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Best Buy Servuce Plan Vs Apple Care

Communism

Communism

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 24, 2008
27
0
Michigan
im sure there's a thread like this somewhere, i went 5 pages deep and couldnt find one so i got lazy and decided to post it...

i'm getting a new MBP next week when i get my grant from school, im getting the 2.53/4gb/512mb one, the new unibody. and i have a friend who is a supervisor at the best buy near me and said he'd match my student discount price, so thats not a big deal... but my question...

should i get apple care or the best buy service plan?

i know the best buy one is a little more expensive, but they cover damage and spills and that stuff

apple care from what i understand is just your basic parts and labor coverage, correct?

i have to have some sort of extended service on my laptop, only because i dont have another 2700+ to drop on a new one if something goes wrong.

please help me =(
 
codyst said:
You answered your own question.
Click to expand...

how? im asking which one would be better, i just need extended service of some sort

whether it's apple care or the best buy service plan, i just need one =(

i figured you guys would be the best place to ask

i had apple care on my old powerbook but never had any problems so i never used it, so im not sure what it even covers =/

i guess im asking what each one covers too =)
 
before anyone asks, yes i work for best buy, and no this isn't an advert for them, but think of it this way...

with bby plan, if you drop it, spill something on it or anything happens to it and is deemed replaceable, you will get the newest version of the macbook. if something happens to it in the first year and gets replaced, then you keep the coverage.

whereas with apple, they have a near infinite amount of refurbed parts they'll throw in for ya. not to mention no accidental damage.

although,
I went with the applecare plan when I bought my first powerbook 6 years ago and was very pleased with the service, especially that I could call and talk to whomever.
 
I bought a MBP from Best Buy about 3 months ago & I got the accidental warranty for 3 years for I think it was $399 or 4 something. I figure its worth it because I'm pretty clumsy.
 
Andronicus said:
I bought a MBP from Best Buy about 3 months ago & I got the accidental warranty for 3 years for I think it was $399 or 4 something. I figure its worth it because I'm pretty clumsy.
Click to expand...

Sounds worth it for a MBP, even at $400. I'd have to read the fine print myself, though. Never trust those things personally. I did buy one from BB once on a Panasonic portable CD player years ago. The thing wouldn't die. Even fell in a pool once and still worked.
 
I'll never buy another computer with the Best Buy plan... This is an isolated incident and it was with with a PC notebook... But I had an issue with the screen and brought it into Best Buy where they proceeded to drop my notebook while they had it running which ruined my hard drive. They were only able to recover a small amount. Now, I had already paid extra for them to remove everything from the hard drive because they said that when they send it back to the manufacturer they wipe the hard drive clean. Fair enough and I didn't back up anything - this was about 4 years ago (learned my lesson)... But I actually had to fight for my money back from the hard drive back up... They said they had backed up what they could and that is what they were required to do... What a nightmare! Because of their lack of customer service, I refuse to buy a computer from Best Buy ever again. I used to work in retail and yep, one incident can ruin a customer from the store forever no matter how many good things happen. I'm still a customer...just not for a computer.
 
Last time I had a laptop repaired under a BestBuy service plan, it took 4 weeks to get it back. Talk about horrible service.

Compare that with maybe 5 days tops with AppleCare. Sometimes I even got back my Macbook in TWO days.

AppleCare may cover a little bit less, but you almost always get the laptop back as soon as they receive it. At BestBuy, who knows where your laptop is for 3 weeks.
 
craigsharp said:
with bby plan, if you drop it, spill something on it or anything happens to it and is deemed replaceable, you will get the newest version of the macbook. if something happens to it in the first year and gets replaced, then you keep the coverage.
Click to expand...



wow... so you're those idiots who worked on the floor who made CSRs life a living hell...

NO BestBuy Service plans DO NOT replace your system because you drop it, spill it, or whatever. It CLEARLY states in the policy of no accidental damage as well as liquid damage.

Additionally, replacement is only granted if you have the SAME problem more than 3 times. No, they will NOT replace your system because the user is an idiot.

If you work at BestBuy learn the difference between SERVICE plans versus REPLACEMENT plans. They are totally different.

