Apple Care & Manners = huge dividends

[jonesthewine]

Many have said it before, now it is my turn.

Apple Care is a great investment, and good manners open many doors.

So far my mid-2009 MBP 13 inch has had the MB, keyboard and lower aluminum housing replaced (I spilled Drambuie on the keyboard, they said they don't cover spills but replaced the sticky parts anyway), the SATA connector cable replaced, and the battery replaced (one of the plastic mounting points crumbled, they replaced the 29 month old battery that had cycled 411 times). And I have another 7 months of coverage. By the time I pass this down to my son next summer, it will still be in excellent shape and good for another few years of service.

The genius bar workers are so accommodating when you treat them like fellow humans as opposed to obstacles to be overcome.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the quality of Apple products. The warranty is a great investment because their products fall apart!

 

[Stuxnet]

WTGDF... either you're really hard on laptops or MBP's suckASS. Considering I'm getting one next month, I really hope it's the former...

 

[TheStu]

WTGDF... either you're really hard on laptops or MBP's suckASS. Considering I'm getting one next month, I really hope it's the former...

He spilled something, and then a cable went bad.

 

[nitrous9200]

AppleCare is definitely an investment worth making (especially on a 15 or 17" Pro). The laptops themselves are expensive, parts are expensive and they're a pain to work on other than swapping the RAM and hard drive - as far as I can tell, a keyboard replacement requires disassembling the whole machine.
I've heard stories where people have had numerous parts replaced under AppleCare that would have cost hundreds of dollars to buy otherwise...well worth the $200-$300, I say.

 

[Reliant]

WTGDF... either you're really hard on laptops or MBP's suckASS. Considering I'm getting one next month, I really hope it's the former...

Honestly other than the Thinkpads they're the most sturdy and durable machines I have come across. The industrial design just feels solid compared to the plastic usually found across most other machines.

 

[Patranus]

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the quality of Apple products. The warranty is a great investment because their products fall apart!

I dropped the shit out of a 2009 MBP. Cracked 1/2" slate floor tile but only a small dent in the corner of the machine.

I have seen people drop those crap plastic HP machines and have them explode on carpet.

Apple computers have EXCELLENT build quality.

 

[ponyo]

Apple care is ripoff. Most credit cards double your warranty for free so you get 2 yrs of free protection. After 2 yrs if the item breaks you should be able to get used equivalent for less than 50% of the original purchase price. If the item doesn't break, you saved yourself couple hundred bucks that you can put towards upgrade or whatever you want. Extended warranties are for suckers. Just because Apple calls their extended warranty "Apple Care" doesn't change it.

Sorry OP. Extended warranties are my pet peeve of mine.

 

[jonesthewine]

Apple care is ripoff. Most credit cards double your warranty for free so you get 2 yrs of free protection. After 2 yrs if the item breaks you should be able to get used equivalent for less than 50% of the original purchase price. If the item doesn't break, you saved yourself couple hundred bucks that you can put towards upgrade or whatever you want. Extended warranties are for suckers. Just because Apple calls their extended warranty "Apple Care" doesn't change it.

Sorry OP. Extended warranties are my pet peeve of mine.

No problem ponyo...i don't purchase them for any products except for a few Apple items...peace of mind is a great thing and I do not mind paying for it. Can you imagine AMEX agreeing to pay for replacing a motherboard, keyboard and lower aluminum enclosure because I spilled a sticky liqueur into my laptop? Or paying for a new battery because a plastic mount crumbled after 2 1/2 years? I think that they might have issues with that. the bottom line is that mechanical items break and wear out and it is nice to know that I am covered three years out past the purchase date. To each his own...

 

[Fear No Evil]

I dropped the shit out of a 2009 MBP. Cracked 1/2" slate floor tile but only a small dent in the corner of the machine.

I have seen people drop those crap plastic HP machines and have them explode on carpet.

Apple computers have EXCELLENT build quality.

And they could probably buy a new one for less than the cost of Applecare. 🙂

 

[TheStu]

Apple care is ripoff. Most credit cards double your warranty for free so you get 2 yrs of free protection. After 2 yrs if the item breaks you should be able to get used equivalent for less than 50% of the original purchase price. If the item doesn't break, you saved yourself couple hundred bucks that you can put towards upgrade or whatever you want. Extended warranties are for suckers. Just because Apple calls their extended warranty "Apple Care" doesn't change it.

