With my disability, I have to do everything one handed which means that my laptop is frequently dropped while transporting. I had one that was almost 5 years old when I dropped it, the hinge broke plus the screen broke. I had been having minor problems with it and thinking of replacing it. I always buy my computers from Best Buy and I always get the accident protection plan with it. So, I take it in and show them the damage. They sent it in for repairs because there were too many things to repair at the store.Turned out that they could no longer get all the parts needed to repair, so they took me over to the showroom and offered to swap out computer for one that was equivalent to mine. When I came home that day, I had a brand new laptop. Normally, they do their best to replace with the exact same brand and type as you originally buy. In my case that particular one was no longer in production, so they gave me a comparable one. They showed me 4 different laptops and I chose the one I preferred.
My sister told me about the accident protection plan back when her daughter was a toddler and very accident prone with fragile electronic equipment. For items as large as computers, the protection plans aren’t cheap. Still they are less than the price of a new laptop. When I first buy, I add on a 5 year protection plan because you get a pretty good discount that way.. Now, if BB can’t fix it, they send it back to the manufacturer for a refurb which basically gives you anew computer. The salesman says he has one lady that brings hers in every 2 years or so saying that it’s running slow and they give it a good overhaul and she’s happy.