Buying Applecare

[wilfried]

After much hemming and hawing, I've decided to buy Applecare for my 24" aluminum iMac, and I have a month before the deadline. I'm trying to figure out the cheapest place to buy it, and was wondering if folks have experience with the following:

EBay:

I found someone who will sell it for $105 . Rather than mail the box, he emails the registration code. It sounds like a too-good-to-be-true scam, but he has a rating over 99% positive for a few thousand sales. Does this sound legit? Has anyone tried this before? See here: http://tinyurl.com/4ngdcl

I've also found a seller selling it sealed in box for $130, also with an excellent rating for a few hundred sales.

I understand that the Applecare box comes with a disk with some kind of diagnostic software? Is it useful? Should I go with the box to get the disk?

So what's the consensus on eBay for Applecare?

LA Computer Company:

Someone mentioned them, and they sell Applecare for $120. Does anyone have experience with them? There's not much about them on the web at the usual e-commerce rating sites, and I couldn't do an effective search for them in these forums. What's the verdict on them?

Thanks all for your input.

 

[techound1]

To set up apple care, all you need is the number. A lot of ebay resellers buy damaged boxes from apple authorized resellers (who can't sell the mushed box) at a greatly reduced price. With the code and a registered product, you can download the tech tool disk image. The applecare support site has instructions on how to turn that into a bootable disk if you're not sure how.

 

[UTclassof89]

I would never buy AppleCare. Use a gold or platinum credit card to buy the Mac, which doubles the manufacturer's warranty for free (from one to two years). Apple Care is not worth the one extra year.

 

[portent]

I would never buy AppleCare. Use a gold or platinum credit card to buy the Mac, which doubles the manufacturer's warranty for free (from one to two years). Apple Care is not worth the one extra year.

Depending on your credit card, it may add to AppleCare.

With AmEx, for example, if you buy a manufacturer's extended warranty, your "purchase protection" is added on to the total. So you get 1yr standard, 2yrs AppleCare, and 1yr AmEx, for a total of four years. (Most credit card extensions are for double the warranty or one year, whichever is less.)

 

[Chris Rogers]

oops, DELETE

 

[JNB]

I would never buy AppleCare. Use a gold or platinum credit card to buy the Mac, which doubles the manufacturer's warranty for free (from one to two years). Apple Care is not worth the one extra year.

True, but will your credit card company also offer free telephone support for three years? Or repair/replace it in-store?

CC warranty add-ons have their advantages, to be sure (accidental damage is the big one), but they are decidedly not a replacement for APP.

 

[UTclassof89]

True, but will your credit card company also offer free telephone support for three years? Or repair/replace it in-store?
.

I've never in my 15 years of owning Macs needed telephone support beyond the 90 days you get for free. And the one time my power supply burnt up (1 year and five days after the purchase--out of Apple's warranty, but within Visa's) I had it repaired and showed the invoice to Visa, who immediately cut me a check.

In my experience AppleCare is a complete waste of money.

 

[JNB]

I've never in my 15 years of owning Macs needed telephone support beyond the 90 days you get for free. And the one time my power supply burnt up (1 year and five days after the purchase--out of Apple's warranty, but within Visa's) I had it repaired and showed the invoice to Visa, who immediately cut me a check.

In my experience AppleCare is a complete waste of money.

OK, fine, but you didn't answer the question. Maybe you consider it not necessary for your situation, but that doesn't mean it is valueless.

In my 24 years of owning Macs, I've gotten APP three times. Once for my iMac G5 (replaced PS at month 35--out of a CC warranty extension, but within APP), once for my MacBook (because it's on the road with me 40 weeks a year, and I'll take all the protection--beyond someone "cutting me a check"--I can get, and once for my iPhone, which was just replaced--under APP--for a dodgy dock connector, in-store, on the spot, no money involved, and once again, no paperwork or checks.

So in my experience, I have rarely needed it, but when I did, a CC extension would have been of little value (or none).

 

[UTclassof89]

don't get offended, dude; I'm just sharing my experience/opinion to the person asking about AppleCare.
(and FYI, if your laptop is in an accident with you on the road, your car insurance covers it; and your "dodgy dock connector" on your iphone was covered under the regular Apple warranty and Apple would have replaced it on the spot even without AppleCare --unless you waited over a year to bring it to their attention {and then the CC warranty would have covered it!}.).

So with the three AppleCares you bought (what's that? $1000?) you saved a 35month-old iMac.

As I said, I just don't see the value in that.

 

[JNB]

don't get offended, dude; I'm just sharing my experience/opinion to the person asking about AppleCare.
(and FYI, if your laptop is in an accident with you on the road, your car insurance covers it; and your "dodgy dock connector" on your iphone was covered under the regular Apple warranty and Apple would have replaced it on the spot even without AppleCare --unless you waited over a year to bring it to their attention {and then the CC warranty would have covered it!}.).

So with the three AppleCares you bought (what's that? $1000?) you saved a 35month-old iMac.

As I said, I just don't see the value in that.

