should I buy this for my g5 imac now? or wait till I have a problem? / or before the free years cover ends?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
applecare
- Thread starter dpclark
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Chip NoVaMac
macrumors G3
The only advantage of buying early is the extra support that you receive between day 91 and the end of the first year. So it is a matter of if you have the funds available now or later IMO. For I had all the support I needed from the great folks here on MR.
wdlove
macrumors P6
I definitely wouldn't recommend waiting till you have a problem. At that point it might be too late. I always purchase AppleCare with my computer. That way I feel protected. There is always the possibility of letting the years expire accidentally, why take a chance. I also like to have the availability of talking to someone on the phone to sort out my problem.
mrgreen4242
macrumors 601
I have some AppleCare questions... when is the latest you can purchase it? Also, with the standard 90/1yr warranty, if you are the over 90 dyas and under 1 yr time frame and have a problem, what exactly will be covered? Can you call up Apple and say my so and such isn't working and get a new part sent to you, that you will have to install?
I guess I am not clear on what 'support' is as opposed to the warranty.
Thanks,
Rob
I guess I am not clear on what 'support' is as opposed to the warranty.
Thanks,
Rob
Macmaniac
macrumors 68040
You can purchase the extended warranty anytime during the first year, but as soon as that reaches 366 days you are out of luck. Considering it is the Rev A iMac G5 I would recommend you get AppleCare, the phone support is a big help and component replacement on that machine is going to be expensive out of warranty. If you have one hardware problem the warranty will pay for itself.
I spent all day yesterday on the phone trying to get this
same question answered 😡 😡 😡 😡
My PB is broken and my searches didn't turn up any reasonable explanation or fix for it and since it's less than a year old, I decided to give Apple a call thinking I would send it to them and let them suss it out.
I couldn't find the number for tech support in Canada, so I called the number I had and asked the dude for the Canadian number - there isn't one he told me - 😕 😱 😕
Then before he even let me explain what the problem was, he said I should have AppleCare and he could set it up for me RIGHT AWAY so it would apply to this call RIGHT AWAY He quoted me $349 which is the US price and I did a quick calculation in my head and figured that it would be less than the price of a new PB so I gave him my CC # and my address - about 5 times - can you say CANADA
Then still focussed on the AppleCare, he gave me a weborder number 😱 and told me the "package" would be coming in a couple of weeks and I would need to register it right away and then my AppleCare would take effect - what happened to RIGHT AWAY
Finally I got him interested in my broken computer and he told me to zap the PRAM - using words of less than one syllable - and when that didn't solve the problem, he told me he would have to send me a box so I could ship it to them for repair. I asked if I could get it repaired locally and he said "sure go ahead, have a nice day" and hung up wtf!
I called back and asked for a shipping box and was told that there was no record of my previous call and by the way, did I know that Canada wasn't part of the USA? so I couldn't actually ship my computer back to them for repair.
By now I'm a little upset.
So I find a number for Apple Canada and give them a call. They have no record of my calls to the chaps in the US, and no record of AppleCare so they tell me to call the bank and put a stop on the payment - was I talking to Dell the first time??
The bank can't stop the charge - it's pending - so back to Apple US and after talking to 5 different people it is determined that it was all MY FAULT I should have known that a tech support guy couldn't actually sell AppleCare - silly me. I suggested that perhaps their tech support people should be better trained as to what they can and can't do so they don't go around offering services that they aren't supposed to do.
That's when all the friendly Apple US people got a little icy.
I tried to pin them down to just what I was getting for my $650 CAD and what it boiled down to was the chance to call them for FREE and get told to zap the PRAM and then have them look up the address of the computer shop that's 3 blocks away so I can walk it over there and get it fixed.
So now I have to wait until this Apple Care package is delivered in the mail and then I have to call them and ask for permission to return it so they can reverse the charge off my credit card.
