AppleCare+ can now be extended beyond 3 years

[hishnash]

EDIT: It is important to note the difference between AppleCare and AppleCare+. AppleCare is warranty only protection and can be a nightmare to get apple to cover things, AppleCare+  is warranty and damage insurance apple will replace any product (regardless of the damage, you can break it right infant of them on purpose) they will charge you a flat fee of $299 for any mac even if you just destroyed a $50,000 macPro. A lot of people get confused between `AppleCare` and `AppleCare+` these are VERY DIFFERENT products.

 

 

Summary

For a while now (in select regions) the AppleCare+ (warranty and accidental damage insurance) for iPhones has been extendable behind 3 years if you opt to continue to pay apple. But macs have been limited to a max of 3 years coverage, however new support article has been published that notes that in some regions you can now subscribe for AppleCare+ for mac letting you extend coverage.

 

Quote:

Quote

Purchase the new coverage within 30 days of the end date of your original coverage. To purchase the new coverage, go to mysupport.apple.com and follow the on-screen instructions. The new coverage automatically renews until canceled.

If you pay monthly or annually for your AppleCare+ plan, you don't need to take action to renew the plan. Your plan coverage may continue beyond 24 or 36 months, on a monthly or annual basis, until canceled.

 

My thoughts

This will be a welcome addition to those high cost devices in the pro space were users expect to use them for 10+ years and will be happy to pay the extended coverage.  One interesting thing to note with AppleCare+ as a subscription service is you do not need to pre-buy a 5 or 10 year warranty you can renew until you stop using your device, and you can even cancel at any time and get a refund for the time you have paid for but will not have coverage. 

 

Sources

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210580

[emosun]

edit: As for the story I think i've watched enough louis rossman to know applecare is almost entirely useless regardless of the duration.

[hishnash]

23 minutes ago, emosun said:

 As for the story I think i've watched enough louis rossman to know applecare is almost entirely useless regardless of the duration.

Louis Rossman does not deal with people who have AppleCare+ coverage as this coverage includes apple just replacing the device, even if you run it over with a truck they will replace it for a resale fee (full device replacement cost is $299 even if you bring it in a top of the line macPro with holes drilled through the case and internals).

He tends to also not repair device that are that new, if you look at his videos very very few device are ever within 3 years of release. And remember when he does work on a device that is younger most users don't even buy the 3 year coverage.

[emosun]

3 minutes ago, hishnash said:

full device replacement cost is capped at $299

yeah so I'm not too sure that applecare is so great if thats the cap

[hishnash]

6 minutes ago, emosun said:

yeah so I'm not too sure that applecare is so great if thats the cap

What I mean by cap is that is the most they will charge you, even if the damage is clearly something you have done they will replace the device and charge you only $299 even if your device cost $50,000. The fact it covers damage that is completely unrelated to the product (like if you drop your macPro) is very impressive. Very few extended care warranty programs cover damage without conditions (this includes water damage, you can take your macPro put it in a lake and come into the apple store and tell them you put it in a lake and they will replace it for $299). How is this not extremely good coverage, please point to a extended warranty program from some other OEM that offers this (that does not cost many thousands per year, )

[emosun]

1 minute ago, hishnash said:

How is this not extremely good coverage, please point to a extended warranty program from some other OEM that offers this (that does not cost many thousands per year, )

I brought back 2 tv's to bestbuy for their 5 year warranty after they had UI artifacting and they replaced them for free and renewed the 5 year warranty. 

So I'll let you know 5 years from now if I ever had to pay 299.

[hishnash]

5 minutes ago, emosun said:

I brought back 2 tv's to bestbuy for their 5 year warranty after they had UI artifacting and they replaced them for free and renewed the 5 year warranty. 

So I'll let you know 5 years from now if I ever had to pay 299.

