Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

olePigeon · Apr 17, 2006, 04:58 PM

I remember a while ago there was a thread someone posted about how horrible AppleCare is. I'd have to disagree, here's what happened today:

Last Friday night I finally got my AppleCare number emailed to me by my dad (had purchased it during Christmas as a gift, but never made it to his place to pick it up. He lives over 4 hours away) I was reminded about it when my bro's laptop's HDD just died. So I tried to register my PowerBook online, and no go.

Said my laptop's 1-year had expired and that I couldn't file for AppleCare.

Was pretty bumbed, but I thought I'd call Apple on Monday anyway to see if there's something they can do. So today I called and I got John. He tried to register the AppleCare as well but he got the same error. My laptop's 1-year had just expired. He asked me to hold for a minute and he can contact Administration and see if they can add it.

About 2 minutes later he asked me a few questions, where I bought the laptop, about what time, etc. It told him I bought it about a year ago at the Apple Store in Sacramento. He asked me to hold for a minute. When he came back on he said that they approved the AppleCare and that my laptop was now under warranty.

Sweet!

2 more years on this puppy, then I'll be able to snag a new MacBook Pro.

I have to say that for the 20+ years that I've owned an Apple product, starting with my Apple //e, Apple's support has been nothing but stellar.

Agasthya · Apr 17, 2006, 05:27 PM

Seems pretty standard. I'm a little confused why this is extraordinary... you're excited that you are able to use the service that you paid for?

Salty · Apr 17, 2006, 05:27 PM

AppleCare is great so long as you don't have a lemon.

Dark Helmet · Apr 17, 2006, 05:39 PM

I bought my Applecare for my G5 1 year to the day of buying the computer. Apple happily sold it to me, 4 months after I try to get my computer fixed Apple tells me my Applecare is not valid as 1 year after I bought it is actually 366 days not 365, so 24 hours is a big deal to them. It takes 2 hours on the phone and 4 months of Apple fumbling about for them to correct the problem.

olePigeon · Apr 17, 2006, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Agasthya

Seems pretty standard. I'm a little confused why this is extraordinary... you're excited that you are able to use the service that you paid for?

I purchased it after I bought my laptop, and only after my warranty was up did I realize that I had completely forgotten that I gotten the extended warranty. They didn't have to honor my extended warranty because it was out of the time period to register, but I'm glad they did.

On another note, while it was under warranty, the screen had been scratched or something during shipping. To me it looked like a grain of sand or something was stuck inside the screen. I took it into the AppleStore the guy there said it had been nicked. There wasn't anything in there and it wasn't covered by the warranty. He said he could send it in anyway, but they probably wouldn't replace it.

Well, they replaced it. So that was pretty nice of them.

olePigeon · Apr 17, 2006, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

I bought my Applecare for my G5 1 year to the day of buying the computer. Apple happily sold it to me, 4 months after I try to get my computer fixed Apple tells me my Applecare is not valid as 1 year after I bought it is actually 366 days not 365, so 24 hours is a big deal to them. It takes 2 hours on the phone and 4 months of Apple fumbling about for them to correct the problem.

Maybe I'm just lucky?

Salty · Apr 17, 2006, 05:51 PM

It also depends on who you talk to at Apple. When I talked to a guy about my iPod mini he was great. When I talked to a girl about my keyboard key that just fell off she said I'd have to pay for a whole new keyboard.

IceEnclosure · Apr 17, 2006, 06:12 PM

I had an old iMac replaced with a newer revision years ago due to some problems with the first one I purchased. I'm down with AppleCare.

euphras · Apr 18, 2006, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

I bought my Applecare for my G5 1 year to the day of buying the computer. Apple happily sold it to me, 4 months after I try to get my computer fixed Apple tells me my Applecare is not valid as 1 year after I bought it is actually 366 days not 365, so 24 hours is a big deal to them. It takes 2 hours on the phone and 4 months of Apple fumbling about for them to correct the problem.

Apple was actually willing to repair my broken optical drive on a good-will basis THREE weeks after the AC warranty had expired

jasonsRX7 · Apr 18, 2006, 10:38 AM

I hope I never have to use it, but I jumped all over AppleCare when they made it available for Cinema displays purchased separately from the system.

Cody Dawg · Apr 18, 2006, 11:08 AM

agasthya

Seems pretty standard. I'm a little confused why this is extraordinary... you're excited that you are able to use the service that you paid for?

salty

AppleCare is great so long as you don't have a lemon.

They should instead call it LemonCare™.

CharlesS · Apr 18, 2006, 12:40 PM

Yeah, it kicks butt unless you get a guy from India who can't understand your English well enough to get your mailing address...

Dark Helmet · Apr 18, 2006, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Yeah, it kicks butt unless you get a guy from India who can't understand your English well enough to get your mailing address...

Do any calls from the US actually get routed to India?

CharlesS · Apr 18, 2006, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Do any calls from the US actually get routed to India?

Well, mine did. The guy couldn't understand the concept of what a "state" was, or why it was spelled with a 2-letter abbreviation. He just couldn't wrap his head around that concept, and I got put on hold a whole bunch of times while trying to give him my postal address.

Big Mac · Apr 18, 2006, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Do any calls from the US actually get routed to India?

Yeah, they read from a script and then transfer you to a US tech when you say you've already tried everything on the script to resolve the problem.

AssassyN · Apr 18, 2006, 06:07 PM

Until Apple offers 24/7 tech support (this is 2006 - every major company in the world should have outsourced 24/7 tech support by now), I refuse to admire their support.

turtle777 · Apr 18, 2006, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Well, mine did. The guy couldn't understand the concept of what a "state" was, or why it was spelled with a 2-letter abbreviation. He just couldn't wrap his head around that concept, and I got put on hold a whole bunch of times while trying to give him my postal address.

-t