Advice From A Genius: Should You Buy AppleCare?

[manu chao]

A bit of a misunderstanding as to what the law provides for. The EU directive does not confer a guarantee, just a statute of limitations to lodge a complaint against faulty goods.

Specifically in the UK the Sale of Goods Act gives you about 6 months where the retailer has to prove that you were at fault (negligence, reasonable wear and tear or incorrect use) or must repair, replace or refund. After that, it is up to you to prove that any fault was due to manufacturing defects at the time of purchase. Most manufacturers give a one year guarantee which does not override your statutory rights, but is usually more generous than the law requires.

Exactly, the European directive only says that the product sold must free of defects (and do what it is advertised to do) at the point of purchase. For the first six months if somethings fails, the vendor has to prove that at the moment of purchase the product was free of defects, after that the customer has to prove that the defect existed on the day of purchase. Thus, if a hard drive fails after 18 months, you would have to prove that it failed because something was wrong with your product when you bought it, usually pretty difficult to do.
Here is the link to one of EU directives which forms the basis of that:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0044:EN:HTML
One of the phrases therein (as relevant to this discussion) is: "Whereas the goods must, above all, conform with the contractual specifications.", which means in practice they must be free of defects when purchased. The key question herein is whether when a products develops failures after some time this is because it had defects right from the start or not.

A formal warranty, on the contrary, is a contract between the vendor and the customer specifying exactly what failures are covered and which are not. It is a bit like a service contract.

 

[MacDann]

I have always purchased AppleCare for both laptops and desktops. Never needed it on the desktops (to-date) but did on the laptops, and it more than paid for itself.

I would suggest to those who are concerned about the cost that they look around on eBay and at some online retailers, as you can often purchase AppleCare for less than what Apple sells it for. This is how I purchase it for my Macs.

Just like the former Mobile Me subscriptions, there is a secondary market for AppleCare, and it appears to be pretty competitive.

SquareTrade is a better deal for iPhones and iPods if you're inclined to purchase extended warranties. I have done this more for the accidental damage aspect than worries about device failure.

MacDann

 

[sambaman1]

Apple's should provide free 3-year warranties

Their customer service is unrivaled IMHO, but their wide profit margins and 76B in liquid assets should merit more than 1 year of warranty. I should be able to buy a $2000.00 computer and not expect out of pocket repairs for several years (at least 2).

Agreed. In addition, Apple’s duration of free warranty (1 year) is less than half of Dell’s
(which is typically 2 or 3 years. 4th year costs $50 or $90.
See http://bit.ly/j65cEB and bottom of page at http://dell.to/jessQQ )!

Apple’s hardware higher prices are justified by its presumed (advertised) higher quality (compared with its competition).
If so, why Apple expects its hardware to fail sooner, thus provides shorter warranties?
That makes no sense, and makes we, Apple's customers, feel like patsies for believing in Apple's hardware quality.

If Apple truly believes its products are of higher quality,
Apple's warranties should, at minimum, surpass Dell’s.
Thus, Apple's should provide free 3-year warranties.

 

[sapporobaby]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but in Europe Apple Care is mainly not worth the money as by EU law all products (electronics) are given a 2 year warranty. Of course this is dictated by manufactures defect, etc... The same as in the one year limited warranty. If you replace your phones, iPads, and computers like I do on a yearly rotation then Apple Care is a waste of money.

 

[itsalexaye]

Applecare has saved my ass many times. I spilled water on my 2 month old macbook pro, and they took it in and basically replaced the entire macbook pro except for the hard drive, all for free

 

[manu chao]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but in Europe Apple Care is mainly not worth the money as by EU law all products (electronics) are given a 2 year warranty. Of course this is dictated by manufactures defect, etc... The same as in the one year limited warranty.

