Computer help: HP Laptop having screen issues, only works in Safe Mode

It was a third party

The guy I take my electronics to for repair has been working on things for my family for a long time. I used to get warranties from the manufacturer and then he started working with companies like Staples, Circuit City, etc. where you would by the warranty from the store and then when you needed repair it would go to him. I found this out after buying a warranty, either for my TV or a computer, not knowing he was offering warranties at the time as well. So when I called the warranty to get some work done on the product he was the person they sent out to my house. At that point he told me I could just start buying the warranties from him and it would benefit us both because he would get more money from the warranty and I wouldn't have to pay as much for the warranty.

So, that was a no brainer and from that point on I started buying all my warranties from him when I bought new products. Everything worked great and any time I had an issue I either dropped the product off at his shop or he came to my house and took care of everything and we were good to go. Fast forward a little to the time when I got my DV9000 and I contacted him for my warranty. He informed me that the company he had been working with for years was going to stop offering warranties, they would still cover what was already under warranty, but they would not be accepting any new ones. He was a little bummed as was I knowing they were a great company and that was hard to come by. It took a little while and he finally settled on a company. Of course, this company charged a significant amount more than the previous company and only offered the warranty for 3 years instead of five. I went ahead and bought the warranty and up until the point where the computer stopped powering on completely, had no real issues and never had it in to him for service.

So now, almost two years later we are finding out that this company is not only nothing like the previous company that he worked with, but pretty much sound like scam artists. I really haven't got to talk to him about it yet, but I'm curious if this is the first real issue he has had with them. From the sound of it, this is because he was not expecting them to work like this and when I called him the day after they contacted me to tell him what they said, he was furious, to say the least. He is normally a very calm person and I heard things come out of his mouth that I would have never expected. So, I'm thinking all the repairs he had prior to this were minor issues and they went ahead and took care of them, but when the issue becomes a little more costly they decide they don't want to do it.

I still haven't heard back from him on what they are going to do, but I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be anything good and can pretty much assume I'm either going to end up with nothing or some cheap, refurbished laptop that barely works.

Getting an Apple computer is sounding more and more tempting now. Their customer support and warranty seems to be my best option. I hate dealing with manufacturers now adays because they never seem to understand the issue and you just spin your wheels trying to get anywhere, I never hear anything good about electronic store warranties and having to do most of my repairs by shipping computers back and forth isn't really the best option, plus, I don't know what he is going to do for warranties in the future. I know Apple isn't going to be a smooth ride every time either, but I just feel at this point, it is my best bet.