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Luba

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
1,819
389
A Mac Genius said if I got AppleCare for my MP they might come to my house to fix the problem. Is this true? If they did come to my house it may be worth it to me.

One reason I didn't get AppleCare besides the fact that all extended warranty is over-priced, and the hassle of lugging in my MP into an Apple store. I recently talked to a Mac Genius regarding a a random 1 second buzz sound and I didn't get any answers. They told me to bring it in. If I brought it in my prediction is that they'll hook it up for about 15 minutes and if no buzz occurs say they can't help me. And even if they heard a buzz, I couldn't re-produce it a 2nd time, and I don't think they would do the hard laborious work of tracking it down the cause of the buzz sound. A Genius appointment is only good for about 15-30 minutes.

Note: Reading another thread it seems that AppleCare costs Apple about $125 while they are selling it for $250. I can get it for $200, but have an additional year of warranty since I bought it via American Express.

Would you get AppleCare for your MP if they came to your home or workplace at no extra charge?
 
They didn't come to mine. Instead, I got to cart the stupid machine to and from 4 times. Once the elevator was broken and so I had to hoof it. :mad:
 
Apple doesn't offer on-site service with consumer-based AppleCare. They offer it for higher-end products (like Xserve), but for simple consumers, nope. If they did offer it, it'd raise the price of AppleCare. Sure it'd be nice, but truthfully, it wouldn't be my #1 request. I'd like to see Apple also offer an accidental coverage to AppleCare (perhaps, again, for a higher price), but this will probably never happen.

I thought they do onsite service with desktops? Its stated on the applecare webpage.

EDIT: Hmm, thanks for pointing this out. Didn't know that.
 
It somewhat depends on the terms. Dell's XPS service (some version of it), a tech would come to your house and fix the problem on the sport or replace what needed to be replaced. If that was the case, obviously.
 
Apple doesn't offer on-site service with consumer-based AppleCare. They offer it for higher-end products (like Xserve), but for simple consumers, nope.

If they did offer it, it'd raise the price of AppleCare. Sure it'd be nice, but truthfully, it wouldn't be my #1 request. I'd like to see Apple also offer an accidental coverage to AppleCare (perhaps, again, for a higher price), but this will probably never happen.

I thought they do onsite service with desktops? Its stated on the applecare webpage.
 
They used to. Back in 2005/6 I had several on-site visits for my failing Mac Pro & Cinema Display, but that was before the UK had retail stores...
 
They offer it if you live more than 50 miles from an Apple Store / authorized shop. Or if you complain and can prove you don't own a car.
 
Apple doesn't offer on-site service with consumer-based AppleCare. They offer it for higher-end products (like Xserve), but for simple consumers, nope.

Incorrect.

My friend brought his iMac in for repair for random shutdowns. They replaced the power inverter and some other stuff, but left the original logic board. The problem continued and yesterday I told him to just call AppleCare and tell them to do an on-site repair. They're dispatching a tech to his house tomorrow.

Also, at work we've had them come several times to do on-site iMac repairs. We're a college and don't have any special AppleCare agreement, just the standard ones we buy with each machine, which are actually discounted to the point of basically being free when we do large orders.

Personally I know if my MacPro ever needs service there's no way I'm lugging this damn thing in, I'm going to make them come here. If Dell can offer next day on-site support then so can Apple.
 
What would be nice is if they at least offered the onsite service and just charge a slightly higher price for it. That's how Dell handles it I think (most of their consumer products don't come with any onsite service, but you can add it)
 
They came to my house after a daughter board failure on my 09 Mac Pro. I live 1 mile away from the apple store.
 
They came to my house twice for onsite for my MP. I went to the store once first in case it was a simple fix. Then they sent the tech out on two separate occasions. This happened over the past 3 months. I live in Massachusetts about 40 minutes from an Apple store.
 
Yeah, we had this discussion about 3 or 4 months ago and it's in the agreement. They will come to your house for ANY mac desktop product as long as you live close enough to a designated shop. And that's pretty much the same deal every vender offers - if they offer on-sie service at all.

So the answer is yes they do if like pizza delivery, you live close enough. I forget what the distance was - but 50 miles sounds about right.
 
What would be nice is if they at least offered the onsite service and just charge a slightly higher price for it. That's how Dell handles it I think (most of their consumer products don't come with any onsite service, but you can add it)

Right Dell does offer it; for the price of AppleCare you can get on-site from Dell for 3-4 years.
 
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