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Visa Warranty on 2011 MacBook Air

G

getEstimates

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 28, 2013
10
0
I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience with the extended warranty through a credit card.

My 2011 MacBook Air's 128GB SSD failed. I was outside of the 1 year AppleCare warranty, but was within coverage of my Visa Extended Warranty.

My claim to Visa was for about $850, which was the quote that the Apple Store provided for a new 128GB SSD and labor (ridiculously high IMO). Anyways, the claim was approved by Visa, and now I have two options: (1) get re-imbused ~$850 after providing a receipt from Apple that I did pay ~$850 to get a new 128GB SSD in there, or (2) get a ~$850 repair estimate buyout in the form of a credit to my original card.

Ideally, I would take the ~$850 credit and repair the drive myself for a couple hundred dollars. The problem, however, is that they *might* want the item (not sure if they want just the SSD or entire MacBook Air) back if I take the credit.

My question I pose to you all is, any experience with credit card warranty programs? Have you had to send in your broken MacBook, iPod, etc. to the warranty company after opting for the credit instead of having it repaired by Apple (or original manufacturer, 3rd party, etc.)?

Thanks for your time!
 
getEstimates said:
I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience with the extended warranty through a credit card.

My 2011 MacBook Air's 128GB SSD failed. I was outside of the 1 year AppleCare warranty, but was within coverage of my Visa Extended Warranty.

My claim to Visa was for about $850, which was the quote that the Apple Store provided for a new 128GB SSD and labor (ridiculously high IMO). Anyways, the claim was approved by Visa, and now I have two options: (1) get re-imbused ~$850 after providing a receipt from Apple that I did pay ~$850 to get a new 128GB SSD in there, or (2) get a ~$850 repair estimate buyout in the form of a credit to my original card.

Ideally, I would take the ~$850 credit and repair the drive myself for a couple hundred dollars. The problem, however, is that they *might* want the item (not sure if they want just the SSD or entire MacBook Air) back if I take the credit.

My question I pose to you all is, any experience with credit card warranty programs? Have you had to send in your broken MacBook, iPod, etc. to the warranty company after opting for the credit instead of having it repaired by Apple (or original manufacturer, 3rd party, etc.)?

Thanks for your time!
Click to expand...

I have never personally done with Visa warranty but here are some things listed on their eclaim website.

"If I cannot wait to have my item repaired by you, will I be reimbursed for my repair expenses? If so, how quickly will I be reimbursed? Who will reimburse me?
You may choose to repair your item on your own, but your claim must meet program requirements for reimbursement. Upon approval, you will receive a check from the Claims Administrator generally within five (5) to seven (7) business days."

"If you make any claim knowing it to be false or fraudulent in any respect including, but not limited to, the cost of repair services, no benefit shall exist for such claim and your benefits may be canceled. Each claimant agrees that representations regarding claims will be accurate and complete. Any and all relevant provisions shall be void in any case of fraud, intentional concealment, or misrepresentation of material fact."

"Extended Warranty Protection will pay the facility directly for repairs, if possible, or you may go to an authorized repair facility and file a claim for reimbursement. Only valid and reasonable repairs made at the manufacturer’s authorized repair facility are covered."

According to the agreement, they pay the manufacture directly to fix the product.
Just take it to Apple and have it fixed properly.

I noticed that the second option is a buyout estimate based on Apple's estimate. Because of this, I think they track purchases on your credit card to make sure you actually spend that amount. If that amount is not spent, I think they will take back some of the credit if they gave too much.
 
Last edited:
Mlrollin91 said:
According to the agreement, they pay the manufacture directly to fix the product.
Just take it to Apple and have it fixed properly.

I noticed that the second option is a buyout estimate based on Apple's estimate. Because of this, I think they track purchases on your credit card to make sure you actually spend that amount. If that amount is not spent, I think they will take back some of the credit if they gave too much.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply!

I think I have to take the buyout offer since it is more than the fair market value of my 2011 MacBook Air. I'm eyeing the new MacBook Airs and I highly doubt I could get above ~$850 for my current machine after it is repaired.

When I originally filed the claim, I learned that the Warranty Dept does not have access to my card info. Paraphrased transcript:

Warranty Rep: How much did you pay for the computer?
Me: Hang on, lemme check. Wait, can't you look it up?
Warranty Rep: Nope. We don't have access to that info.
 
getEstimates said:
My claim to Visa was for about $850, which was the quote that the Apple Store provided for a new 128GB SSD and labor (ridiculously high IMO).
Click to expand...

Is the cost of a SSD repair $850 USD? I am sorry, I am confused and want to get this straight. A new 11in MBA costs $999 USD.

Anyways, most companies would always ask for the defective product to be shipped to them, in the Terms of Conditions they state that the faulty equipment becomes their property and if you do not abide to send them the parts, they have the rights to charge you the costs of the parts.. At least that has been with Apple, Dell, HP, Sony, etc.. I wouldn't know about a Credit Card, but I would pay much more attention to their terms, since they mean business and will screw you over if you miss anything.
 
luisito said:
Is the cost of a SSD repair $850 USD? I am sorry, I am confused and want to get this straight. A new 11in MBA costs $999 USD.
Click to expand...

