About scratches and warranties.

[Ricochet90]

Ok so this is what happened.

While traveling to New York I bought a 128gb SP2 for my wife as a gift for her birthday at best buy.

A week ago I gave it to her, everything was fine the first 3 or 4 days but yesterday she told me that the touch screen stopped working,i checked it and she was right, the screen doesn't detects the fingers in a small area near the "start" text at the start screen.

Since it has been a while since I bought it at best buy (and I don't live in NY) so getting a replacement from them is out of the question.

The obvious solution should be sending it to Microsoft to get a replacement right?

The issue is that.... well my wife is not as careful with her things as I am.

The Surface has 3 somewhat big scratches at the back and other 4 little scratches at the screen (none of which is big or near enough to be the cause of the problem though).

It was never dropped or used in a wrong way neither.

I mention this because I've read the warranty policy and it says that devices with "cosmetic damages" are not covered by the warranty and I've read some kinda weird stories in this forum about people who sent their scratched SP's to Microsoft just to receive the exact same device with a lot of post its pointing at the scratches or other cosmetic damages and saying that the warranty is void.

This is true? The warranty is actually void by those scratches even when they are unrelated to the issue?

 

[leeshor]

It's just not possible for you to prove that any damage wasn't the cause even if it wasn't. I highly doubt you'll get very far with MS.

 

[reach]

I have got 5(!) replacements from MS. The first I returned was scratched as ANY SP2 will we scratched after a few days of regular use (=a lot, due to the rubbish paint). The others weren't scratched, however, I never heard back from MS. I always chose the advanced replacement. Never had a problem.
I received back scratched units 2 times which wasn't acceptable for me, because the one I returned was like new, but in your case, I guess a scratched one is just fair and you can be happy to get a replacement easily. Or you're lucky and receive a brand new one with i5 4300 CPU, who knows. If your wife doesn't care, so what. Good luck anyway.

BTW: I'd still recommend to buy a protection film for the back. 20 or 30$ and you're fine ;-)

 

[javispedro]

These devices scratch terribly easy.

I am sure no one in his right mind will associate the scratches with a loss of touch screen functionality. Just send it back, explicitly mention you are sending it back because of a touchscreen defect.

 

[CrippsCorner]

The first I returned was scratched as ANY SP2 will we scratched after a few days of regular use (=a lot, due to the rubbish paint).

Had mine 11 months now and not a mark on it!

 

[Guybrush]

mine is scratched just a little around the power connector, not so big trouble but I wished something better in paint quality.

 

[jefhart]

Had mine 11 months now and not a mark on it!

I agree, not sure what these folks are doing to their devices to scratch them.

 

[javispedro]

I agree, not sure what these folks are doing to their devices to scratch them.

Basically paint is wearing out on the area I often grab it by. It's not scratches, it's more than the paint simply chips off. Lasted for a full month before it started wearing out; this never happened to me with any other device.

 

[Sir Face]

Basically paint is wearing out on the area I often grab it by. It's not scratches, it's more than the paint simply chips off. Lasted for a full month before it started wearing out; this never happened to me with any other device.

Surely the "paint" on the Surface isn't really paint. I would assume it is an anodization applied to the magnesium allow. Anodization is very hard and wear resistant.

 

[javispedro]

Well, I can chip the "anodization" off with my fingernails. So much for VaporMG.

 

[Ruffles]

The finish on my SP was way stronger than it is on m y SP2. My SP2 is flaking and scratching all over the place and it's babied.

 

[reach]

I agree, not sure what these folks are doing to their devices to scratch them.

You and kayzee probably need better glasses ;–)
My first one got scratches by doing this:
1. put it on a clean(!) table backside down
2. pick it up and by doing this move it ~0,3inch on the table's surface
I'm not talking about scratches to the bare metal, but still scratches. Sorry guys, but either you're not watching closely, or you aren't really using the device in the mobile way it's made for.