In most instances, You/most students should/will have three "Warranties". As long as they are listed on your order/ship note etc.
1. Manufacturer Warranty.
The manufacturer warranty usually lasts one year; if the date is wrong on a warranty checker/website, etc, we can get it updated/fixed fairly easily if and when the need arises. This will likely not be listed on your order/ship note but is a statutory right. If a manufacturer warranty is more than one year, or more than your course length that does not then entitle you to continued support from Study Tech for the period outside your DSA awarded Study Tech support period. Apple, HP and Asus usually have no issue accepting a delivery note/your ship note or similar as a proof of purchase, should you want to set up those services. However, if the date is registered as wrong on those services/needs adjusting Study Tech will usually need to be first contact for that in warranty repair.
2. Study Tech Maintenance and support warranty,
Secondly, you likely have your Study Tech Maintenance and support warranty, which should run roughly in line with the dates of your course.
if you are awarded an extension by DSA, your maintenance and support warranty will not be extended by Study Tech unless you or DSA/SLC make us aware of this, in most instances DSA/SLC will not automatically do so so your DSA2 award letter must be forwarded to us/our orders team for processing.
In most instances where this forwarding does not take place, no insurance or warranty claims/anything similar may not be "fixed" or actioned retroactively, even if the dates of any issue/damage were covered in the DSA/SLC award, as Study Tech did not have any notice of this.
Most issues will/should be covered under the above.
3. Annual Service Charge or Insurance?
Third, you may have insurance for the same period that covers theft and accidental damage in some, but not all instances. Especially if your equipment was delivered before 07/25.
Broadly speaking, to cover most bases, negligence, lack of basic maintenance, unattended item theft or malicious damage not reported to police or theft without any break in/property damage to gain access is not considered covered under insurance or your Annual Service Charge provided/funded/awarded by DSA. For instance a theft from an unlocked/unsecured car or left on a table is not covered.
If Study Tech supplied your item after 11/24, you may instead of insurance have ASC. ASC stands for Annual Support Charge, paid by DSA/SLC etc annually to keep a student’s equipment in support. ASC replaces Warranty, Insurance, Maintenance and Support in most instances. Save any statutory rights such as manufacturer warranty. While it does act similar to insurance in some instances, ASC is legally distinct from and specifically NOT INSURANCE and cannot be refereed to as such.
If you have insurance, from a third party insurer you will see insurance listed on any order from Study Tech, if you have ASC, that will instead be listed.
Refunds and any other sundry concerns
With "Custom" items or upgrades,
Study Tech's refund policy and
terms and conditions may be more strictly adhered to, where it does not affect your
statutory rights. If you choose laptop X but have not sought advice or done your due diligence, buyers remorse or any other reason may not be something Study Tech need program for or accept as a reason for a return or replacement request.
In the event an item returned is subject to a refund, there may be restocking fees and other admin charges if the item is not faulty, or falls under another non consumer right covered or "unreasonable" reasoning or request from a student/customer.
Anything upgraded, that does then require repair or replacement may not be fully covered by DSA/SLC and any future repair or replacement may have to be partially funded by your self/a student in some instances.
Furthermore, manufacturer claims or branding, I.E "toughbook", "gorilla glass" "X Hour Battery Life" etc that do not live up to advertising or manufacturer claims, cannot be used as a reason for Study Tech to preform a repair or replacement for such damage/malicious damage, or a claim not being met, within the scope of any legislation such as the Consumer right's act 2015 etc.
Study Tech are not bound to, and will likely not perform any repair of cosmetic issues, potentially even those as a result of carrier damage or encountered during an authorised Study Tec or partner repair in any instance/are not bound to do so under any warranty, insurance or ASC. Only cosmetic issues that affect usability, especially if minor (missing screws or feet, small marks or scratches, bezel adjustments etc) are likely considered relevant/covered by DSA.
Any awarded extension by DSA/SLC, does not cover upgrading or updating software, or providing new hardware/reordering the same hardware or software as a previous order, unless specifically stated by DSA/SLC and then having a quotation approved by same. Anything listed on the DSA 2 will be a list of items or services previously supplied in most instances/unless specified by DSA/SLC. In addition, if you were awarded version X of a software, an award for continued support does not include any update or upgrade to version Y/a newer software or item.
In addition, if you were awarded a software for the initial course length, an award from SLC for continued support does not include an extension to any software whose license had a timed expiry/was set to course length etc, unless specifically stated by, and purchased by DSA/SLC.
UK warranties are not transferable overseas, however if the product can be collected from, and returned to a UK address a repair or replacement may still be possible. An item damaged during transit/in flight, if checked baggage should be claimed from the Airline, under the terms of
the Montreal Convention. If the standard 7 day notice period of the convention lapses, travel insurance is your second best option.
If neither of these can be applied, DSA may allow a repair under ASC, but have no obligation to do so, and as above, any repair or replacement needs to be actioned within the UK.
Repairs.
If we fail to repair an item after three attempts, toward which an on site inspection without an item being opened/a software only issues may not count, a replacement may be a possibility that can be discussed.
Environmental factors,
unrealistic expectations, repeated software errors or issues caused by poor maintenance, unwise user practices or poorly defined security policies on University, Employer or other "managed" networks and domains may not be considered as grounds for item replacement or repair.
A repair through a third party, even if an authorised repair centre/the manufacturer's own Apple, Microsoft or Samsung store etc is not covered/reimbursable under any warranty, Insurance, ASC, etc. All repairs must go via the correct process/via Study Tech to be covered by Study Tech and or DSA/SLC.
Study Tech do not reimburse. In rare instances, DSA are known to reimburse with pre approval, this is the exception though and must never be counted on/pre approval must be sought before any expenditure. It is also a good idea to get the approval in writing.
