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Why I have a feeling I wont need Apple Care?
- Thread starter Boesky
- Start date
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My approach is dependent on what you own. On a MB I've decided to take the
risk based on replacement cost. If its a MBP around 2k or so or a cheaper Applecare plan for an iMac it makes sense to get the coverage.
I make the decision based on the computers value after the one year of free
coverage.
risk based on replacement cost. If its a MBP around 2k or so or a cheaper Applecare plan for an iMac it makes sense to get the coverage.
I make the decision based on the computers value after the one year of free
coverage.
The technical support from AppleCare also saves time and serious hassle for the thousands of users who are not tech savvy and/or on the forums. It's a matter of how comfortable you are messing around with be behind-the-scenes of OS X.
Extended warranties are out there and still in existence because companies make money from them. Usually, the failure rate for electronics is very small if they do not fail within the first year of the original warranty. You may get a lemon, yes, but statistically speaking, extended warranties are a waste of money.
But a peace of mind is hard thing to quantify. So I can understand people buying them.
I bought my MacbBook Pro with American Express. The card doubles thew warranty period.
But a peace of mind is hard thing to quantify. So I can understand people buying them.
I bought my MacbBook Pro with American Express. The card doubles thew warranty period.
I don't buy applecare anymore
I have religiously bought applecare in the past, no longer.
Apple can and will void your purchased (applecare) extended warranty at their own random discretion.
I keep unbelievable care of my macbooks, I bought a rolling case with two pouches one pouch for my macbook pro and one pouch for papers. At the bottom of the paper pouch were two rivets, invisible to anyone. By putting my macbook pro in that pouch I now have two rivet dings on the front of my macbook. Guess what, Apple voided my warranty because 'I dropped' it.
There is actually nothing wrong with my nearly perfect macbook pro. I had taken it into Apple for a software question, when they sadistically informed me that my macbook Pro Apple Care warranty was now void because of the visible dings.
As I reflected on my dedication to the AppleCare program, I realized that in eight years of buying apple care for everything from ipods to iphones and laptops, I have NEVER had apple fix something under my Extended warranty.
They have replaced things and have done so quite regularly under the regular warranty period, and have replaced things after the regular warranty period when there is a defect and I am within a secret defect window for replacement, but never have they replaced something using my purchased extended warranties.
Here is another case in point. Two years ago, I bought applecare for my wife's macbook. Recently I had read that Apple would replace the cases due to hairline cracks in the case. I took the laptop into Apple to have the case fixed the week AFTER the replacement program ended. They refused to fix my case. Had I been a week earlier I wouldn't have even needed AppleCare they would have fixed it for me. But even though I had active AppleCare on the laptop, they refused to replace my case. How does that make any sense. I pay extra for a warranty and cannot get a known defect fixed.
Anyone that says I should talk to a manager, that is crap. I am sure with hours of bitching, I can bully them to behave better. But that is crap.
I have actually never felt that Apple was pinching on repairs in the past. So I think this may be a recent change of behavior due to the economy or new margin directives from some suit. Regardless, its frustrating.
I am an unhappy customer now and whereas before I suggested people buy AppleCare now I advise against it. Just take care of your stuff. It will break, and when it does hope you have used it for three years.
I have religiously bought applecare in the past, no longer.
Apple can and will void your purchased (applecare) extended warranty at their own random discretion.
I keep unbelievable care of my macbooks, I bought a rolling case with two pouches one pouch for my macbook pro and one pouch for papers. At the bottom of the paper pouch were two rivets, invisible to anyone. By putting my macbook pro in that pouch I now have two rivet dings on the front of my macbook. Guess what, Apple voided my warranty because 'I dropped' it.
There is actually nothing wrong with my nearly perfect macbook pro. I had taken it into Apple for a software question, when they sadistically informed me that my macbook Pro Apple Care warranty was now void because of the visible dings.
As I reflected on my dedication to the AppleCare program, I realized that in eight years of buying apple care for everything from ipods to iphones and laptops, I have NEVER had apple fix something under my Extended warranty.