Another HUGE problem with BestBuy is that they have NO IDEA what the hell their doing in store. Almost all computers are shipped out to depot. VERY basic diagnostics can be done in store, however keep in mind those guys are just trying to sell you service the whole time, so what ends up happening are those idiots in the black ties ship it to depot for a problem, depot says there isnt a problem with that thing, they ship it back, customer gets it back and says WTF problem persists and again they do it again and again.

Just go with AppleCare. You get 3 years of coverage and technicians at the store actually know what their doing. They are ACTUALLY TRAINED TECHNICIANS. Turn around times are usually less than a week if you do it at an apple store as long as it doesnt get sent out to depots.
 
AppleCare for the win, telephone support for 3 years, you can take it to any Apple store anytime anywhere (WORLD WIDE)

:apple:
 
if you go applecare, keep in mind that you still need to be cautious and take care of your computer like you just spent 2700 dollars on it ;-) No accidentals here. They will only help with defects and problems you didn't cause-which is ok.

It's nice just to be able to take computer to any apple store with an appointment, and have them take a look at something and overnight ship the part to replace it. However, I've never had a laptop more than one year anyway, so I've never purchased Apple Care or any warranty
 
Another vote for apple care---the times my ibook broke they mailed me a box overnight, picked it up from me, had it back to me in a couple of days! If the best buy plan does cover you dropping it, spilling on it, etc... Then I think what makes the most sense is buy AppleCare (for normal issues) and also the best buy plan for when you do something stupid. $650 seems a lot for a laptop but if you know you will mess it up you might as well put the money down
 
BB will only replace your laptop based on specs. So they won't take into account the sleekness or thinness of the laptop. Heck, they would probably only give you $5-600 for a comparable windows laptop if anything happens unfixable to your macbook. Get the applecare, customer service is better.
 
Actually, I would not pay for AppleCare until closer to your one year free warranty is up. That way you can decide if you want to put in the money at that time. You just want to take care of it as much as possible
 
Classic example of search feature... here are some other threads, you could post on them/PM and see if the respective OP's made the right decision in their opinions.

Thread Numero Uno
Thread Number Two
Thread Numero Tres
Thread Number 4
Thread Number V

I always recommend at least Apple Care. If for some reason you wanted Best Buy I would get both because Best Buy is a little less intelligent in terms of declaring computer's "lemons"; however, they have been known to be slower, less professional and less accurate at dealing with non-tragic problems.
 
obviously you havent seen a best buy service contract in about 3 years. If you choose to buy the Accidental Damage and Handling it does in fact cover spills and drops. Right now, we have our macbooks priced at 1199 for a new aluminum, with the protection plan that covers accidents starting at 299 for 2 years, 349 for 3 years. As far as replacing it, we will replace it if it is not fixable, i.e. 2 years from now, if the logic board fails and they can't fix it, they'll replace it. Oh and until apple sales there OS to other manufacturers, you'll continue to get a new macbook.
 
AppleCare. One of the main reasons I switched to Apple Mac was the excellent customer care I had already experienced when two iPods (both still within warranty) died and were replaced without a problem.

Cheers and good luck
 
BOO BestBuy. They take FOREVER on any repairs. Literally... it is not uncommon for someone to wait TWO months on a simple repair.

First, they expect you to send it in yourself under the first year warranty. After that, they send it to their own shops to try to fix things themselves... but they don't know how usually, so they damage it when they fix it and break other things. After months, you will get your computer back, and still have the same problem along with other issues... and they won't do a thing to compensate you.
 
craigsharp said:
obviously you havent seen a best buy service contract in about 3 years. If you choose to buy the Accidental Damage and Handling it does in fact cover spills and drops. Right now, we have our macbooks priced at 1199 for a new aluminum, with the protection plan that covers accidents starting at 299 for 2 years, 349 for 3 years. As far as replacing it, we will replace it if it is not fixable, i.e. 2 years from now, if the logic board fails and they can't fix it, they'll replace it. Oh and until apple sales there OS to other manufacturers, you'll continue to get a new macbook.
Click to expand...

Yes. Listen to the guy who works at Best Buy! lol

Go with AppleCare
 
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