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Best Buy Insurance vs AppleCare?

R

ryansusername

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 18, 2011
6
0
Hello,

I am about to purchase my first Macbook Pro, and I am weighing the options of getting standard AppleCare or buying through Best Buy to get their insurance plan (which includes accidental).

Does anyone have any experience with the Best Buy insurance? Any info or tips would be very helpful.

Thanks!
 
ryansusername said:
Hello,

I am about to purchase my first Macbook Pro, and I am weighing the options of getting standard AppleCare or buying through Best Buy to get their insurance plan (which includes accidental).

Does anyone have any experience with the Best Buy insurance? Any info or tips would be very helpful.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would avoid the BB plan, most of the time it is a total rip off and they will hassle you if you have problems. I had it once and will never give them an extra dime again.

Apple Care, on the other hand, is a warranty extension. I would highly recommend it.
 
get the best buy insurance for a laptop

I have the best buy insurance on two laptops and my TV. the tv has had problems 2x and they have replaced it twice - no questions asked.

Apple warranty doesn't cover doing dumb things to your laptop - like spilling wine on it or dropping it. It is for manufacturer defects and other things that happen during the normal course of operation. The Best Buy insurance will cover dumb.

if you have an imac or tower the likelihood of dropping it or spilling on it goes way down so i would get the normal applecare on that.
 
Black tie protection is probably pricier than apple care, but you're much more likely to drop or spill something on your laptop than have something be defective. My 4 year old MacBook has had no problems what so ever. So if you are clumsy or around kids or college students :eek: get the bb plan
 
Eff BB, just don't spill anything on or destroy your computer. I used to work at one and always joked with the supervisor about how ****** the black tie plans were
 
Thanks for all the comments. From reading these posts and other threads, it seems up to a sense of preference.

I would prefer to steer-clear of Best Buy, but I am planning on buying through Best Buy anyways (have a few gift cards saved up). I do feel almost "dirty" having to buy through Best Buy, but I can't ignore those gift cards.

I have read various "horror stories" about Best Buy, and they (BB/Geek Squad/Etc) are terribly annoying in general. But I do find that I have really bad luck with electronics, so any accidental protection would be nice. I guess if I get the BB, I'll have standard one-year of AppleCare with an additional one-year of accidental BB. Hmm...

On a slighty different note, does anyone know when Best Buy would get a hypothetical 'updated' MBP vs when the Apple Store would have it?

Thanks again.
 
I think the Best Buy warranty is awesome.

I used the warranty on two of my past laptops and I never had an issue. My first laptop the screen stopped functioning and it was repaired, later the hard drive crashed and that was replaced with no issues. The warranty was FAR less than the cost of the repairs.

My second laptop I dropped and cracked the screen and broke the bezel and scratched the heck out of the top of the case. It was returned to me just like new.

I have the warranty on my current MBP, but haven't had to use it yet.

I never had a single issue with the warranty and the service was pretty quick as well. When my dishwasher stopped draining there was someone in my house two days later and it was fixed. The damn repair for it was 2x what the warranty cost me. When my piece of garbage microwave stopped working, I got a gift card for what I paid for it.

Honestly, when people tell me they have issues with the best buy warranty it makes me wonder. I've used it five times in total and never had a problem and the people were always nice too.



wpotere said:
I would avoid the BB plan, most of the time it is a total rip off and they will hassle you if you have problems. I had it once and will never give them an extra dime again.
Click to expand...

Riiiiiight. :rolleyes:

See my experiences above.
 
I'm really happy that you had a great response. Although I am a bit mystified at the amount of purchases that you have made and then number of failures you have had? Do you work for BB?

The one item that I have had issues with (printer with a bad buffer) was met with a 3 hour argument on getting a replacement. They stonewalled me at every turn and I never ended up getting a replacement from them. So, I don't recommend them as it is complete and utter crap. I have also had numerous friends that have had problems and one of my friends was a sales rep at BB and told me it was utter garbage designed to take peoples money.

Sorry, not buying your garbage on this one, especially with all the failures and successful repairs you have had.:rolleyes:
 
NightFlight said:
I think the Best Buy warranty is awesome.

I used the warranty on two of my past laptops and I never had an issue. My first laptop the screen stopped functioning and it was repaired, later the hard drive crashed and that was replaced with no issues. The warranty was FAR less than the cost of the repairs.

My second laptop I dropped and cracked the screen and broke the bezel and scratched the heck out of the top of the case. It was returned to me just like new.