Replacements.
In the case of replacements, a like for like replacement is not a requirement of DSA,\SLC\your award. A analogous replacement, for instance the "newer" standard model entry level DSA/SLC laptop being used to replace an older standard entry level DSA/SLC laptop is considered appropriate by DSA/SLC. In addition, as long as an item is fully functional, it may be used to replace another item, under maintenance and support warranty, or ASC where DSA may incur a smaller or no additional charge. This means a refurbished item may be used to replace any item that is deemed beyond economic repair.
An upgrade, may be a possibility at the time of a replacement, if one is considered warranted by Study Tech. If you do upgrade at any time, DSA will only cover, under ASC, Maintenance and Support etc part of any repair or replacement, and you may be liable to cover any difference, or charges if a repair or replacement is required for a reason not covered under warranty.
Upgrading Ram, SSD or other User replaceable parts on a laptop or desktop machine or item.
Upgrading RAM or an SSD in the UK is usually allowed, but the warranty rules depend on what you damage, how the manufacturer defines “user‑replaceable parts,” and the exact terms of your device’s warranty. The search results give a consistent picture across brands.
| Action | Allowed? | Warranty Impact | ASC Impact | Non ASC "insurance" impact |
| Replace RAM | Usually yes, unless soldered/not considered user replaceable by the manufacturer | No impact unless you cause damage | No impact unless you cause damage | Refer to insurer before any upgrade attempt |
| Add/replace SSD | Usually yes, unless soldered/not considered user replaceable by the manufacturer | No impact unless you cause damage | No impact unless you cause damage | Refer to insurer before any upgrade attempt |
| Break something during upgrade | No | That damage is not covered | That damage is not covered | That damage is not covered |
| Send device to Study Tech for unrelated repair | Yes | We may ask you to reinstall original parts | No impact unless you cause damage | Refer to insurer before any upgrade or repair attempt |
| Send device to anyone other than Study Tech for unrelated repair | No | Likely not covered without DSA pre approval | Likely not covered without DSA pre approval | Refer to insurer before any upgrade or repair attempt |
| Extended warranty rules | Varies | Some may restrict upgrades | Likely not covered without DSA pre approval | Refer to insurer before any upgrade or repair attempt |
🔧 1. Upgrading itself should not void a manufacturer warranty
Most manufacturers state that simply adding or replacing RAM or an SSD does not void your warranty, as long as you don’t damage anything during the process.
Similarly, SSD upgrades are widely considered safe from a warranty perspective, by most PC or Laptop manufacturer's, SSD upgrades are not grounds for voiding a warranty, as long as you don’t damage anything during the process.
Anything the laptop manufacturer describes as a "user replaceable part" should also be fine/not invalidate the manufacturer warranty
🛠️ 2. But any damage you cause is not covered
If you break:
a connector
a ribbon cable
the motherboard
the casing or clips
Anything
…then the manufacturer can refuse warranty repairs for that damage.
This is standard across HP, MSI, Dell, Lenovo, etc.
🧾 3. Manufacturer warranties, and Study Tech or DSA warranties only cover original parts
If you replace the SSD, RAM or any User serviceable parts:
The new parts are not covered by the laptop manufacturer, Study Tech or the DSA
The original parts may need to be reinstalled if you send the device in for unrelated warranty work
Some manufacturers require you to keep the original drive for diagnostics
🔐 4. Extended warranties / insurance or ASC may have stricter rules
Some third‑party extended warranties treat upgrades as “modifications.”
With insurance, ASC or other extended warranties (Apple Care or similar) warn that you should check the terms, because some providers may consider SSD swaps “unauthorised” unless explicitly allowed.
Your ASC/Study Tech maintenance and support warranty, which runs parrel with and then can continue after your manufacturer warranty is a little stricter, in that we will not cover any upgrade not performed by a licensed/recognised engineer and will not cover anything not ordered via/installed by Study Tech or one of our recognised partners in any instance, outside of where covered under UK law or Legislation.
In any instance, we will not cover damage as a result of any upgrade or service not performed by ourselves, or our recognised partners. As such, any repair or upgrade warranty offered by a local engineer, PC shop, Apple, Curry's etc who we do not authorise, before any upgrade or repair is attempted, as a recognised partner, in writing is not covered.
🏷️ 5. UK consumer law protects you
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a manufacturer or supplier cannot void your entire warranty simply because you opened the device.
They must prove that your upgrade caused any fault.
This means, for example:
If your screen or another component that is non user serviceable or upgradeable fails after you upgraded RAM, SSD or other replaceable parts (as defined by the Laptop or PC manufacturer) → still covered, assuming that upgrade did not cause any damage/no ribbon cables, capacitors or anything else, including fascia or cosmetic components that then cause damage or lead to failure, were damaged during that install.
If your screen or another component that is non user serviceable or upgradeable fails after you upgraded your screen and/or RAM, SSD or other replaceable parts →not covered
If you snapped a connector, a capacitor or resistor, a ribbon cable or caused any damage that led to a failure/caused a cascade failure or an overload etc while upgrading. Including failure to ground/earth causing an arc or other basic known good upgrade or repair practices not being adhered to → not covered
In some instances, DSA can be asked to intercede and fund any repair or warranty replacements where not covered, if you have are covered by an Annual Service Charge (see above), however you would need to contact DSA directly/Study Tech will not do this for you, and cannot guarantee the result of such a request.
If we discover that any of the above holds true, and you are not covered and we have reliable proof or can infer such an issue has arisen during the commission of a repair or upgrade not by ourselves or our partners, we may be unable to complete any repair that arises as a result of the upgrade or previous, unauthorised by Study tech repair attempt. You would need to action this by the unauthorised repairer warranty or guarantee.