Success of Apple Care

[ubercaffeinated]

apple care is incredibly worth it for the laptops. in a lot of cases apple will repair damage caused by the user or through wear/usage. i find them to be a lot more lenient towards people who purchase it.

i've had apple care replace my entire screen twice already for spots of brightness caused by pressure damage on my macbook air - they were minor issues that i am sure no other manufacturer would accept for a warranty repair/replacement. also, my macbook pro developed a couple of dead pixels after 3 years, and they replaced the entire screen for that too.

also, i can't think of any other laptop maker, who has a store i can simply go to, explain my problem in person, and have my shit repaired in 3 days without hassle. no shipping bullshit, no ups to deal with. i don't consider it a waste at all, and i'll keep on buying it and apple laptops, as long as the quality and service is there.

 

[Ns1]

It's not that I can't fix it myself, it's that I'd rather walk into a store drop it off and pick it up a few days later fixed.

I think AppleCare is a must for products that have a tendency to get very hot, ie MBPs

 

[TheStu]

I have with my AMEX on a subwoofer where the amp died after the company had gone out of business and within 4 days of sending the information they needed, they had refunded my full purchase price because they couldn't find any repair shop and shipping a 100+ lbs sub wasn't worth it.

I also had an intermittent issue with my TV where the picture would go out and within a couple of days it was fixed at a local repair center.

YMMV vary with other CC companies, but American Express has been quick and easy for me.

I didn't get AppleCare on my MacBook, and lucked out that nothing major went wrong with it. The topcase chipped (like they all did), but that was an issue that Genius Bars would replace for free. It wasn't advertised, but they did it. My MagSafe also frayed, but that was an acknowledged problem, and so it was replaced for free too out of warranty. If the logic board had gone out though, I would have been totally screwed, not only because of the cost, but I found out later when replacing one in my Mom's MacBook that there were something like 4 different 2GHz Core 2 Duo logic boards, and 1 (or 2) 2GHz Core Duo boards. Each one is slightly different and incompatible in some way with the others (fan connectors, thermal connectors, mount points, etc)

I will be getting it on my MacBook Air however, no reason not to, and it does increase the resale value. I do not have a credit card, it was bought on my debit card, so no double warranty.

I also have had insurance on my phones in the past, can't remember if I do on my current one. My desktop is a homebuilt, so no extended warranty there, I do not own a TV, and my PS3 is under the standard warranty.

I think that part of the appeal of AppleCare is that if it breaks, you can take it to a store, and in the case of the phones and smaller items walk right back out with a replacement with almost no fuss. 'My AppleTV isn't working' 'Here, let me check it. Yep, its broken. Here have a brand new one' 'Gee thanks!'. For items that need to be sent out, it is still nice to know that you have an actual person with a face that you can go and talk to if the repair is taking longer than it should or things of that nature.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah:

From a betting standpoint, it's no good - Apple makes money selling applecare, so you have to figure the average computer needs less in repairs than the cost of the extended warranty. Even if you're just the multicomputer family, you've got 4-6 computers (everybody's laptop, that desktop computer everybody has, but nobody uses, and maybe an HTPC or home server) that need replacing at regular intervals. Chances are not buying Applecare will let you come out ahead. Way ahead.

For individual buyers, there's a certain price for peace-of-mind, which sometimes makes it a wash. There's also the logic of "I can afford an extra $180 now, financed at 0% on an Apple Credit Card (w@@t,) but if the computer dies in 13 months and needs a new logic board for $700, I can't afford afford that out of pocket."

For large institutions, getting new inventory is often enough of a hassle that even though the large population of machines would be statistically significant (a school district or large chain store will buy thousands of computers - the same math that tells Apple to sell Applecare tells them not to buy it) the money "thrown away" buying applecare is offset by the ability to get the hardware repaired and back on a desk where it belongs - in a matter of days, instead of taking weeks or months to replace it. Enforced uniformity by purchasing computers in large batches also makes software upgrades / planning easier, and you save money on training your tech staff. (Who get to be reimage monkeys instead of actual trained hardware troubleshooters.)

 

[wantedSpidy]

It used to worth it when there were codes on ebay for sale for less than $100 for macbook pro's etc.

I didn't even consider paying ~$300 for applecare for my 13" mbp which I got for $950. Having said that if I splurged on an upgraded 15" I would gladly pay $350 for a $2k laptop. But if I ever pay $2k for a laptop, shoot me.

 

[ponyo]

Have you ever tried to utilize the double warranty on your credit card? I don't believe it's the easiest thing to exercise.

Yes, I have. Have you? I used it once years ago on 50+ inch projection TV. Used Amex to buy it. At around 23 months, the TV died. I called Amex and filled out short paperwork. They then handled everything. An authorized repair tech was sent out to my house. He swapped out the damaged part and repaired the TV. I didn't have to do anything other than to call to file the initial claim.

I should have used the card warranty on the iPod that died on me. Forgot about the protection.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

To spend 20% or more of the value of your purchase is not worth it IMO for a $1200 laptop. One or two years later you can use the funds you didn't spend on AppleCare towards the purchase of the same model laptop on the used market for less.

Having said that, logic boards on MBs and iMacs are expensive to replace. If you plan on keeping it only for a year and upgrading every year then the money is best used towards your upgrade and selling before warranty is up.

If you have double your warranty option on your CC then AppleCare should not come into the picture.

 

[Emulex]

i traded my 15" i5 for a core2duo 2.66ghz (mid 2009) - it was dented all up - the took it in and swapped the logic board, screen(glossy to matte), top case, lower case. then it had another issues with the magnetic lid sensor and they replaced a bunch of stuff again - all free - the case was pretty mangled from the drop. now its brand new looking works flawlessly and the drive and ram was the only thing that is old. gotta say that was something they did that was clearly abuse (not me) but i have a shiny new model with nice matte screen. total cost of 15" i5 i traded $1100 for a brand new looking 17" matte core2duo. i didn't need speed - just the 1920x1200 screen.

if you have physical damage take it to a non-apple store they will fix it since they get paid on repairs - apple will sometimes be a @#$ about dents in store. sometimes not. very strange.