They have replaced things and have done so quite regularly under the regular warranty period, and have replaced things after the regular warranty period when there is a defect and I am within a secret defect window for replacement, but never have they replaced something using my purchased extended warranties.
Here is another case in point. Two years ago, I bought applecare for my wife's macbook. Recently I had read that Apple would replace the cases due to hairline cracks in the case. I took the laptop into Apple to have the case fixed the week AFTER the replacement program ended. They refused to fix my case. Had I been a week earlier I wouldn't have even needed AppleCare they would have fixed it for me. But even though I had active AppleCare on the laptop, they refused to replace my case. How does that make any sense. I pay extra for a warranty and cannot get a known defect fixed.
Anyone that says I should talk to a manager, that is crap. I am sure with hours of bitching, I can bully them to behave better. But that is crap.
I have actually never felt that Apple was pinching on repairs in the past. So I think this may be a recent change of behavior due to the economy or new margin directives from some suit. Regardless, its frustrating.
I am an unhappy customer now and whereas before I suggested people buy AppleCare now I advise against it. Just take care of your stuff. It will break, and when it does hope you have used it for three years.
I didn't buy apple care with my new MBP (in the mail as we speak...) because I bought it with my American Express and they'll double the manufacturers warranty up to a year, so I get a second year for free basically. If I have a ton of problems in the first year I'll get applecare but I'm not too worried about it.
I've bought a lot of macs. My experience so far is don't buy an apple care until the tenth or eleventh month. I'm a hardcore computer user and I always put my gear to the max, and if there is no problem with it within a year, then there will be no problem with it in the future. If you brought your mac in for warranty once, or twice during that period, then it would be good to buy Apple Care.
All my laptops, and desktop I bought lasts 2 - 3 years before I sold it, and they all worked fine at the point I sold it. Except for one of my Macbook Pro I bought at the end of 2007, I had to bring it in for warranty twice because of the faulty graphic card, but luckily, Apple gave me 3 years warranty on that part without buying Apple Care.
All my laptops, and desktop I bought lasts 2 - 3 years before I sold it, and they all worked fine at the point I sold it. Except for one of my Macbook Pro I bought at the end of 2007, I had to bring it in for warranty twice because of the faulty graphic card, but luckily, Apple gave me 3 years warranty on that part without buying Apple Care.
supercaliber, email sjobs@apple.com and complain. Be kind, but firm and you will be surprised at where that gets you. Stress how you are not pleased about the service you have been getting.
I have to disagree with that. I have a 1st gen ipod touch and it wont hod a charge for more than a day and I wish I had apple care so I could get it replaced. On ebay is like $13 for shuffle/nano and $22 for touch and classic.
It's the most expensive warranty and the easiest to void. Apple is really milking its customers with it. My opinions is keep it for a year, if it shows any problem buy the applecare for peace of mind. If it's flawless, and I mean flawless then it's probably going to be ok.
They didn't milk me. My logic board had to be replaced after the free one year coverage expired. I would have been on the hook for a $1200 repair which wouldn't have been worth it if I had to pay that myself--but instead they took care of it. A MBP can get very hot as well all know -- and it can take over a year to fry a logic board.
I believe in waiting a year however. In that time if I were to get any dings, dents or spillage in the computer I'd probably skip Applecare, but I generally take good care of my computers so they couldn't deny me for damage.
I have never purchased extended warranties on any of my electronics, except for one time when I bought a Toshiba laptop. The warranty covered accidental screen damage, so if you dropped it or closed it on a pen and cracked the screen, it was covered. I paid an arm and a leg for that warranty, feeling secured that I would be covered.
Even then, it was utter hell trying to get my laptop serviced under the warranty. They ended up giving me a replacement laptop with half the RAM (I told them countless times that I upgraded the RAM but they sent me a machine with less RAM than I originally had), bigger and clunkier than my older laptop with less features. The process took annoyingly long time, and I spent countless hours on the phone trying to chase down rude representatives. I ended up selling that machine on eBay as soon as I received it. I swore never to touch a Toshiba since then, and I never again even remotely considered another Toshiba ever again. I loath and hate having to deal with bad customer service. And the hassle just isn't worth it.
