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Why Applecare is a ripe off.

stevep said:
Yes and no, or rather, no and yes. The very minimum charge for an 0870 call is 4p/min (plus a 3p connection charge), and most companies rates are higher. When much of the time spent on these calls is devoted to listening to Vivaldi, the cost can mount up very quickly.
Go to http://www.saynoto0870.com/ for details - you might even find an alternative (ie non-0870 number) for Apple.
If you've paid for Applecare AND have to call an 0870 number as well you've been shafted twice. In my opinion.
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I stand corrected. And you're right it's not good.

When I had a prob I called the local Apple Centre (not store) and they fixed things up. It was easy.

As I'm an edu customer and will be buying the next one through the HE campus agreement I have no need for uplift and can save the 50 quid on a laptop. Something, out of ignorance I paid 200 quid for last time.

At least I know now.

We're so used to getting a bad deal in the UK we expect it now. Even off Apple (or should that be especially off Apple :)....see exchange rates).
 
reflex said:
The minimum warranty for consumer products in the European Union is 2 years. I don't remember when they changed that, but it's quite recent.
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I think you are talking about the European Product Warranty Directive. But the 2 year period under this isn't really a warranty period although lots of people, including the UK press think it is. All it is a minimum limitation period for making a claim. What it requires is that if goods are delivered that aren't fit for purpose (on delivery), you must have a right of recourse in the national courts for at last 2 years. Within the first six months of delivery, if something breaks then there is an assumption that it wasn't fit for purpose when delivered (i.e. Apple would have to show that it had broken after delivery, and not due to an inherent flaw). Apple's basic warranty for a whole year effectively covers this in the UK (in fact is six months more), as there is a 6 year limitation period under UK law anyway. If anyone is interested I did a long post a while back which explained how it worked, which I can probably find ....
 
OldSkoolNJ said:
So if a company is making a profit on it then it is a ripoff?? So we should probably, by your thinking, stop buying anything they sell.
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That's a little over the top. AppleCare, like any other extended warranty policy, is a high-markup item. Apple pushes AppleCare because it's profitable, which means over the long run you cannot expect to collect the full value of the sunk cost of buying the policy. If you know this going into your decision, and still decide to buy AppleCare, then I've got no argument. But I can't agree with anyone who claims that buying AppleCare is a "must" or that it's always worthwhile. Apple makes perfectly certain that it is far from always worthwhile, in terms of what you pay for the policy and the services you are likely to receive in return.
 
for me it has been very worthwhile, 4 ipod replacements, 1 macbook superdrive replacement, 1 macbook top case replacement........thats alot of money i do not have
 
I feel exactly the opposite about Applecare. It's a great deal considering what repairs would cost you if you didn't have it and if you get the education discount on it like I do, it's a no-brainer, smokin' deal. I've had Apple products that have needed it and others that haven't. So what. I purchased pain free peace of mind and this insurance delivers that.
 
The first thing out of the author's mouth is nonsense:

"If Companies Believed In Their Products, Why Would They Need To Sell You An Extended Warranty?"

Nowadays, about the only things they do not try to sell you an extended warrantee for are consumables. The bigger the ticket item, the greater the sales pressure to purchase.

If the warrantee worked out in the consumers favor, the offer would be in print so small you would not be able to read it. Only an idiot would believe the warrantee did not work out in favor for the manufacturer.

Computer manufacturers do not produce the majority of the components which go into their products. "Believing in their products" is such a stupid statement, I can only suspect the author possesses limited experience, or wit (or both).

Try buying a business-class Dell computer without the 3 year extended warrantee. You cannot do it. It is automatically added to the configuration/price and there is no option to remove it.
 
SMM said:
<snip>
Try buying a business-class Dell computer without the 3 year extended warrantee. You cannot do it. It is automatically added to the configuration/price and there is no option to remove it.
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And you'd be a fool to purchase a Dell computer without it too. Three relatives with three Dell computers and all three have completely failed between year one and year two. Most Dell parts are as peculiar to Dells as Apples are to Apple, so unless you're replacing the hard drive or the RAM, you'll be calling 1-800-Dell or whatever their number is.
 
p8ntballguy said:
for me it has been very worthwhile, 4 ipod replacements, 1 macbook superdrive replacement, 1 macbook top case replacement........thats alot of money i do not have
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What can I say, some people just seem to attract lightening. :)

And of course the MacBook repairs would have been covered under the basic warranty, so you did not need to buy AppleCare for them.

I've been buying Apple products for over 20 years. I've had a few of them repaired, but I don't recall a repair that would have been covered by an extended warranty. The repairs have always occurred either during the year when the product was covered by the basic warranty or beyond the three years covered by AppleCare.