If I want to spend the day listening to elevator music and talking to boneheads, I can go down to the local .......... oh wait a minute, I can't think where I'd find people like that. But I wasn't enjoying it anyway - no way I'm going to pay for it.
Margaret
same question answered 😡 😡 😡 😡
My PB is broken and my searches didn't turn up any reasonable explanation or fix for it and since it's less than a year old, I decided to give Apple a call thinking I would send it to them and let them suss it out.
I couldn't find the number for tech support in Canada, so I called the number I had and asked the dude for the Canadian number - there isn't one he told me - 😕 😱 😕
Then before he even let me explain what the problem was, he said I should have AppleCare and he could set it up for me RIGHT AWAY so it would apply to this call RIGHT AWAY He quoted me $349 which is the US price and I did a quick calculation in my head and figured that it would be less than the price of a new PB so I gave him my CC # and my address - about 5 times - can you say CANADA
Then still focussed on the AppleCare, he gave me a weborder number 😱 and told me the "package" would be coming in a couple of weeks and I would need to register it right away and then my AppleCare would take effect - what happened to RIGHT AWAY
Finally I got him interested in my broken computer and he told me to zap the PRAM - using words of less than one syllable - and when that didn't solve the problem, he told me he would have to send me a box so I could ship it to them for repair. I asked if I could get it repaired locally and he said "sure go ahead, have a nice day" and hung up wtf!
I called back and asked for a shipping box and was told that there was no record of my previous call and by the way, did I know that Canada wasn't part of the USA? so I couldn't actually ship my computer back to them for repair.
By now I'm a little upset.
So I find a number for Apple Canada and give them a call. They have no record of my calls to the chaps in the US, and no record of AppleCare so they tell me to call the bank and put a stop on the payment - was I talking to Dell the first time??
The bank can't stop the charge - it's pending - so back to Apple US and after talking to 5 different people it is determined that it was all MY FAULT I should have known that a tech support guy couldn't actually sell AppleCare - silly me. I suggested that perhaps their tech support people should be better trained as to what they can and can't do so they don't go around offering services that they aren't supposed to do.
That's when all the friendly Apple US people got a little icy.
I tried to pin them down to just what I was getting for my $650 CAD and what it boiled down to was the chance to call them for FREE and get told to zap the PRAM and then have them look up the address of the computer shop that's 3 blocks away so I can walk it over there and get it fixed.
So now I have to wait until this Apple Care package is delivered in the mail and then I have to call them and ask for permission to return it so they can reverse the charge off my credit card.
If I want to spend the day listening to elevator music and talking to boneheads, I can go down to the local .......... oh wait a minute, I can't think where I'd find people like that. But I wasn't enjoying it anyway - no way I'm going to pay for it.
Margaret
jsw
Moderator emeritus
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I've found that about 90% of the time my calls go very well, but that other 10% of the time I reach an idiot. Sadly, you seem to have connected directly to an idiot on your first call. Perhaps the problem was exacerbated by the fact that you live in Canada, and the US techs can't figure out how to deal with that. 🙄winwintoo said:
FWIW, I found this contact info on Apple's site:
Apple Canada Corporate (905) 513-5800
Customer Assistance Center (inside Canada) (800) 263-3394
Customer Assistance Center (outside Canada) (905) 513-5800
Dealer Referral (800) 665-2775
I'm sorry that it's harder to get support up there, but, on the plus side, you live in a better place than here otherwise. 😉
jsw said:
Maybe that's why they were trying to aggravate me 😀 😀 😀
I suppose AppleCare is a good thing for someone who doesn't have good contacts that can fix things, but I have lots of contacts from my previous jobs and in 20+ years of owning Macs, I've yet to spend $650 on repairs and it's easier for me to run over to the shop if there's a problem that I can't solve myself - be nice to the guys there and get good advice for free anyway.
I should have done that yesterday, but we were having a blizzard and I didn't feel like going out etc.
Have a nice day, Margaret