I have the warranty on my current MBP, but haven't had to use it yet.

I never had a single issue with the warranty and the service was pretty quick as well. When my dishwasher stopped draining there was someone in my house two days later and it was fixed. The damn repair for it was 2x what the warranty cost me. When my piece of garbage microwave stopped working, I got a gift card for what I paid for it.

Honestly, when people tell me they have issues with the best buy warranty it makes me wonder. I've used it five times in total and never had a problem and the people were always nice too.





Riiiiiight. :rolleyes:

See my experiences above.
Click to expand...

Best Buy Insurance is the worst ... IMO it is on the verge of being a scam
 
My wife has had a couple of laptops from Best Buy with their warranty. The bad part is that they kept the laptop for a long time (weeks) whenever there was warranty work needed, sometimes it came back not fixed, and the hard drive typically came back formatted, even if the drive had absolutely nothing to do with the issue. The good news is that they did generally honor the warranty, but dealing with them was a royal pita - the people at the store were rude, etc.

Her last laptop they finally couldn't repair, and they gave her store credit for a new one which is how she ended up with her Macbook. We bought Applecare for that one, and it has been great. Phone support is friendly and professional, when repairs are needed, they send you a shipping container with a pre-printed shipping label (even a piece of tape to close the box!), and the computer is generally gone less than 3 days total. One time I called at 10pm on a Sunday night reporting an issue with the power brick. I kid you not, we had a new one at our door at 9am the next morning. I have no idea how they pulled that off, but we'll definitely buy Applecare again!
 
It is, of course, entirely possible for you to buy the computer at Best Buy if that happens to suit you and then purchase Applecare anyway rather than the Best Buy insurance. It lasts longer than the Best Buy insurance. My own experience with Applecare has been great, and I always buy it.

The longest they have had anything of mine for repair is overnight, and on a couple of occasions they did repairs while I waited. The only drawback is that the nearest Apple store is 60 miles from where I live. I've always found their phone help to be great as well.
 
I'm always buy the apple care with my Mac computers. I generally don't do business with Best Buy, so I cannot offer an opinion regarding their warranty. I would also check with your insurance agent. I ensure my cameras against damage and theft and its pretty reasonable. I can't recall the exact name of the coverage, but it was $30 for a $1,200 camera. And it covers theft, loss, me breaking or damaging it, etc. I don't think the insurance coverage covers manufacture's defects, but damage from events. Also the insurance company pays in cash, not another product.

Good luck
 
wpotere said:
I'm really happy that you had a great response. Although I am a bit mystified at the amount of purchases that you have made and then number of failures you have had? Do you work for BB?
Click to expand...

I have absolutely NO affiliation with Best Buy in any way, shape, or form. There is, however, a BBY store that is less than two minutes from my house so it is just the most convienent place to shop if I am not purchasing something online.

I've had bad luck with laptops, but I've never had a problem with the warranty that they offer. I've have first hand experience with the program and never had a problem, no idea why you all have had problems.


Apple OC said:
Best Buy Insurance is the worst ... IMO it is on the verge of being a scam
Click to expand...

How?

It worked for me, multiple times with no problem.

mike457 said:
It is, of course, entirely possible for you to buy the computer at Best Buy if that happens to suit you and then purchase Applecare anyway rather than the Best Buy insurance. It lasts longer than the Best Buy insurance. My own experience with Applecare has been great, and I always buy it.

The longest they have had anything of mine for repair is overnight, and on a couple of occasions they did repairs while I waited. The only drawback is that the nearest Apple store is 60 miles from where I live. I've always found their phone help to be great as well.
Click to expand...

The Best Buy warranty covers accidents, AppleCare does not. You spill something on your computer or drop it and AppleCare won't do anything for you.

How does it last longer??? Best Buy also offers three years.


obey908 said:
Get the best buy warranty. When the plan is almost finished, smash the laptop into the ground. Then you get the brand new model.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good luck with that. :rolleyes:

You do realize that is essentially insurance fraud and illegal, right?
 
Best Buy Insurance

So I ordered my new MBP from MacMall.com and was just curious if anyone knows if I can go buy a protection plan for it through BestBuy eventhough I didn't purchase the actual MBP from BestBuy?
 
bfilion05 said:
So I ordered my new MBP from MacMall.com and was just curious if anyone knows if I can go buy a protection plan for it through BestBuy eventhough I didn't purchase the actual MBP from BestBuy?
Click to expand...

Nope, you have to purchase it from Best Buy
 
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