One thing people tend to overlook when making this calculation is that by the end of the three years, the product is worth maybe half its original purchase price, or in many cases, not much more than they paid for the AppleCare policy.

But who am I to discourage anyone from buying AppleCare policies? Apple makes lots of money on them, and I'm a stockholder -- so have at it!
 
Swarmlord said:
And you'd be a fool to purchase a Dell computer without it too.....
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True, unless you are a business with a couple hundred of them. At $250-$350 for each extended warrantee, well you can do the math. That buys a heck of a lot of T&M and still saves the company some serious money. Rumor has it that a big percentage of the account reps commission comes from these funds. I am only single-sourced on this info, so I am unsure whether it is factual. Any ex-Dell, or other sales-types out there?
 
It hasn't been a rip off for me. I bought it for peace of mind but my PB has had three new logic boards. The last two went at three-month intervals. That's a lot of money.

I suppose you could complain either way: firstly about the waste of money if it wasn't needed and secondly that your computer's gone wrong again.
 
davidjearly said:
If you are based in the UK and are a member of a Higher Education Institution, you are eligible for the 3 year limited parts and labour warranty.

David
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Eligible, but not by default. I need to chase them up and it has been a week since I called them up about the warranty and they have not get it sorted out as of yesterday evening.
 
reflex said:
The minimum warranty for consumer products in the European Union is 2 years. I don't remember when they changed that, but it's quite recent.
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well, that's something of a misunderstanding if you're refering to EU 1999/44/EC which is what people usually are thinking off when they talk about this supposed 2 year warrantly....Actually the warranty is on the condition of the computer at the time you purchased it. The 2 year period is the time given to the consumer to discover that the product had a flaw in it at the time it was purchased. If you discover a flaw or a part fails within the first 6 months, then it's presumed under the directive to have existed at the time of purchase (unless the seller can show otherwise which mostly means user abuse or accidental damage). After 6 months though, you've lost the protection of that presumption and as far as the EU directive goes, you're on your own as far as proving that the flaw existed when you bought the product, and that can be very difficult to prove. If your individual country has created additional protection then maybe you're in luck.....but don't count on the EU "warranty" for 2 years of protection as it's not nearly as strong as a lot of people have been lead to believe
 
Good grief people. Under your terms, food is a rip off also. You can raise your own milk cow and get a gallon of milk for free, and your lawn cut to boot. The question is, do you want to? How about a couple of chickens? Throw a few handfuls of grain down and no more $1.99 for a dozen eggs! Get a pig, feed him leftover table scraps and you get free pork chops!
 
wiraone said:
Eligible, but not by default. I need to chase them up and it has been a week since I called them up about the warranty and they have not get it sorted out as of yesterday evening.
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YES, by default. Most of the telephone reps just know nothing about it. Download the T&C's. The 3 year warranty is tied to your web order number and if you are legitimately a member of a HEI and bought through Apple's HE store - you have it. This is why it does not show up when you enter your serial number on Apple's support page.

So, yes you are covered by the 3-year warranty by default.

David
 
Nermal said:
You guys have to pay for local calls? :eek:
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Well, it depends on what package you subscribe to. Different phone companies will have different packages available. If you want free local and national calls, you need to pay a premium (£24/month on NTL IIRC). For me, I rarely make any national call, and sometime do make a local call in the evening.. so I took the cheapest available (paying rental only for around £9/month).
 
After my experiences with this past Macbook Pro I will definatly be buying Apple care. Becuase I don't think apple makes a product that will last without needing some sort of repair. My last Macbook Pro is a piece of junk, and has been in for repair four times in the first three months of ownership. I think apple care should be standard with purchase. Then at least cover 5-6 years of ownership.
 
Boxer said:
After my experiences with this past Macbook Pro I will definatly be buying Apple care. Becuase I don't think apple makes a product that will last without needing some sort of repair. My last Macbook Pro is a piece of junk, and has been in for repair four times in the first three months of ownership. I think apple care should be standard with purchase. Then at least cover 5-6 years of ownership.
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No PC manufacturer provides this level of coverage, and oddly enough I've never heard of anyone demanding it, even though virtually all of them have poorer product quality ratings than Apple.
 
furious said:
I am interested in peoples view of this.
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You are quoting an article that claims that all extended warranties etc. are rip-offs. I remember just a few days ago seeing a similar article explicitly saying that they examined a huge number of extended warranties, and all with two exceptions were rip-offs. One of the two exceptions was Apple's extended warranty.
 
I purchased Applecare for my previous 4 Macs. I have never used it on any of my Macs. I think I have been lucky. For my MBP, I don't plan getting Applecare as long as my first 6 months of experience is positive. So far, it is not showing any quirk and I feel my lucky streak has carried over to my MBP.
 
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