Offended? Hardly, just prefer to keep comparisons accurate. The cost for three APP's was WAY under $1000, in point of fact, it was under $500 for all three. I don't know where you got a grand from. The iPhone was out of standard warranty, as it was a Day 1 iPhone, and the iMac wouldn't have been covered by CC extensions as it was three years old, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying new or repairing the old one (which btw is performing wonderfully still, save the single problem). As far as the MB, there's a lot more that can happen than being damaged in a car. Simple component failure, for one. I need to be able to pop into an Apple Store and get it repaired or replaced far faster than dealing with anything else.

Oddly, for desktop machines, the iMac was the first (and only) I've ever purchased APP for. Why I did, I don't even recall, must've been a smokin' deal or something, because I generally don't get or recommend APP for iMacs and Mac Pros as a default.

One thing also with the CC extensions, you have to pay up front and get reimbursed. Fine for some, not for others, and there's no absolute guarantee that they won't find something "wrong" with the claim and deny it. That's more likely than Apple telling me that something isn't covered within the realm of failure. Accidental damage is another story, but that doesn't matter, as nobody will "front" me a new MB, regardless of how it's covered.

Actually, this is a good discussion, because there's little direct comparison between CC extensions, APP, and store warranties. Well, except that the store warranties are generally a serious bend-over.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Offended? Hardly, just prefer to keep comparisons accurate. The cost for three APP's was WAY under $1000, in point of fact, it was under $500 for all three. I don't know where you got a grand from. The iPhone was out of standard warranty, as it was a Day 1 iPhone, and the iMac wouldn't have been covered by CC extensions as it was three years old, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying new or repairing the old one (which btw is performing wonderfully still, save the single problem). As far as the MB, there's a lot more that can happen than being damaged in a car. Simple component failure, for one. I need to be able to pop into an Apple Store and get it repaired or replaced far faster than dealing with anything else.

Oddly, for desktop machines, the iMac was the first (and only) I've ever purchased APP for. Why I did, I don't even recall, must've been a smokin' deal or something, because I generally don't get or recommend APP for iMacs and Mac Pros as a default.

One thing also with the CC extensions, you have to pay up front and get reimbursed. Fine for some, not for others, and there's no absolute guarantee that they won't find something "wrong" with the claim and deny it. That's more likely than Apple telling me that something isn't covered within the realm of failure. Accidental damage is another story, but that doesn't matter, as nobody will "front" me a new MB, regardless of how it's covered.

Actually, this is a good discussion, because there's little direct comparison between CC extensions, APP, and store warranties. Well, except that the store warranties are generally a serious bend-over.

I agree. One of the reasons I switched to Apple computers earlier this year was the fact that Apple honoured their warranties (two iPods had died within warranty and both were replaced without any difficulty, or seeking refuge in contractual small print); thus, I prefer the peace of mind of knowing that my MBp - quite an expensive computer - is covered now by Applecare. I have had friens whose computers died (not Apple, I'll grant) shortly after the expiry of the standard one year warranty - and had nowhere to turn. It gives me legal guarantees for three years - and I therefore tend to view it as a saving, not a cost.
Cheers

 

[themanfromvlad]

I would suggest everyone do what I do, which is create your own extended warranty plan. Everytime I buy anything and I get offered an extended warranty, I take the exact amount it would have cost and transfer it a high-interest savings account. Since starting this in January 2007, I now have just under $700 in that account. If I ever need to repair or replace, I'll just dip into that account. But so far (knock on wood) I haven't had to touch it, it just accumulates interest.

Also, I always buy all my gadgets on my credit cards that offer extended warranties for free.

 

[VoR]

I think any extended warranty is a rip off, do what that guy just said.

 

[Palliser]

After much hemming and hawing, I've decided to buy Applecare for my 24" aluminum iMac, and I have a month before the deadline. I'm trying to figure out the cheapest place to buy it, and was wondering if folks have experience with the following:

EBay:

I found someone who will sell it for $105 . Rather than mail the box, he emails the registration code. It sounds like a too-good-to-be-true scam, but he has a rating over 99% positive for a few thousand sales. Does this sound legit? Has anyone tried this before? See here: http://tinyurl.com/4ngdcl

I've also found a seller selling it sealed in box for $130, also with an excellent rating for a few hundred sales.

I understand that the Applecare box comes with a disk with some kind of diagnostic software? Is it useful? Should I go with the box to get the disk?

So what's the consensus on eBay for Applecare?

LA Computer Company:

Someone mentioned them, and they sell Applecare for $120. Does anyone have experience with them? There's not much about them on the web at the usual e-commerce rating sites, and I couldn't do an effective search for them in these forums. What's the verdict on them?

Thanks all for your input.

I bought my Macbook Applecare on eBay for around $150ish with shipping... thought it was a great deal... its $249 plus tax at the Apple store.

As far as warranties being useless... this isn't a toaster or blender u are buying a warranty for, but a computer with expensive moving parts. I hope I don't need to use it, but it was worth $150 for piece of mind, and if I need it, I'm covered. Just my two cents.

 

[highjumppudding]

education discount. probably the best you can get. if you can buy from the store because then you'll have it in your hands instead of waiting for it to ship to you (being under 1 month until termination of complimentary applecare).