[roger]

and how did one get such a code? 

Its an OQO code so I presume OQO gave it to customers when they paid their premium.

When I came across this I thought:
'What a strange business practice - disclosure document only available after payment.'

Foreigners who have not lived and worked in the USA can never appreciate how relatively archaic so many of their practices actually are. The USA is a rich country, rich in resources developed during a long period of insularity free from the controlling influence of the rich and influential elites of Europe.

[edelson9]

Just a reminder to consider downloading any OQO drivers you may need and any account info or documentation you may need. I am trying to think of everything to do in case the website closes. But on the positive side     they're not dead yet. Something may be worked out even up to the last second. A buyer could be waiting until the last second to get the greatest leverage in the negotiations.