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AppleCare worth it?

wdlove said:
Is the warranty provided by American Express, Master Card, and Visa the same coverage as if you got AppleCare? Including phone support from Apple for the two years?
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The way it works is that if something breaks that would have been covered under the apple warranty, but is in the second year, then the credit card company pays Apple the repair fee. No, it does not include the phone support, since that is different from a warranty - but who uses that anyways? I find online forums like this one more useful than phone support.
 
T.Rex
The way it works is that if something breaks that would have been covered under the apple warranty, but is in the second year, then the credit card company pays Apple the repair fee. No, it does not include the phone support, since that is different from a warranty - but who uses that anyways? I find online forums like this one more useful than phone support.
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Yeah until something goes wrong and the internet can not be accessed then to ones dismay you need that phone support but your fingers don't have a warranty but as you say its different and who uses them anyway 😉
 
Yeah, but if use your credit company's warranty don't they ask you to get three quotes before they pay out? For the most part, I suppose it's not too much of a problem, but AppleCare just saves you the hassle... although it'd be fun asking someone at Amex a technical question about your Mac.

I think someone posted this before, but it's insurance. We have insurance on our cars, don't we? And, knock on wood, we hope we never have to use it.

At the end of day, you just have to decide if it's right for you. It's not cheap, but it is insurance. Deciding whether or not you'll need AppleCare is like trying to predict the future...

I just bought a PowerBook and I purchased AppleCare with it. To me, it's just piece of mind... I don't want to worry about dealing with credit card companies, getting quotes, sending it in to Apple on my own dime, etc... just to be reimbursed later on. Again, that's only if something goes wrong. If I don't use my AppleCare at all, I'll still be happy. It means that I didn't waste any of my time... and time is something few us can spare these days.

Just to clarify, and I don't want to be a stickler especially since this kinda goes against my post, if you get something repaired within the first year, it doesn't count against your AppleCare. The AppleCare warranty (not technical support) only starts after year one. If something goes wrong with your product during the first year, you will use the standard product warranty regardless of whether you have AppleCare or not. Therefore, it's up to you, the customer, to decide if you will split the cost of the warranty over three years (include technical support as the first year) or two. Would you still divide the price by three if you purchased the warranty towards the end of the first year? For me, I'm paying for two extra years of warranty, so the price of the warranty is divided by two. Don't want to split-hairs with you MadMacs44, that's just my opinion as a paying customer.
 
OOps I forgot this!!🙂

Admitted PC User Said"
Don't want to split-hairs with you MadMacs44, that's just my opinion as a paying customer."

Sorry People I almost forgot this, and maybe it will change some minds here!!

I stated earlier that the main benefit of having AppleCare is the phone support option. But actually there is one other reason I failed to mention that most people dont know.

If you have AppleCare in place, you are eligable for "On Site" Warranty Services in most cases.

Here is how it works. If you have an issue you call into Apple. They determine whether or not they think you have a viable warranty issue. Then in most instances, they give you a case number. Which BTW is actually worthless most of the time for us AASP's(I tell why later). Then, the customer contacts us and we run their serial number and see whether they have AC Plan. If they do in fact have it, we can then, at our discression, choose to set up an appointment at the clients location, for which we will get extra reimbursment from Apple for the road trip.

Now, obviously in saying this, I need to caution those who now will expect this service. The fact is, it is really up to us whether or not we want to do it onsite. And if infact, its a very demanding hardware repair, we usually either choose to bring the unit back to the shop(TO A STATIC SAFE ENVIRONMENT), and then drop it back to the customer when it is fixed.

So...Now you are armed with more ammo to make a decision. One other point I want to clarify...The reason I stated above that the Apple Case Number is usually useless to us is becuase you are being assigned a number by a person over the phone who has NOT actually even seen the machine.

Consider this because what happens most of the time is we get customers who are fresh off the phone with an Apple Rep who says this is what the problem is, take it to the repair center, and gives them a case number. The customer then says well, Apple says this is the problem and I have a case number so you MUST fix it under warranty...Not true. If you bring in the unit and it ends up being an issue with A) Software, especially third party, or B) becuase you lied to the phone rep and didnt tell them what really happened to the unit i.e. abuse etc..C) You connected or installed additional hardware that conflicts, the onus is then on the customer to pay up! This is also true of On site service.