Crazy, but true. The retail cost at Apple to replace a 128GB SSD from 2011 runs about $850. $40 of that is labor.
 
getEstimates said:
I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience with the extended warranty through a credit card.

My 2011 MacBook Air's 128GB SSD failed. I was outside of the 1 year AppleCare warranty, but was within coverage of my Visa Extended Warranty.

My claim to Visa was for about $850, which was the quote that the Apple Store provided for a new 128GB SSD and labor (ridiculously high IMO). Anyways, the claim was approved by Visa, and now I have two options: (1) get re-imbused ~$850 after providing a receipt from Apple that I did pay ~$850 to get a new 128GB SSD in there, or (2) get a ~$850 repair estimate buyout in the form of a credit to my original card.

Ideally, I would take the ~$850 credit and repair the drive myself for a couple hundred dollars. The problem, however, is that they *might* want the item (not sure if they want just the SSD or entire MacBook Air) back if I take the credit.

My question I pose to you all is, any experience with credit card warranty programs? Have you had to send in your broken MacBook, iPod, etc. to the warranty company after opting for the credit instead of having it repaired by Apple (or original manufacturer, 3rd party, etc.)?

Thanks for your time!
Click to expand...
I have had many experiences with Visa extended warranty. They are very very good at taking care of you. They will send a cheque or reimburse you for the entire purchase amount including tax, less shipping OR the cost to repair the item (something they have never asked me to do as they always let me buy new) but my maximum claim was for a panasonic IP Security cam worth $600. They cover double the original warranty up to an an extra year (90 day warranty becomes 180 day or 1 year becomes 2 year or 2 year warranty becomes 3 years)

I buy a lot of stuff with my visa and have submitted probably 16 claims since the start of the extended warranty program for as little as $20 and as much as $600.
Here is what I have experienced.

1- They require the original receipt, copy of the visa statement and a copy of the mfg warranty

2-The require an estimate for replacement or repair. I have never taken a buyout as I have always replaced it with something. Upon receiving a copy of my replacement receipt, a cheque arrived for the full amount within about a week.

3- You can email them copies of required documents or fax them instead of mailing. This will speed up your claim a lot.

4-When ever I replaced an item, (even the $600 camera) they did not want the old item back. Just recently they request a "proof of recycling" which is a slip the recycle center will give you when you turn in the old part or computer. The proof of recycle does not actually say the type of computer, just that it was a laptop.

5-If I could suggest just talking over your options with them. See if they will allow you to repair it yourself and take the full $850. They do usually require receipts so you really can't take the $850 and fix it for $200 as a rule, but I found wide latitude dealing with different people. With a phone call you can usually see where you stand and how far they will bend for you.

6- I would go the route of asking if you could take the $850 + tax and put it towards a new macbook . Give them the receipt for the new macbook, get paid, sell the old one after you have fixed it yourself to make up most of the difference in cost. If you have to provide proof of recycle, turn in a cheap broken laptop and then you can keep the old macbook.

All in all, Visa warranty is well worth it and Visa is very fair and caring that the claim is settled to your satisfaction. I have never felt a need to misrepresent my claim to get taken care of, and never would as they seem to go the extra mile. I have noticed over the last couple of years they have been more strict about proving that you did in fact repurchase and recycled the old one as I'm sure some people have been taking advantage of their good nature. I am in Canada by the way, but I'm sure it is the same in all of North America
 
Thinking over it, that is not just the SSD cost. That is the cost of the entire logic board. I had my 2009MBP logic board die on me and that was $800 to repair including labor.
 
The End Result

Thanks for all of your posts! Just wanted to follow-up and let everyone know what happened with this. Hopefully it'll help someone out in the future :)

I requested the buyout from Visa (and hoping to keep the laptop). As I feared, they wanted me to ship the laptop to them before they would give me the check. Having to send in the laptop was a deal-breaker for me.

I spoke with the warranty rep and he said I could repair it on my own and get reimbursed for the cost of the parts only. I picked the most expensive drive I could find: OWC had a 480GB SSD (quite a step up from my 128GB) for $600. I sent in the receipt to Visa via email for the drive (I was slightly nervous Visa was going to give me some flack about the price since it was relatively close to the $850, but everything turned out OK).

The call I received after I sent in the receipt was quite brief. The rep confirmed the $600 price, but was more concerned about picking up some more evidence that I actually ordered the drive and didn't send in a fake receipt (tracking number was fine and he confirmed it instantly).

Overall a positive experience. My only complaint was the turn-around time whenever I would contact them. Their policy was to reply to all communication within 5 business days - they always took the 5 business days. Calling the office didn't really help since you had to deal with the same rep, and I didn't have a direct number or extension to reach him.

One final thought: I think the reason they requested the laptop to be shipped to them was that the price I paid for the laptop was about $900 thanks to an Amazon promotion that got me 20% off the price. This put the $850 repair pretty much at the entire "cost" of the item. I'm guessing Visa wants the item back if the repair buyout exceeds 80% or some other majority percentage.
 
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