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Apple's underhanded AppleCare policy

M

moral-hazard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 27, 2009
197
3
Just a heads up to those who don't know this -

I recently purchased an AppleCare warranty for my MBP 13" since its "regular" warranty was about to expire. I saw that this would give me 2 years more coverage and paid $200 (student pricing).

After a month my MBP keyboard got a small amount of water spilled on it and I cancelled the AppleCare since I knew that if they found any traces of this in the computer keyboard (even though none made it to the motherboard or main components) they would refuse to repair the machine at all.

Anyways, they do offer pro-rated refunds which is great, but when you buy applecare, they automatically "throw away" up to a year of your applecare warranty coverage. Since my computer was a year old when I bought applecare, they just discarded a whole year of the warranty's value when calculating the refund. In the end, even though I had only had the AppleCare warranty for one month, the check I got was for half of what I had paid for it.

In the past I've been thrilled with Apple support but this is pretty slimy. I will never purchase an AppleCare agreement again...plus I can replace any component in the machine by myself anyway :p
 
OP, you should've have at least had Apple inspect your computer before canceling the Applecare. You didn't do yourself any favors by jumping to conclusions and canceling. All you had to do was simply explain to them upfront that you spilled a small amount of water on it and ask them to inspect the computer to see if your warranty is still valid? Either way you could still get a refund but if your warranty was still intact then you could just move on but since you jumped the gun and canceled without confirmation you screwed yourself and now you've lost money on your Applecare refund.
 
HLdan said:
OP, you should've have at least had Apple inspect your computer before canceling the Applecare. You didn't do yourself any favors by jumping to conclusions and canceling. All you had to do was simply explain to them upfront that you spilled a small amount of water on it and ask them to inspect the computer to see if your warranty is still valid? Either way you could still get a refund but if your warranty was still intact then you could just move on but since you jumped the gun and canceled without confirmation you screwed yourself and now you've lost money on your Applecare refund.
Click to expand...

this guy is right. sometimes if it is a first time issue even water if you have app they will cover it. but since you cancelled you will never know
 
moral-hazard said:
I cancelled the AppleCare since I knew that if they found any traces of this in the computer keyboard (even though none made it to the motherboard or main components) they would refuse to repair the machine at all.
Click to expand...


??? That makes very little sense. It seems you did no damage, and the liquid was water, meaning no residue would be expected. The keyboard doesn't have a water-ingress sensor AFAIK, and I really doubt that keyboards get inspected if you were to one day report a failure elsewhere in the system. But, maybe. Still, I haven't known AppleCare to be inordinately picky about repairs unless damage is rather obvious. My own service experience with them has been nothing short of spectacular, FWIW.

Meanwhile I'm a bit confused about what wasn't refunded. You paid for two years' coverage. Are you saying that, less than a year into the extended coverage, you received less than a 50% refund?
 
moral-hazard said:
plus I can replace any component in the machine by myself anyway :p
Click to expand...

Many of them, sure. Batteries, for example-- though I'd strongly caution against bargain-priced units; find a real Apple OEM unit. Keyboards (ahem), ditto, not too difficult on recent models, though careful shopping is again in order, and it's really easy to buy the wrong keyboard. Hard-disks, duck soup. But motherboards, displays, backlights... not so much. And any attempt at a self-repair requires some confidence and skill that many users won't possess.

So, everyone's case is different. In my case, even though I'm technically skilled, AppleCare for laptops is the one and only extended warranty I recommend or pay for myself.

Meanwhile, I've googled a bit to see if others have had your experience of receiving less than half their AppleCare fee after canceling shortly into the contract, and I'm not seeing that it's a widespread issue. Could this be just a clerical mistake? Have you called (or better, emailed) AppleCare to ask for an explanation or review? Did you purchase it through legitimate channels or via something like Craigslist or Ebay?
 
sjinsjca said:
??? That makes very little sense. It seems you did no damage, and the liquid was water, meaning no residue would be expected. The keyboard doesn't have a water-ingress sensor AFAIK, and I really doubt that keyboards get inspected if you were to one day report a failure elsewhere in the system. But, maybe. Still, I haven't known AppleCare to be inordinately picky about repairs unless damage is rather obvious. My own service experience with them has been nothing short of spectacular, FWIW.

Meanwhile I'm a bit confused about what wasn't refunded. You paid for two years' coverage. Are you saying that, less than a year into the extended coverage, you received less than a 50% refund?
Click to expand...

From what I understand you cancel within 30 days = full refund.
You cancel after 30 days = half refund.

Apple should let you keep Apple Care for that year then. Pro-rated should be based on the number of months used.
 
Like almost every extended warranty, if you cancel after the grace period, you get not just a prorated refund, but one that also has a cancelation fee of sorts. They design it that way to ensure that people don't scam them, ie buy apple care, use it a month after getting it, then drop it because they just got a new logic board, keyboard, and screen.
 
Identity Fraud said:
From what I understand you cancel within 30 days = full refund. You cancel after 30 days = half refund.
Click to expand...