If an AASP drives to your house and the diagnosis is that your external USB hub is bad, well guess what? I have everyright to get reimbursed by the client. This is the stuff they dont tell you on the phone at Apple.

Hope this helps clear up a few things.
*
 
MadMacs44 said:
Admitted PC User Said"
Don't want to split-hairs with you MadMacs44, that's just my opinion as a paying customer."

Sorry People I almost forgot this, and maybe it will change some minds here!!

I stated earlier that the main benefit of having AppleCare is the phone support option. But actually there is one other reason I failed to mention that most people dont know.

If you have AppleCare in place, you are eligable for "On Site" Warranty Services in most cases.
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Good point. The on-site service makes a big difference, but unfortunately it doesn't apply to PowerBooks / iBooks, which is strange to me. I understand the point that a notebook is more portable than a desktop and thus easier to ship, but shouldn’t it be about downtime? If you have AppleCare on a desktop, your downtime is limited to AppleCare’s response time. With a notebook, your downtime includes shipping both ways and repair… and yet you pay more for AppleCare on a notebook, although I know there is a greater chance for something go wrong with a product you toss (gently of course) in a bag and carry to and from the office or school.

Interesting to read your points about Apple or a service provider getting reimbursed by the client. I don't doubt that it happens, as you guys need some type of protection from bogus claims, but it makes me wonder about the value of the first-line technical support in such a case. From what I've read on this board, most of us would be able to isolate a specific problem (or get pretty darn close) before calling Apple, but what about the vast majority of people who don't have technical savvy and are under complete guidance from the AppleCare technical support people? Assuming these customers are honest and provide the proper information upon being prompted by an AppleCare support rep, you would think the onus is on Apple if the product is misdiagnosed.

Interesting points MadMacs44... and certainly good reading for anyone interested in AppleCare. Thanks for sharing your insider perspective.
 
AdmittedPCuser said:
...but shouldn’t it be about downtime? If you have AppleCare on a desktop, your downtime is limited to AppleCare’s response time. With a notebook, your downtime includes shipping both ways and repair… and yet you pay more for AppleCare on a notebook, ...

... but it makes me wonder about the value of the first-line technical support in such a case. From what I've read on this board, most of us would be able to isolate a specific problem (or get pretty darn close) before calling Apple, but what about the vast majority of people who don't have technical savvy and are under complete guidance from the AppleCare technical support people? Assuming these customers are honest and provide the proper information upon being prompted by an AppleCare support rep, you would think the onus is on Apple if the product is misdiagnosed.
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For the first part its a yes and no answer... Ok You are correct in that the onsite applies to Desktops, sorry I didnt mention that. However, Laptops are not always shipped out. This depends on a few factors: A) If the local AASP is not certified for Powerbook repair, then its shipped out. B) if it is part of an Apple REA Program, it is shipped out.

It used to be that you were either certified or not, but last year Apple changed that for AASP's. We had to go recertify separatley for each type of unit i.e. Desktop/ Powerbook. We are in the process of getting our PB certification. Not to get too far off the subject...In most cases when we facilitate a powerbook, its back in like 3 days from the repair depot. Thats not too bad. Some of the things that delay this: 1) Apple does not have the part in stock. 2) Client lied and didnt mention that they spilled stuff on the unit etc.. 3) More than the requested repair is needed and Apple may contact the AASP for further info. So responce is not too bad in most cases. Just an FYI is all.

As far as the AC costing more for a LT, well, its actually commesurate with the cost of producing such a machine I believe. It takes more engineering, research, and component design for these units, hence the higher cost. Plus not to mention the actual time to do the repairs is far higher. Take for instance when I repair a hard disk/ replace in a desktop, thats a snap and is very easy to do. Try it out on some of the iBooks, it takes like 50 screws to dismantle these things and Holy SH*t can it turn into a nightmare if you forget where they go on the unit becuase these little suckers are tiny🙂 And come in many flavors🙂 of screw that is...