Well, no, the EU regulations are about a 'liability for defects', it is about a guaranty that things were working as advertised at the date of purchase (and because of the burden of proof being on the vendor for the first six months, de facto also a guarantee that things are working for this period). It is not a guarantee that things will keep working for the full 24 months. Between six and 24 months after purchase, the EU rules require that the customer proofs that any failure occurring was due to a defect present at the point of purchase. And how are you going to do this? Unless there is something widespread enough that others have established the presence of defects, eg, like a known batch of bad batteries, that is pretty difficult to do.
The one-year warranty (and the three-year Apple Care extension) will replace any failing parts unless it obviously due to ill-treatment by the consumer. It's like guarantee to keep your device fully operational, acting in the same manner a service contract would. Plus there is the tech-support which certainly is not required by law.

 

[Kebabselector]

I spilled water on my 2 month old macbook pro, and they took it in and basically replaced the entire macbook pro except for the hard drive, all for free

Applecare doesn't cover accidental damage. Apple do occasionally fix things for free - I'm guessing stores have a freebie/PR repair budget they can use for instances like this.

 

[boshii]

Applecare has saved my ass many times. I spilled water on my 2 month old macbook pro, and they took it in and basically replaced the entire macbook pro except for the hard drive, all for free

You just got lucky. Applecare has nothing to do with that.

 

[SteelWheel]

I've had similar experiences to the past few post-ers. I had AppleCare on my mid-2008 MBP. A few months before the end of my warranty, I fumble-futzed the screen, necessitating a replacement. I was charged something for the repair, but it was a fair bit less than the "rack" rate that the Geniuses claimed I would have had to pay had I not been an AppleCare customer.

Shortly after that, I brought the machine in for some reason or other (within days of the end of the AppleCare warrantly), and just off-handedly mentioned that I had been having some problems moving large files on and off the internal drive. Lo and behold, my hard drive was failing. The hard drive was a 160 GB drive, and I was told that I was lucky since the lowest capacity replacement they had was 220 GB. Then I said, "Uh, you are aware that this was a 7200 RPM drive, aren't you?" So it was REALLY my lucky day, since the smallest capacity 7200 RPM replacement drive was 320 GB! Doubled my storage space for being an AppleCare customer.

In general, I thought that AppleCare at approx $300 for a fairly expensive laptop (around $3500) was a good deal. I don't think I would bother with it for a desktop machine--less likely to drop it, or have the kind of wear and tear that happens inevitably with a laptop.

The real question: I just got the brand-new 11" MBA, built-to-order, maxed out with the i7 CPU, 4 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD. Should I get AppleCare for it? Cost of AppleCare in this case is now more like 20% of the total cost of the laptop. Is it still worth getting AppleCare in this case? Much harder for me to convince myself that it's worth it..

 

[doctor-don]

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Warranties are pure profit for companies. I completely agree with the comment around NOT buying AppleCare for iPhones and iPods. Think about it for the iPhone. You get subsidized upgrade pricing every 18 months. The initial warranty lasts for the first 12. Therefore you're adding 90 dollars of cost by purchasing AppleCare to cover 6 Extra months? Not to smart.

You are incorrect and correct at the same time when you state that warranties are pure profit. A PowerBook bought in 2004 had its keyboard replaced when it was new. At 11 months it stopped booting, and an Apple genius said to reset the PRAM, I believe. That helped the PB to boot until it was 12.1 months old. No AppleCare, so the VISA extended warranty program helped to replace the PB with a 2005 model. It has AppleCare, but it has needed only a replacement battery when it was first delivered.

My 2008 Mac Pro is now out of warranty as far as any method can be used to provide warranty. The price I paid for AppleCare was wasted. BUT ... that's what insurance is. We buy it hoping it won't be needed but knowing that we are protected from anything catastrophic.

My policy has always been basically the opposite. I've bought AppleCare for notebooks but never for desktops. My reasoning is that laptops get much more wear and tear through the course of normal use, so hardware is more likely to fail over the course of 3 years. For a desktop, if hardware hasn't failed early on, it's not terribly likely to fail between years 1 and 3. If a desktop ever needed major repairs in year 1, I'd consider adding AppleCare before the standard warranty ran out.