Let's go directly to the fine print (for North America at least):

http://www.apple.com/legal/applecare/appgeos.html

"If you cancel more than thirty (30) days after your receipt of this Plan, you will receive a pro rata refund of the original purchase price, based on the percentage of unexpired Coverage Period, less (a) a cancellation fee of twenty-five ($25 USD) dollars or ten percent (10%) of the pro-rata amount, whichever is less, and (b) the value of any service provided to you under the Plan. Unless applicable local law provides otherwise, Apple may cancel this Plan if service parts for the Covered Equipment become unavailable, upon thirty (30) daysʼ prior written notice. If Apple cancels this Plan, you will receive a pro-rata refund for the Planʼs unexpired term."

So... unless the Ts&Cs have changed, the OP has some investigating to do, or some explaining.
 
sjinsjca said:
Let's go directly to the fine print (for North America at least):

http://www.apple.com/legal/applecare/appgeos.html

"If you cancel more than thirty (30) days after your receipt of this Plan, you will receive a pro rata refund of the original purchase price, based on the percentage of unexpired Coverage Period, less (a) a cancellation fee of twenty-five ($25 USD) dollars or ten percent (10%) of the pro-rata amount, whichever is less, and (b) the value of any service provided to you under the Plan. Unless applicable local law provides otherwise, Apple may cancel this Plan if service parts for the Covered Equipment become unavailable, upon thirty (30) daysʼ prior written notice. If Apple cancels this Plan, you will receive a pro-rata refund for the Planʼs unexpired term."

So... unless the Ts&Cs have changed, the OP has some investigating to do, or some explaining.
Click to expand...

I guess what I meant to say was 'from what I understand from this thread' :-\
 
Identity Fraud said:
I guess what I meant to say was 'from what I understand from this thread' :-\
Click to expand...


Heh. Seems the thread is wrong, or OP is wrong, or a mistake was made, or OP is in some jurisdiction other than North America and different Ts&Cs apply, or the story is incomplete (an example would be if OP neglected to mention a previous repair, the value of which would be deducted from a refund).

The one thing that is very certain the notion of an "underhanded" AppleCare is clearly unjustified. The charge that a full year of coverage is thrown away if you cancel is bogus.
 
Garrus said:
I suppose he still have a 1 year apple care plan...
He paid for it...
Click to expand...

Sigh. Read the whole thread. OP was flat wrong, or hiding something, or a mistake was made that can be corrected. AppleCare has no such policy.
 
HLdan said:
OP, you should've have at least had Apple inspect your computer before canceling the Applecare. You didn't do yourself any favors by jumping to conclusions and canceling. All you had to do was simply explain to them upfront that you spilled a small amount of water on it and ask them to inspect the computer to see if your warranty is still valid? Either way you could still get a refund but if your warranty was still intact then you could just move on but since you jumped the gun and canceled without confirmation you screwed yourself and now you've lost money on your Applecare refund.
Click to expand...

I did make a genius appointment but the guy who I talked to just tried to convince me not to worry about it until something on the laptop broke and needed to be fixed. He wouldn't check it over and tell me if the coverage was void or not.

Either way, I wouldn't have wanted the applecare anyway. I love the 13" MBP but the screen res is a bit too small and I hate the glossy screen. Looking to upgrade to the 15" matte high-res at some point, I don't plan to hold on to this machine long enough to need it...
 
sjinsjca said:
Meanwhile I'm a bit confused about what wasn't refunded. You paid for two years' coverage. Are you saying that, less than a year into the extended coverage, you received less than a 50% refund?
Click to expand...

Applecare purchased (May 10, 2010) - $200.
Applecare cancelled (Jul 1, 2010)
Refund received: $109.00

I bought a warranty to cover my computer for two years. I asked for the refund less than two months later, and got about half back. (2/24)*200 = $16. The refund should have been for more IMO.
 
sjinsjca said:
The one thing that is very certain the notion of an "underhanded" AppleCare is clearly unjustified. The charge that a full year of coverage is thrown away if you cancel is bogus.
Click to expand...

You didn't read what I said. I said that I bought my applecare after having the machine for about a year (11 months to be precise), and as a result, when I asked for a refund apple claimed that I had "used up" a year of the warranty even though I had just bought it less than two months prior.
 
moral-hazard said:
You didn't read what I said. I said that I bought my applecare after having the machine for about a year (11 months to be precise), and as a result, when I asked for a refund apple claimed that I had "used up" a year of the warranty even though I had just bought it less than two months prior.
Click to expand...

The problem is, that doesn't square with the cut-and-paste from the AppleCare Ts & Cs that I posted a few posts ago. Do you have any sort of detailed breakdown or explanation for the $91? Offhand I would have expected:

$25 cancellation fee
$100 * 2/12 = $17 pro-rated
________________
$42

...So something's odd. Are you outside the U.S.? (Policies might differ there.) Had you had any repairs done in the 2 months?

At a minimum AppleCare needs to provide you with a written breakdown, as otherwise this just doesn't make sense.
 
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