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Bummed about iPad breakeage

T

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
Let me start with the fact that this is a rant...and I know many will flame me because they have never dropped an iPad.

We have a bunch of iPads in our house. Until Christmas...they all had Apple care plus and we had hardly ever used it. I think we have owned like 20 iPads in our house hold since they came out. We have always traded them at the end of the warranty to avoid being out of warranty for damage reasons. Well, I decided this cycle...that my air, DH's air and our three iPad minis with Retina display were perfectly fine performance wise and we didn't need to get new ones for Christmas. Figured it would be financially sound to wait until next year.

Well, somehow I didn't make the connection that our warranty would be over until the 26th of December. Somehow we also made it through the two years with almost no damaged iPads. Of course in December my son dropped my iPad...one he never gets to use and he broke it. Apple was super nice and let me pay the in warranty price bc they all know me at the Apple Store (yes that's embarrassing). Now today, my other son dropped his while trying to carrying everything in from the car. I already lectured him about making two trips...not rushing when you have your device etc and he will earn the repair on it. I just feel like our iPads are not going to last until Christmas at this rate and can't fathom paying $199 for a replacement from Apple for an iPad mini 2. I was trying me best not to spend to always have the latest and greatest.

What to do? I actually bought my youngest a kid kindle and am saving his iPad for using with his dash and dot and Osmo kit. But the other three iPads? Ugh. I can't think of anything good to do about our situation. I should have gotten square trade and their three year warranty instead. Anyone else have a brilliant idea for me??
 
Sorry to hear about the accidents. I can understand about trying to save money especially with young children. I don't have any solution other than maybe trying to find a used IPad Mini 2 if you don't want to pay the 199.00 replacement fee. A brand new purchased Mini 2 retails for 269.00 and a new Mini 4 retails at 399.00. (All 16 gb/wifi)

If you do decide to replace the kids iPads I would suggest the Otterbox defender series case for them, I can tell you that this case has saved my grandsons iPad more than once. We got him a new iPad Air 2 for Christmas and I put it in a Otterbox Defender, just as his earlier mini was.

I don't think you could have done much more than the AppleCare+ and you did have the IPads for a couple years, try not to beat yourself up about it, you did what was right for your family at the time and accidents happen. Wish I could have been more help!
 
Yea what about a life proof case? (If they make those for iPads?). It might not look the most attractive thing ever, but at least it would work!
 
Inexpensive cases for kids:
http://www.gumdropcases.com/collections/foamtech

Cases for Adults:
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MGTT2ZM/A/ipad-air-2-smart-case-midnight-blue

Don't get apple care+. Here's the math, adding 25% to the cost of the device, after 4 devices, you can just purchase a new one if one breaks. If your breakage rate is higher than 25% then you are seriously doing something wrong. I ran a survey of 5000 iPads and the breakage rate the first year was < 0.5%, second year ~2%

Save your money, get a good case.

PS. For completeness: Kindle breakage results was 100% at 2 years. Needless to say, we do not have any of these in the house, although I think they are awesome.
 
If you have an iPad designated for mobile usage more than the others and/or it's designated for being used with children, I'll second the recommendation for the Otterbox Defender series cases. The LifeProof cases look good, too, but I've never used them.

I've dropped by iPad mini once. It was a long shift, I was tired, I was juggling my iPad with my stylus and papers, and it just sort of slipped out of my hand. It felt like something in slow motion, watching it drop to the hard hospital floor, and it landed face down (although I think it technically hit one edge and bounced slightly before landing face down). I worried that I'd shattered the screen, but the entire thing was unscathed and functions fine. Obviously it's better to avoid dropping it in the first place, but these cases are very much worth it. They may be more expensive than others and add more bulk and weight, but it provides peace of mind, and then some, because they perform as advertised.

(For what it's worth, I use the Otterbox Defender cases with work iPads, but not with iPads that stay at home and only travel rarely.)
 
Get the OtterBox case if you're not covered by any plans.

A case is cheap and it's just common sense.
 
I tell my kids when I give hand them an idevice (in a case): This is your I(pad/pod/phone) there are many like it, but this one is yours. You will, upon request, return the device to me in mint condition or pay the original purchase price to me in Nagging and or Cash. Now they treat them like the expensive devices they are...
 
wlossw said:
I tell my kids when I give hand them an idevice (in a case): This is your I(pad/pod/phone) there are many like it, but this one is yours. You will, upon request, return the device to me in mint condition or pay the original purchase price to me in Nagging and or Cash. Now they treat them like the expensive devices they are...
Click to expand...

Did the same with my kids. Works wonders on them caring for something rather than not because they feel entitled without consequences.
 
wlossw said:
I tell my kids when I give hand them an idevice (in a case): This is your I(pad/pod/phone) there are many like it, but this one is yours. You will, upon request, return the device to me in mint condition or pay the original purchase price to me in Nagging and or Cash. Now they treat them like the expensive devices they are...
Click to expand...

All well and good. But put it in a case anyway.
 
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wlossw said:
I tell my kids when I give hand them an idevice (in a case): This is your I(pad/pod/phone) there are many like it, but this one is yours. You will, upon request, return the device to me in mint condition or pay the original purchase price to me in Nagging and or Cash. Now they treat them like the expensive devices they are...
Click to expand...

LoL. I can't remember quite how my mother did it. Actually, I think it started with my own special tea cup when I was about six or seven. Took me to the potters and let me pick one out. Had tea every morning in my own tea cup. It feels very special. By the time I was getting electronic gadgets, I knew expensive items should be treated with care.
 
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square trade is still selling $0 deductible warranty plans for ipads. but there's that coverage limit deal. my plan has a max coverage amount of $999. so that means each $379 of ipad air 2 repair is deducted from the $999. meaning i only get 2.63 repairs. someone at square trade said they would still do repairs, under a 'make a customer whole ' policy. but thats the first time i heard of it

square trade iPhones has a policy , and this actually happened to me personally. and they don't charge deductibles for screen replacements on the iPhone.

i dropped my iPhone 6s+ at the dog park. the screen cracked. i turned in a claim on square trade. i selected the $0 deductible option for a genius bar repair. i went to the genius bar and paid $149 plus tax and the very next day
i had the total of 149 plus tax deposited in my paypal account


it is very important to get square trade or apple care or some kind of warranty for iPads, i feel, and that is my opinion because with the ipad you do not have a discounted screen repair option . if you break the screen or if you run it over with a car, or if you drop it in water, it is exactly the same price.

with an iPhone is you break the screen its either 109, 129 or 149. and if you drop it in water or run it over in your car its 269 to 329 or more

so i don't feel its fair to compare reasons to refuse ipad apple care because of iPhone apple care
[doublepost=1452536065][/doublepost]one of my favorite arguments for telling people to get apple care is that if you pay the $99 or whatever NOW, when it comes to the expiration date of your applecare, your probably going to have 600 cycles on your lithium battery, and its probably going to be near the time where apple owes you a new battery, and you will at least have a good chance getting a free battery replacement even if you never had an actual claim
 
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