So far that policy has paid off in every case, with 5 different Macs. The two notebooks (iBook G3 and CoreDuo MacBook) had numerous problems requiring repair throughout the 3 years. Both died completely around year 4.5, so a 5-year warranty would have been even better. Of the desktops, I have a 1996 Power Mac 7600 that still gets booted into OS 8.6 once or twice a year, a 2002 QuickSilver Power Mac G4 that runs Leopard just fine, and a 2007/08 era Mac mini (refurb in 08) that's going strong with Lion now. In the last case, it's kind of annoying because I'd really kind of like a better machine to run Lion, but can't really justify it!

Laptops are more likely to be dropped or just bumped due to their nature. For that reason, AppleCare should be bought for all portables.

Since my Mac Pro is so expensive, I paid for the AppleCare for it. And, I am glad to say that it has never needed it.

 

[doctor-don]

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Trust me. Educated consumers stay clear of extended warranties. Food for thought. Companies are in business to make money. They would not offer a service or product that was not profitable. During product design and development mtbf and fault analyses are performed and then aggregated with historical failure data, customer compaints, problem reports etc. This information provides guidance as to expected reliability in the field which is then fit to a statistical distribution to estimate the reliability of the entire population of the fielded product. Basically when apple releases a product they for the most part have a good estimate on the number of failures within their useful life. They set the cost of AppleCare to cover any possible inwarranty repairs and replacements and build in a hefty profit margin. Sort to get technical but this is the reality of the warranty business. You may make out but odds are stacked against you getting value out of every warranty you provide.

Trust me.? You have some swamp land to sell?

On most electronics, running them continuously for a day to a week will show up any problems, so you would be covered by the manufacturer's warranty against defects. However, a laptop is prone to bumps that might disable it, and a warranty of 12 months is too short compared to its expected length of usage.

Auto warranties fall under the same rule with today's longer warranties. But they were a good idea when the manufacturer provided only a 3-year / 30,000-mile warranty.

 

[fm.illuminatus]

Apple Care

Obviously personal experience isn't that useful when compared against wider statistics, that aside -> My wife and I both bought AppleCare on our 2008 MacBooks, she used it, I didn't (except for the case edge chipping) ... even given the cost of the AppleCare I didn't use, we came out ahead.

 

[lyrrad721]

AppleCare (and the standard 1-year warranty) is good worldwide. You can go to any Apple Authorized Service Provider worldwide and get service -- or ship it, if you aren't near an AASP. Apple will cover the cost of parts and labor, but you are liable for any duties, VAT or other taxes.

It is fully transferable. If you sell your machine, AppleCare follows it to the new owner. It's a great selling point for a used device.

You can return AppleCare at any time for a pro-rated refund, just call the 800-number.

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Quick question, does this mean that if I don't have an Apple Store near me, I could go to an Apple Authorized Service Provider under the standard 1 year warranty to fix, for example, a loose spacebar key for free? My MBA has a noisy spacebar key and I think that it wasn't installed correctly from the factory.

 

[designgeek]

I'm really glad I read this, I'd been thinking about it for a while and with my MBA purchase next month I'll definitely be getting it. Too bad I'm late with my MBP, but it would have been up this October anyway. :/

 

[itsalexaye]

Applecare doesn't cover accidental damage. Apple do occasionally fix things for free - I'm guessing stores have a freebie/PR repair budget they can use for instances like this.

The guy at the genius bar said they would fix it because I had only had for a couple of months. It would have been a waste of almost a grand.

 

[toddybody]

Agreed. In addition, Apple’s duration of free warranty (1 year) is less than half of Dell’s
(which is typically 2 or 3 years. 4th year costs $50 or $90.
See http://bit.ly/j65cEB and bottom of page at http://dell.to/jessQQ )!

Apple’s hardware higher prices are justified by its presumed (advertised) higher quality (compared with its competition).
If so, why Apple expects its hardware to fail sooner, thus provides shorter warranties?
That makes no sense, and makes we, Apple's customers, feel like patsies for believing in Apple's hardware quality.

If Apple truly believes its products are of higher quality,
Apple's warranties should, at minimum, surpass Dell’s.
Thus, Apple's should provide free 3-year warranties.

Totally Agree. Since Apple HW is "so much better" than any competitors...a 3 year warranty should be no sweat for them.

