Apple to Charge $279 to Repair or Replace a Damaged HomePod Without AppleCare+

[danielsutton]

I am getting tired of Apple overcharging for their products. Apple is wondering why they keep getting clobbered by Samsung and other competitors when it comes to the number of devices sold, and this is why. If Apple wanted to sell more products, they really need to start lowering their prices.

Apple today updated its HomePod support website with out-of-warranty service pricing for the speaker, which is arriving to customers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia starting today.

HomePod owners who do not purchase AppleCare+ will pay $279 in the United States, £268.44 in the United Kingdom, and $399 in Australia for Apple to repair or replace a HomePod with any damage, unless the issue is the result of a manufacturing defect covered by Apple's limited one-year warranty.

HomePod service can be obtained with an appointment at an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Apple also offers to send customers a box to ship their HomePod to its repair center for an additional fee of $19.95, £13.44, and $29.95 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia respectively.

HomePod costs $349 in the United States, £319 in the United Kingdom, and $499 in Australia, meaning Apple's replacement fee is 80 percent of the cost of a brand new one, so AppleCare+ could be worthwhile.

AppleCare+ extends a HomePod's hardware coverage to two years from its original purchase date, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $39 in the United States, £29 in the United Kingdom, and $55 in Australia, plus the upfront cost of the plan.

Is it worth it to buy AppleCare+ for HomePod?

We've put together a chart to compare the potential costs of replacing a damaged HomePod with and without AppleCare+ in each country:

AppleCare+ for HomePod: United States / United Kingdom / Australia​

Since the HomePod is more of a stationary product placed on a desk or kitchen countertop, many customers may opt against purchasing AppleCare+ for the speaker. But if you have children or pets, or worry about splashing it in the kitchen, then it may be worth considering AppleCare+ for its potential savings.

Article Link: Apple to Charge $279 to Repair or Replace a Damaged HomePod Without AppleCare+

 

[tdar]

This thread is full of people that said they'd never buy a HomePod, complaining about the repair price of something they'll never buy.

"The Porsche 911 Turbo is far too much to repair! How dare they charge so much for repairs on such an item!!!!!"

True. I'm one of them.
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Speakers last a lot longer than that. I own some speakers built in the 1950s that work just fine. The Bose Roommate Apple IIgs powered speakers, which are actually probably the first speakers Apple ever put a logo on back in 1986, are still going strong over 30 years later.

What Processor do they have? Which OS do they run?

 

[fmalloy]

Speakers don't typically have logic boards to fail. The Homepod does. It remains to be seen if they fail as often as Macbook ones seem to recently.

One of the most common modules of electronic appliances to fail is the power supply, particularly in appliances that use more than a small amount of power, like desktop computers and audio equipment. And inside the power supply very common components to fail are capacitors. To save money, they often use filtering caps that have a lower rated voltage, and/or poor quality capacitors. Heat build up causes things to fail prematurely. Digital chips are actually very reliable.

And yes, Apple fanboys - Even Apple has used poor quality caps in a model of iMac, causing a lot of units to fail prematurely.

And the great thing about poorly spec'ed/poor quality capacitors is - they usually fail after the warranty is over. Cha-ching!

Apple isn't the richest company in the world for nothing.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

It's an individual decision but I don't get why you'd want that Apple Care.

Warranty to two years...Hmm ahem by law they have to give two years already.
Accidental cover...If you have it in your home wouldn't you have home insurance for that?

Sorry but I'm not buying it...

 

[Hustler1337]

Be interesting to see if this device, due to software updates over a few years, becomes pretty unusable and a much more powerful version is needed.

If this lasts as long as it should do, then Apple would not be very happy as they will sell you one and that's it for many many years....

Unlike Phones etc, this SHOULD do the same job as well for the next 10+ years if not much longer.

Apple make money from hardware sales, so what do you think they have planned deliberately in place to make this device become obsolete and requires an upgrade after x years?

This had me thinking as well as most of the functionality is essentially just software updates.

For hardware changes, no doubt Apple will get their marketing team to convince users that a small new feature is absolutely revolutionary and magical and that the old HomePod cannot get those features. That, or they'll start throttling HomePod v1

In the long run, I'm guessing the HomePod is Apple's strategy to drive sales of Apple Music subscription (if Apple stick with their plans to restrict music streaming to their own service) and therefore more as a means to another product rather than the end product itself.

 

[tdar]

Edit: Speaking of CR-- they don't recommend extended warranties (even if it's boutique-y AC).