Sorry OP. Extended warranties are my pet peeve of mine.

Does the CC's double warranty let me take it into an Apple store and receive the same service 18 months after purchase?

Should be able to get used equivalent for less than 50%? Wicked, how about refurbished equivalent for 0% within 3 years, sometimes new un-equivalent (latest model of the same size)?

What the hell good does it do someone without a credit card?

Sorry, but people that rail against extended warranties without anything else useful to add are a pet peeve of mine.

 

[ponyo]

Does the CC's double warranty let me take it into an Apple store and receive the same service 18 months after purchase?

nope. you don't get same day service but a phone call and short paperwork will get your device repaired/replaced. End result is the same. I say that's pretty good for free double warranty.

Should be able to get used equivalent for less than 50%? Wicked, how about refurbished equivalent for 0% within 3 years, sometimes new un-equivalent (latest model of the same size)?

how is it free when you paid hundred(s) for Apple Care upfront? It's not 0%. It's whatever your Apple Care cost when you purchased it.

What the hell good does it do someone without a credit card?

perhaps that individual needs to get one so they won't have pay for overpriced extended warranty like Apple Care.

Sorry, but people that rail against extended warranties without anything else useful to add are a pet peeve of mine.

How is what I'm saying not useful? The fact is Apple is not selling Apple Care out of the goodness of their heart. They make a killing on Apple Care. It's pretty much pure profit to them. The fact is you're almost always better off not buying extended warranties on any product and self-insuring. Since most decent credit cards offer free double warranty, it makes even less sense. Only reason to buy it if Apple products had crazy failure rates but that's not true.

It's like buying and paying for rental car insurance. Sure you can purchase the ripoff insurance at the car rental place but most intelligent people will decline it and take the free protection offered by their credit card and personal auto insurance policy. Is the credit card and auto policy insurance easy to use as the separate overpriced paid rental car insurance? No. But it's free and the end result is the similar protection if you have accident or damage on the rental car.

 

[TheStu]

nope. you don't get same day service but a phone call and short paperwork will get your device repaired/replaced. End result is the same. I say that's pretty good for free double warranty.


how is it free when you paid hundred(s) for Apple Care upfront? It's not 0%. It's whatever your Apple Care cost when you purchased it.


perhaps that individual needs to get one so they won't have pay for overpriced extended warranty like Apple Care.


How is what I'm saying not useful? The fact is Apple is not selling Apple Care out of the goodness of their heart. They make a killing on Apple Care. It's pretty much pure profit to them. The fact is you're almost always better off not buying extended warranties on any product and self-insuring. Since most decent credit cards offer free double warranty, it makes even less sense. Only reason to buy it if Apple products had crazy failure rates but that's not true.

It's like buying and paying for rental car insurance. Sure you can purchase the ripoff insurance at the car rental place but most intelligent people will decline it and take the free protection offered by their credit card and personal auto insurance policy. Is the credit card and auto policy insurance easy to use as the separate overpriced paid rental car insurance? No. But it's free and the end result is the similar protection if you have accident or damage on the rental car.

My Air cost me about $1100 or so. The 50% point is $550. AppleCare is $180. Ok, so 15% of the cost. Still less than 50%, and it is good for 3 years, not 2, and you can take it into the store.

There alternative warranty plans that you can get, SquareTrade comes to mind, that offer additional coverage for things like accidental damage and theft. Not all extended warranties are worthless, just like how not all credit cards are equal.

 

[vbuggy]

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the quality of Apple products. The warranty is a great investment because their products fall apart!

This is pretty much it in a nutshell. You get great service at an Apple Store. The problem is, you need it - and that's for soho / domestic use. For my kind of use, I need to hold my own spares inventory to a degree - something I don't need to do with e.g. HP's equivalents.

 

[JSt0rm]

when i get a new macpro I am going to get the pro warranty on it. If it breaks they will just give you a replacement on the spot. If it just needs some work you get a loaner until the work is done.