As you know though, its all about getting away with as much as you can. Apple knows folks will spend alot for their machines...regardless of warranty.

 

[joegolo]

For me personally, my wife and I have never bought Applecare, though I have many friends who do. The value just hasn't justified itself to me. My wife's first gen white Macbook had multiple hard drive issues and I eventually swapped it out on my own. She used the Apple warranty overseas for replacing palm rest and a few other first gen issues. My original second gen Macbook had some problems that were fixed within the 1 year warranty period.

My current 2010 Macbook Pro had the hard drive fail on me overnight with no warnings at all. The drive was dead and the genius couldn't view it. Somehow it died overnight without any clicking or other warnings. The apple service was fast and I had it replaced and back to me within a week. Luckily I had time machine running so I was able to restore all of my pictures, songs, etc. Would've been totally screwed without it.

Apple warranty/support is great, but my amex (and many other credit cards) offer extensions on manufacture warranties up to an additional year. The Apple warranty is 1 year and my credit card doubles it to 2 years total. My understanding is Applecare is a 3 year warranty that starts from your device's purchase date, is that correct? It hasn't been worthwhile for me to add that additional 1 year of coverage.

 

[sapporobaby]

Well, no, the EU regulations are about a 'liability for defects', it is about a guaranty that things were working as advertised at the date of purchase (and because of the burden of proof being on the vendor for the first six months, de facto also a guarantee that things are working for this period). It is not a guarantee that things will keep working for the full 24 months. Between six and 24 months after purchase, the EU rules require that the customer proofs that any failure occurring was due to a defect present at the point of purchase. And how are you going to do this? Unless there is something widespread enough that others have established the presence of defects, eg, like a known batch of bad batteries, that is pretty difficult to do.
The one-year warranty (and the three-year Apple Care extension) will replace any failing parts unless it obviously due to ill-treatment by the consumer. It's like guarantee to keep your device fully operational, acting in the same manner a service contract would. Plus there is the tech-support which certainly is not required by law.

Not sure what country you are in but EVERY product I have purchased here in Finland has had a TWO year warranty. EVERY product. My MBP was 1 month and one day out of warranty, but the Apple repair said that ALL Apple products have TWO year warranties so they fixed my problem. Sooooo my point is still valid because I have living proof of what I posted.

 

[virginiaplain0]

I've had my Macbook Pro 13 " 2009 for 2 years now, well out of warranty. Is there any way I can purchase apple care support now?

 

[sapporobaby]

I've had my Macbook Pro 13 " 2009 for 2 years now, well out of warranty. Is there any way I can purchase apple care support now?

Not from Apple. You only get 364 days after the initial date of purpose.

 

[cdustybk]

Personally, I have never used Apple Care, as all my machines have been incredible. I can think of one time it would have helped, but probably not paid for itself. I have an early 2008 white MacBook that had a hard disk failure, but I was able to replace the part myself for just less than $100 (giving me twice the storage I once had). Just make sure to keep backups, no matter how "tech savvy" you are.

Like said above, I believe, however, if you cannot make repairs yourself, or know someone you trust to make the repairs, Apple has the BEST customer service. Hands down.
Of course, if I had the money to buy a server from Apple, I'd be more than happy to invest in the Apple Care package.

 

[Hellhammer]

Not sure what country you are in but EVERY product I have purchased here in Finland has had a TWO year warranty. EVERY product. My MBP was 1 month and one day out of warranty, but the Apple repair said that ALL Apple products have TWO year warranties so they fixed my problem. Sooooo my point is still valid because I have living proof of what I posted.

Apple clearly states that the warranty provided by them is one year: http://www.apple.com/fi/macbookair/specs.html

The law doesn't require the seller/manufacturer to provide any warranty. However, they are responsible for guaranteeing a reasonable lifespan for their product, and for computers the Finnish consumer protection bureau has stated two years (which is what EU demands as well).

If what you said is true, then you were lucky. Usually the service providers are dead silent about the law as it means loss for them.