As for your second part about the onus being on Apple for diagnosis. I guess think about it this way...You got a Ford, or whatever vehicle you drive. You call your local garage or even Ford direct and you say, my car is making a noise bla bla...What is the first thing they say..."Bring it in and lets have a look!!" So I think you see my point...although it would be great if people could diagnose things with a great degree of acuracy over the phone, but even in Apples case, those people are reading scripts, and quite honestly, I would be willing to bet, most have really never ripped apart the guts of Mac anywhere to the degree that allows them to be actually proficient with over the phone support.

Once again, some of this is truth, some is opinion:0
 
AdmittedPCuser said:
I think someone posted this before, but it's insurance. We have insurance on our cars, don't we? And, knock on wood, we hope we never have to use it.
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Actually, its not like insurance at all. With car insurance, if you smack into a pole, you're covered by insurance. Drop your powerbook on the floor and its not covered by AppleCare (nor should it, I'm just making a point here). If the transmission goes in your car, your insurance does not cover it, your warranty does (if its still covered). Totally different things.

Personally, I think a MUCH better investment is buying real insurance from your insurance company (some home insurance policies might cover it anyways). In this case, you are covered if the thing gets smashed, or even worse, stolen. All in all, a far better investment, IMO.
 
T.Rex said:
Actually, its not like insurance at all. With car insurance, if you smack into a pole, you're covered by insurance. Drop your powerbook on the floor and its not covered by AppleCare (nor should it, I'm just making a point here). If the transmission goes in your car, your insurance does not cover it, your warranty does (if its still covered). Totally different things.
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Actually, it very much is insurance. Car insurance just happens to be one type of insurance and I was only using it is an example. It just happens to work out that car insurance and AppleCare "insurance" cover different things... I think we are just getting caught up in semantics now.
 
It's not semantics. AppleCare is a warranty, insurance is insurance. If you have AppleCare and your laptop gets stolen, they're not going to replace it for you - that's insurance.
 
Remember the iBook G3 logic board problem?

And the people who paid lots of money to have it fixed before the repair program started?

That's why I suggest AppleCare to anyone.
 
You're still looking at insurance as car insurance. I'm talking about insurance as in the actual definition of the word (ex. bike helmets provide insurance against a head injury, not if your head gets stolen).

I see your point, as most people look at insurance as car/home insurance, but I was only using the term to support my post earlier. That is purely semantics... we are both right, simply looking at it from different perspectives.
 
AppleCare is a gold mine for Apple

they have the statistics to tell them where to set their price point to cover their costs and give them a nice fat profit margin at the same time

the consumer who buys AppleCare is betting that Apple has sold them a piece of junk that is going to fail somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd year in such a way that repairs will cost a substantial percentage of the original cost of purchase....in my experience, Apple makes a pretty good product that doesn't fail so readily, but maybe that's just my good luck

this is a gamble that Apple wins over and over and over again....they set the odds and they're stacked in favor of the house, just like a Vegas casino

of course if you're the poor guy with a crapped out logic board, well, it's nice to have that AppleCare......but then even Vegas casinos need to let some of the bettors leave with winnings ....or why would anybody gamble?
 
JeffTL said:
Remember the iBook G3 logic board problem?

And the people who paid lots of money to have it fixed before the repair program started?

That's why I suggest AppleCare to anyone.
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That's not a logical argument. Anybody without Apple Care who was charged for an iBook logic board upgrade in the faulty batch of G3s was refunded once the repair policy was put in place.

Not having it did not, ultimately, leave any user out of pocket.
 
This guy pretty much says it all. Apple offers AppleCare to make money. That's not necessarily bad, after all they sell computers to make money too! But in general, extended warranties can be of questionable value.

What AppleCare does do is reduce your risk, for a price. It's up to you whether it's worth it or not, how much you want to pay to reduce your risk. The current iBooks and PowerBooks are advanced revs, so in general their quality level and defect rate should be very, very good.

The only other way of saying this is that AppleCare is only worth it if you actually end up using it. But no one can tell if your particular computer will have problems or not.

