Apple Care worked for me
I've always bought Apple Care to avoid any concern for three years. It paid off recently as I just got a hard drive for my MacBook Pro 2012 replaced without any issue or cost. It was all covered under Apple Care and the experience was nearly perfect.
I booked a slot at the Genius Bart to look at my hard drive, which came up as a problem after running the diagnostic at home. The technician confirmed that my drive was failing, but they didn't have the same HD model I had and offered a larger drive, which they also needed to order. I agreed, and when I got home saw that the drive they ordered was larger in size but slower in speed (5400 rpm vs. 7200 rpm). I called Apple, they called the store, and they fix the order for a drive with the same specs. I was contacted when the drive arrived, backed up my computer one more time, dropped it off at the Apple Store, and I am fully operational again without any issues. Everything worked as planned - except for the original hard drive. Without Apple Care, I would need to replace the drive, which I want to do eventually with an SSD, but now it isn't as urgent. It was by far the best experience I've had getting something "fixed." Well worth the cost of Apple Care.
I've always bought Apple Care to avoid any concern for three years. It paid off recently as I just got a hard drive for my MacBook Pro 2012 replaced without any issue or cost. It was all covered under Apple Care and the experience was nearly perfect.
I booked a slot at the Genius Bart to look at my hard drive, which came up as a problem after running the diagnostic at home. The technician confirmed that my drive was failing, but they didn't have the same HD model I had and offered a larger drive, which they also needed to order. I agreed, and when I got home saw that the drive they ordered was larger in size but slower in speed (5400 rpm vs. 7200 rpm). I called Apple, they called the store, and they fix the order for a drive with the same specs. I was contacted when the drive arrived, backed up my computer one more time, dropped it off at the Apple Store, and I am fully operational again without any issues. Everything worked as planned - except for the original hard drive. Without Apple Care, I would need to replace the drive, which I want to do eventually with an SSD, but now it isn't as urgent. It was by far the best experience I've had getting something "fixed." Well worth the cost of Apple Care.