 

[manu chao]

Not sure what country you are in but EVERY product I have purchased here in Finland has had a TWO year warranty. EVERY product. My MBP was 1 month and one day out of warranty, but the Apple repair said that ALL Apple products have TWO year warranties so they fixed my problem. Sooooo my point is still valid because I have living proof of what I posted.

I talked about EU regulations which set the minimum consumer protection, every country is free to add their own legislation on top of that mandating more comprehensive mandatory warranty coverage.

 

[djrobsd]

FWIW every time I buy an Apple product I consider getting AppleCare and always decide against it, especially on the iPhone. There is a good chance under normal use that your iPhone water sensor will get spoiled, at which point if you ever take it in for AppleCare they will deny your coverage due to being "water damaged". One of the sensors is right underneath the phone by the dock connector and all it takes is moisture from taking a shower in your bathroom (yeah I know not a good idea to leave the iPhone in the bathroom with you!!) to make the sensor show that the phone got water in it.

As for coverage on Macbook Pro. It's a $2000 dollar computer that WILL last you 3 years, so $349 is probably not a bad deal, but I didn't get it on my last one, and it gave me 2 years of worry free service before selling on Craigslist for $750.

The tech support on the phone mileage may vary. I never called tech support on my last MBP, but I've called them 3 times on the new one. Time Machine issues, iPhoto issues, lost data... grrr.... They were NOT able to help me... So it has thus far been a waste...

Then again I am a power user who can figure things out on his own and only have to call when the crap really hits the fan.

 

[EvenStranger]

Yet another Genius

My 2¢ on AppleCare.

1. AppleCare covers hardware failures from normal use. This is what AppleCare was designed for. Apple wants your computer to work for you when you need it, and if it doesn't, they want to fix it.

2. AppleCare does not cover physical damage. If you dump a beer in your Mac, you drop it down the stairs, you leave it on the trunk of your car and drive off, or any other physical damage to the unit, AppleCare doesn't cover it. You're expected to protect your investment, and failure to do so isn't Apple's problem.

3. Technicians are human, and as such, may make exceptions. Don't count on this, but it can happen. It's not part of AppleCare officially, but a customer who purchases AppleCare for a system may be more likely to receive the benefit of the doubt on a system that would normally be out of warranty.

4. AppleCare is not insurance. Again, it's a service agreement for Apple to back up their products beyond the 1 year warranty, and fix any reliability issues at no additional charge.

5. Insurance is a great idea. Not technically AppleCare, but I'm gonna stand on the Apple crate for a sec. Tech insurance is very inexpensive. Several thousand dollars of coverage can be had for just a few dollars a month. My wife dropped an iBook a few years back, waaaaay out of warranty, and the Technology Rider we had on our homeowner's policy provided a replacement, minus a $100 deductible. We purchased a MacBook to replace it. I recommend everyone talk to their agent or agency providing homeowner's or renter's coverage. If you don't have a renter's policy, get one. The $100-200 you spend a year for it (possibly less) can be a godsend in the event of a disaster.

6. AppleCare must be purchased within one year of your computer purchase. I can't tell you how many customers have demanded to purchase AppleCare when facing an expensive repair, only to find that they are no longer eligible. You have a year to purchase AppleCare - after that, you're on your own. Apple will be glad to repair issues, but don't expect them to be at no cost to you.

7. AppleCare does not protect your data. AppleCare is for hardware, not data. If your drive fails and your data is lost, Apple isn't responsible for getting that data back on the new drive. Backup software is included with the OS - use it. We used to tell customers "There are two kinds of computer users... those who have lost data, and those who will."

As an IT professional and former Genius who has worked on computers for more than 14 years, I still buy AppleCare for my computers. Why? Because I don't know all the answers. Because I can pick a phone up, call Apple, and talk to another technician, bounce ideas off him, see if there's a tech note somewhere I missed, and get my problem solved. If I need a part repaired, I know I can get a genuine Apple certified part, covered under the same warranty, installed by someone who knows what they're doing. I know that if my laptop needs to be shipped to Apple, I don't have to buy the box and packing materials to ship it - I don't even have to fill out the label... Apple ships me a box with a peel-off label to send right back out. And, from personal experience, odds are it'll be back in less than 72 hours.