In my opinion you get what you pay for. I tend to go for ram from either Crucial, Corsair or Kingston. Generally, buying from a good manufacturer means you get a 'lifetime guarantee' against failure in normal use.
I'm possibly biased because my pc's tend to be used as gaming machines and I buy top end ram for it.
If you do buy a faulty stick of ram it is unlikely to damage your laptop, it just wouldn't work.