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Warranty runaround finally run to ground
Updated: October 29, 2012 12:17PM
Dear Fixer: I bought an iPad2 on May 11 at a nearby Target store. The salesman offered me a three-year warranty to cover any damage or problems, including breakage if dropped.
I accepted the policy. The iPad was $399.99 and the warranty was $45.
Five months later, the iPad suddenly started freezing up and powering down by itself. After a few minutes it would come up again and stay on for several minutes.
I took it to Target along with my warranty card. But now I was told the policy that they sold me does not cover iPads.
I spoke with several employees, culminating in a conversation with a store manager. He insisted this was my problem and gave me numerous phone numbers for me to seek assistance!
Is this not his responsibility? He had the audacity to say he does not know who sold me the policy and thus cannot be held responsible.
After this ridiculous argument, he suddenly indicated he could give me the iPad he had in stock ... but it would have no warranty whatsoever, even if it was defective once I got home.
Obviously I refused this suddenly “generous” offer.
I have continued to limp along with my malfunctioning iPad. I now have a useless warranty, which I did pay for.
Please help!
Elizabeth Kursitis
Dear Elizabeth: Well, it does seem to defy logic that you’d purchase a warranty that doesn’t cover iPads on the very same day that you bought your iPad.
Interestingly enough, you said the front-line staff all seemed very sympathetic but were unable to take any action that would fix this.
We had a little better luck with the people at Target’s corporate offices. We got this into the hands of their PR staff and within a few days the warranty company called you to make this right. They cut you a check for $444.99 and overnighted it to your house. You told The Fixer you’ll use it to buy an iPad that works.
INTERSTATE TOLL ERRORS
In May, we fixed a problem for Timothy Wrath of Cary, who had never been to Massachusetts for but some reason was getting turnpike violation notices from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
We were able to rule out the Evil Twin Theory and instead discovered that there was an Illinois semi-trailer with the exact same plate number as Timothy’s (though it was a commercial, not passenger vehicle, plate).
MassDOT ended up canceling the violations, so it got fixed.
The Illinois Tollway is now informing other Illinois drivers with license plates beginning with “P” about the problem. This month, they sent I-Pass customers a letter about it, which Tim passed along to us.
It turns out some of the same “P” numbers are on trucks as well as cars. As these trucks travel across the country, in some cases the toll violation notices are being sent to the owners of passenger vehicles that have the same plate number.
If you’ve received a bill for someone else’s out-of-state violation, call the Tollway at (800) 824-7277 immediately and ask to have it removed.