The value of your money is worth a lot more now than what it will be worth in the future. Technology is so rapidly changing that the high cost of the extended warranty that I currently pay for right now is worth less to me after a few years. The chances of machine failure after 1 year of use is small and probability is on my side that I have a machine that will last me at least a few years. And by that time, I will most likely want a new machine. That extra money that I didn't spend on warranty could have been put to better use on something that is more tangible than an invisible product like extended warranty. The hassle and stress involved in getting companies to honor the warranties also makes it worth less to me.
That's not to say that you won't be that unlucky person who gets a lemon. In fact, you may get 2, 3, 4, 5 lemons in a row. However, I think you have to put things into perspective especially when you browse these forums. These forums will attract more people with issues with their machines because that's the nature of these forums. People come here to resolve problems. So you will get a lot of people who tell you that AppleCare is required.
If you search on the internet, you may come across someone who has actually done some real number crunching to figure out how worth less these extended warranties are. Apple would NOT be selling these warranties if the failure rate of their machines were so great that they lose money by honoring these warranties. They sell these warranties because even after honoring them, the sheer number of people who have purchased these warranties who never use them before their expiration date is far greater than the ones who do.
Even then, it was utter hell trying to get my laptop serviced under the warranty. They ended up giving me a replacement laptop with half the RAM (I told them countless times that I upgraded the RAM but they sent me a machine with less RAM than I originally had), bigger and clunkier than my older laptop with less features. The process took annoyingly long time, and I spent countless hours on the phone trying to chase down rude representatives. I ended up selling that machine on eBay as soon as I received it. I swore never to touch a Toshiba since then, and I never again even remotely considered another Toshiba ever again. I loath and hate having to deal with bad customer service. And the hassle just isn't worth it.
The value of your money is worth a lot more now than what it will be worth in the future. Technology is so rapidly changing that the high cost of the extended warranty that I currently pay for right now is worth less to me after a few years. The chances of machine failure after 1 year of use is small and probability is on my side that I have a machine that will last me at least a few years. And by that time, I will most likely want a new machine. That extra money that I didn't spend on warranty could have been put to better use on something that is more tangible than an invisible product like extended warranty. The hassle and stress involved in getting companies to honor the warranties also makes it worth less to me.
That's not to say that you won't be that unlucky person who gets a lemon. In fact, you may get 2, 3, 4, 5 lemons in a row. However, I think you have to put things into perspective especially when you browse these forums. These forums will attract more people with issues with their machines because that's the nature of these forums. People come here to resolve problems. So you will get a lot of people who tell you that AppleCare is required.
If you search on the internet, you may come across someone who has actually done some real number crunching to figure out how worth less these extended warranties are. Apple would NOT be selling these warranties if the failure rate of their machines were so great that they lose money by honoring these warranties. They sell these warranties because even after honoring them, the sheer number of people who have purchased these warranties who never use them before their expiration date is far greater than the ones who do.
I'm about 3 months into my warranty, still debating as to whether Apple Care would be worth it. Would be nice to have the peace of mind if a part breaks down in the 2nd or 3rd year, but does seem rather pricey. My content's insurance already covers acc dam...
Is the difference between your final sale price and the cost of a new machine *less* than that of the Applecare plan or close to it? Just curious, I thought about doing that.
Much cheaper than what Apple may charge you for the parts, yes. Cheaper than the actual cost of the parts, though? rarely.
Because you're young and you feel immortal.
I learned the AppleCare lesson the hard way: rev. A machines should be bought with AppleCare, it's much less compulsory on "tried and tested" models like the iMac at the moment.
So far nearly every Mac in the family has had a problem of some sort, some more than others. Taught me to get the AppleCare at least on the high-end models. With the Macbook Airs we waited almost to the end of the first year of warranty until getting the AppleCares (since there were and are some issues with the heat).
It's very naive of you to place your complete trust in the forums for a way to solve your technical issues. Many times people have issues and they come here for help, several posters take the OP for a long ride only to end up nowhere. After several opinions on what the issue is a simple restart generally fixes the problem.
Yes, some people here are very tech savvy but don't think for one minute that they know more about Apple's own product than Apple does.