Macky-Mac said:
AppleCare is a gold mine for Apple

they have the statistics to tell them where to set their price point to cover their costs and give them a nice fat profit margin at the same time

the consumer who buys AppleCare is betting that Apple has sold them a piece of junk that is going to fail somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd year in such a way that repairs will cost a substantial percentage of the original cost of purchase....in my experience, Apple makes a pretty good product that doesn't fail so readily, but maybe that's just my good luck

this is a gamble that Apple wins over and over and over again....they set the odds and they're stacked in favor of the house, just like a Vegas casino

of course if you're the poor guy with a crapped out logic board, well, it's nice to have that AppleCare......but then even Vegas casinos need to let some of the bettors leave with winnings ....or why would anybody gamble?
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I think i am going to invest in Applecare for my imac because it is so worth it in case anything goes wrong and makes it a lot easier if i will sell it in like 2 years.
Just one quick questions - is it transferable to any future owners or does it have to remain in the buyers, my, name? Also if we move house it isn't too much hassle to transfer it over to the new address?
Because the nearest store is a good drive away the onsite repairs would be great
 
i hate how the apple store employees try to push the applecare warranty on you. "but it only costs this much, and you get this, and this, and oh yeah, this too." psh, whatever. just give me my damn powerbook. i am sure apple trains their employees on how to persuade the customers to being suckered into buying applecare. just like best buy, circuit city, fry's, etc, etc.

i have never bought an extended warranty on any kinda of electronic equipment. nor have i ever needed it. if it breaks, its always within in the warranty timeline, or else way on down the road to the point where an extended warranty wouldn't cover it in the first place.

i love how macky-mac put it. its basically a gamble. i say most of the time, you are going to lose. so why even bother? unless your lucky? =)

tekmoe
 
Can anyone tell me if it can be transferred if i sell my imac in the future?
I think yes it is a gamble but one worth going with, with education 3 years of Applecare is £115, if i do this near the end of the 1 year warranty that is less than £40 a year, less than a subscription to a magazine, and it increases the resale value as well as give you complete piece of mind if something did happen.
 
Fredstar said:
Can anyone tell me if it can be transferred if i sell my imac in the future?
I think yes it is a gamble but one worth going with, with education 3 years of Applecare is £115, if i do this near the end of the 1 year warranty that is less than £40 a year, less than a subscription to a magazine, and it increases the resale value as well as give you complete piece of mind if something did happen.
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remember that what you are buying is a 2 year extension to the 1 year warranty that automatically comes with the computer....that's the case no matter whether you buy it the on the day you purchase your computer or on the last day of the original 1 year warranty.....1 year basic warranty + 2 year extension = "3 years of Applecare".....so if you are paying 115 for Applecare then that's 2 additional years at 57.5 each

in the USA the Applecare warranty will transfer to the new owner if you sell the computer.....I don't know if it's different in the UK
 
a couple of things that seemed to be missed

AppleCare is not all about the hardware warranty extension to three years. AppleCare extends your 90 day phone support to three years as well. Apple's support has been the highest rated support for years and covers more then just hardware questions, it covers software as well. You start editing movies 4 months from now, wouldn't it be nice to get some support on iLife?

Also, if I remember correctly AppleCare is "global". You are still covered outside the US, should anything go wrong. Usually limited warrantys are only inside the states.

AppleCare should be a must for switchers and experienced users should ask themselves, for thier needs, if something fails in a year and a day to three years from thier purchase would they rather pay for the repair, buy a new unit or pay a one time fixed rate for AppleCare?

PowerBook: $350 = $9.72/month
Power Mac: $250 = $6.94/month
iBook: $250 = $6.94/month
iMac/eMac: $170 = $4.72/month
Mac Mini: $150 = $4.17/month

You probally waste more than that a month on something.

Now for you PowerBook and iBook people, the question should be, do you need screen protection? If you were to drop your laptop or leave a pen on the keyboard and close your screen and the display breaks, AppleCare will not cover that. CompUSA does offer a 3yr screen protection upgrade for $250. 😀
 
Read this at another area. So wanted to inquire here. Has anyone head any rumor about the price of AppleCare being increased. It was information from and Apple staff person, "You might want to purchase now prior to a price increase."
 
I don't believe Apple Care is worth it in the long run for the mass of people for home or consumer purchases. Applecare may be worth it for corporations where quick and timely fixes could mean a savings of revenue.

Apple care really is like an insurance policy, so if you feel safer, then go for it.
 
I got a question i was cleaning and came across the box for applecare. Inside is like a sheet witih your name adress etc, do u i need to fill it out? Or is it in the computer... I bought my computer in early Aug... 😱
 
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