The fine people of CR are welcome to pay for the back glass on my Iphone X at $550.00, when a restaurant server knocks it off the bar as she hurriedly trys to do her job she get's paid to do hurriedly.
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I am getting tired of Apple overcharging for their products. Apple is wondering why they keep getting clobbered by Samsung and other competitors when it comes to the number of devices sold, and this is why. If Apple wanted to sell more products, they really need to start lowering their prices.

I don't believe you understand what they are trying to do. They are trying to build a cult like following of customers, who will pay higher and higher prices, for more and more different things. This is every marketers dream. Looks to me like they are succeeding.

 

[I7guy]

That advice carries some redundancy.
If I'd care about what others buy, things would hit the ceiling instead of the floor.

You did go through the effort of sardonically saying: “HomePod invoices have "Angela needs a new penthouse..." watermarks all over them”.

Demand will be tight at the beginning. Someone will buy the HomePod you “don’t want”.

 

[danielsutton]

This can be said of every single consumer electronic device out there. Chips and electronics as a whole are becoming smaller in every device. This isn't just an Apple thing. Look at how repairable modern car issues are.

Not true. Samsung is the exception, they want to copy Apple on everything from the industrial design to the price, but most other electronics are far less expensive than Apple's products. Virtually every other smartphone is less expensive, and also tablets such as Amazon's Fire line are far less expensive. I did not buy an iPhone 8 or X this year for pricesicely (see what I did there?) that reason. It is getting absurd how much more expensive each new Apple product is.

 

[jimmirehman]

Just ordered AppleCare+. $41 is a no brainer! I know my wife will be moving this thing all over the house!

 

[mi7chy]

First adopters will guinea pig how the HomePods hold up over time. I don't normally buy insurance on speakers since even lower tier brands like Altec Lansing last 17+ years.

 

[MiamiC70]

True. I'm one of them.
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What Processor do they have? Which OS do they run?

The 911 turbo is too much to repair. However, more importantly nothing like the revs of a naturally aspirated 3.6L when I hit the fun pedal and give it a proper run through the gears.

 

[I7guy]

I don't believe you understand what they are trying to do. They are trying to build a cult like following of customers, who will pay higher and higher prices, for more and more different things. This is every marketers dream. Looks to me like they are succeeding.

They aren’t “succeeding“ they have succeeded. Of course the flip side is people should spend their hard earned dollars the way they want. When you offer products and services your customers want, it can be lucrative.

 

[MiamiC70]

I am getting tired of Apple overcharging for their products. Apple is wondering why they keep getting clobbered by Samsung and other competitors when it comes to the number of devices sold, and this is why. If Apple wanted to sell more products, they really need to start lowering their prices.

It's profits that matter and you don't get those by being the low cost leader.

 

[Piggie]

This had me thinking as well as most of the functionality is essentially just software updates.

For hardware changes, no doubt Apple will get their marketing team to convince users that a small new feature is absolutely revolutionary and magical and that the old HomePod cannot get those features. That, or they'll start throttling HomePod v1

In the long run, I'm guessing the HomePod is Apple's strategy to drive sales of Apple Music subscription (if Apple stick with their plans to restrict music streaming to their own service) and therefore more as a means to another product rather than the end product itself.

The problem is, it's a very limited market, hell you can only use Apple music, and without an iOS device you can't even get the thing working.

I mean, say it supported other music services, and Android phone for set-up then, their potential userbase would open up massively.
I think many feel they will do this in time.
A bit like how the original iPads were not stand alone and without a computer to connect them to you could not even use the iPad 1 you just bought.

I can understand Apple keeping it "just for them" for now.
I guess when they have sold as many as they can to only Apple people, and sales drop off, esp as it won't be something people will be upgrading each year or two.
Apple may then need to open it up to others then, to drive the sales.

Unless as you say they perhaps make a Mk2 with a proper screen (not just coloured LED's under some black plastic) and people may wish to upgrade to the screen version.

 

[mikethemartian]

I have had countless computers, speakers, all kinds of devices. Years ago I figured out that if I take care of my stuff, I can safely avoid the service plan. The only computing device I have had service plans for since then are laptops because they are simply more prone to damage and if damaged most repairs are $$$.

I would not get the service plan for HomePod unless I was moving it around like a portable device.

The other thing to remember is: This is essentially a computing device. Computing devices are typically replaced or obsolete within 5-8 years. ...Of course people have older computers! But try running newer/more advanced operating system versions or applications on them: Time to upgrade! Same thing expected here, the computing hardware will eventually be incompatible with the newer devices that talk with it.

It rarely makes economic sense to buy insurance for a consumer product. Insurance is for disasters: house, health, auto accident liability, etc. Problems that can cost tens or hundreds of thousands to deal with. Losing a couple of thousand on a computer or less on a phone, tablet, speaker, is not a disaster. As long as a person backs up their data. Unless it is a consumer device that requires regular maintenance that is included in the cost it isn’t worth it.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

It cost me £49 to add a three year warranty (increased to 5 years) for my near £1000 Marantz amp...and I would say that is a whole new paradigm of complexity against basically something that is positioned once and never has any physical interaction for its’ entire life. (In most cases]
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And nearly as tuneful!

You have taken my comment out of context. gnasher729 said it was a speaker, I was pointing out its rather more than that. I wasn't commenting on the AC cost, which I think is ridiculously high.

 

[RickInHouston]

What a kick in the nuts!

You guys crack me up paying for this stuff!

 

[davester]

I’m just wondering how one would damage a HomePod given that it would (I assume) sit in one place and not get moved around. Short-circuiting from projectile vomit is the only thing that comes to mind...

 

[JhonnyC]

I have a couple of exceedingly well behaved cats but there is one insane cat who did knock my kitchen Echo three feet onto a tile floor. It was fine, despite my expectations of the plastic shell not surviving such an ordeal. I would hope the HomePod would be equally durable. But at those prices, it’s too rich for my blood. I’ll wait and see how everyone else gets along with theirs.

I've been waiting for someone to post about a cat! I'm so paranoid that my cats are going to use it as a scratch post! That's the main reason I want to get Apple Care!

 

[mistasopz]

Who are all these people just shovelling their paycheck over to Apple? This is about 80% of the cost of a new unit. Every time people gripe about the price and I always think that no one would be that stupid to fork over that much money, but they they always do.

 

[topmounter]

I seriously doubt that Apple is going to 'repair' this thing. They'll be selling refurb HomePods for little more than $279 by the end of the year. Knock on wood, but I've never had to use Apple Care when I've bought it and I've never regretted not buying it when I haven't bought it. Apple Care may offer piece of mind for the consumer, but it also keeps Apple's margins high.

 

[Abazigal]

I’m just wondering how one would damage a HomePod given that it would (I assume) sit in one place and not get moved around. Short-circuiting from projectile vomit is the only thing that comes to mind...

My guess is maybe someone trips on the power cable and sends it toppling over the edge of the table?

I guess we will have to wait for the inevitable drop tests to find out how durable these babies are.

 

[5105973]

I've been waiting for someone to post about a cat! I'm so paranoid that my cats are going to use it as a scratch post! That's the main reason I want to get Apple Care!

I have a little hamburger sized Google Home mini encased in fabric. I’ve seen the cats sniff it but they are pretty good about not clawing things. They do have the occasional accident where they miscalculate a jump and knock some things over. That’s what I have to watch with them.

My dog is the real problem. I’ve had her for many years, but she was 5 when I got her from a racetrack and very set in her wicked ways. HomePod would be like a big meatloaf to her.

I’ve had dogs all of my 51 years on this planet and have never dealt with a dog like this. She understands what we telling her to do or not do. She just doesn’t care. At all. Ever. The only one she heeds is the household grumpy cat. Good choice. I listen to that cat, too.

 

[tdar]

They aren’t “succeeding“ they have succeeded. Of course the flip side is people should spend their hard earned dollars the way they want. When you offer products and services your customers want, it can be lucrative.

You can't succeed as such stuff. It's against the normal order of things. That's why I say it's every marketers dream. Because like a dream if can't ever fully come true. But Apple has gotten father than anyone else ever has. And they keep moving down that road. Icloud, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Carplay, Homekit are all parts of a play to make you feel that you can't ever leave. That Apple is too important in your life. That's part of the way they look to achieve this goal. It's done with iconic products, it's done with services, it's even done with software. iOS 11.3 has stuff in it (I can't say under NDA- but it's out there if you look) that adds to that. One new part, if they can pull it off, would make it where you could never leave. All part of Apple's plan to be your personal technology company for your whole life. It's why they work so hard on schools. Get them while they are young.
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I’m just wondering how one would damage a HomePod given that it would (I assume) sit in one place and not get moved around. Short-circuiting from projectile vomit is the only thing that comes to mind...

You need to go reread the thread. Many people have made the point that these are not normal speakers with examples. There are many ways to find a use for your Apple Care+ for Homepod.

 

[Guy Clark]

"Apple to Charge $279 to Repair or Replace a Damaged HomePod Without AppleCare+"

Translated means if it goes wrong throw it away and purchase another one. More than a hint of planned obsolescence.

Whatever happened to user serviceable Apple products ?

I have lost count the number of times I have open up my 2009 and 2011 iMacs to carry out upgrades without fuss on dramatics.

Of course that all changed with the 2012 Slimline iMac.