No if it hardware warranty issue as you describe you get free replacement, the $299 other damage replacement, eg if you had put a brick through your TV would bestbuy have replaced them? Apple would have for just $299. Or you put your TV underwater, or you have a house fire and it gets half melted, or maybe your plain VR and a someone lets go of the controller just to smash he screen  (screen repairs in fact are cheaper they will cost at most $99, and yes that includes the pro-display XDR you can shoot that with a gun and apple will replace/reapir it for $99/

[Blademaster91]

4 minutes ago, hishnash said:

What I mean by cap is that is the most they will charge you, even if the damage is clearly something you have done they will replace the device and charge you only $299 even if your device cost $50,000. The fact it covers damage that is completely unrelated to the product (like if you drop your macPro) is very impressive. Very few extended care warranty programs cover damage without conditions (this includes water damage, you can take your macPro put it in a lake and come into the apple store and tell them you put it in a lake and they will replace it for $299). How is this not extremely good coverage, please point to a extended warranty program from some other OEM that offers this (that does not cost many thousands per year, )

Accidental or water damage? I doubt that because I've seen enough from third party techs, not only Louis Rossmann, but others repairing accidental damage because the apple store refused to help, especially with data recovery.

I agree with @emosun I would rather deal with the in store warranty than pay up for an apple warranty that is known to be not that great.

13 minutes ago, hishnash said:

Louis Rossman does not deal with people who have AppleCare+ coverage as this coverage includes apple just replacing the device, even if you run it over with a truck they will replace it for a resale fee (full device replacement cost is $299 even if you bring it in a top of the line macPro with holes drilled through the case and internals).

He tends to also not repair device that are that new, if you look at his videos very very few device are ever within 3 years of release. And remember when he does work on a device that is younger most users don't even buy the 3 year coverage.

Well the third party techs are often not allowed to get parts for devices that are newer, so not surprising.

[hishnash]

11 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Accidental or water damage? I doubt that because I've seen enough from third party techs, not only Louis Rossmann, but others repairing accidental damage because the apple store refused to help, especially with data recovery.

Your confusing regular AppleCare and AppleCare+. AppleCare does not cover accidental damage such as water damage

If you pay for AppleCare+ apple does cover water damage (but you need to pay for AppleCare+ it is not the included warranty) most users do get it so are not covered. They cover any damage and charge that $299 fee for replacement regardless of the damage. 

It is true you are very unlikely to get mcuh/if-any data recovery support, then again if you paid for AppleCare+ you might have also paid for some backup solution. Users without AppleCare+ might well intersect very well with users without proper backup solutions... 

 

It is also quite new (only in the last few years) that you have been able to get AppleCare+ at all for macs. Historically you could only get it for phones, so anyone with a mac that is older than 3 years will not have had the chance to buy AppleCare+ as at the time of purchase it was not possible to get it for macs. Historically you have only been able to get extended AppleCare (that is warranty only, no accidental damage)

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Accidental or water damage? I doubt that because I've seen enough from third party techs, not only Louis Rossmann, but others repairing accidental damage because the apple store refused to help, especially with data recovery.

Yeah exactly. You could try to get them to honor their applecare warranty , and apple could just say No....

What then? They could just say no , and you're screwed. They aren't even worried about a lawsuit even if it's class action. Judge them on their track record vs their word. Their track record is just such a long list of shady practices regarding warranties its not worth it. Extending applecare to 10 years to me seems like sales marketing.

[hishnash]

Just now, emosun said:

Yeah exactly. You could try to get them to honor their applecare warranty , and apple could just say No....

Yer absolulty AppleCare+ is not AppleCare. AppleCare does not include any accidental damage, this post is about AppleCare+ that does include all damage, apple don't say no to you if you have paid for AppleCare+. Many people don't think they need to pay for AppleCare+ (it costs more than regular AppleCare). 

 

Quote

Extending applecare to 10 years to me seems like sales marketing.

Again this is not AppleCare this is AppleCare+ I should edit the post to make that clear these are different products, AppleCare is an extended warranty program, AppleCare+ is extended warranty and other damage cover effectively its an insurance policy like you might get for your house. 

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, hishnash said:

AppleCare+ is extended warranty and other damage cover effectively its an insurance policy like you might get for your house. 

well that's reassuring. not like home insurance companies dance around and go back on their word or anything. lol

the amount of hours I've had to argue with insurance companies to just honor their agreements is too high for me to think anything of "applecare+". 

Again , apple can say whatever they like , it's their track record and what they actually do that matters. 

[Flannelist]

48 minutes ago, hishnash said:

This coverage includes apple just replacing the device, even if you run it over with a truck they will replace it for a resale fee (full device replacement cost is $299 even if you bring it in a top of the line macPro with holes drilled through the case and internals).

I would contest that. I have seen cases where repairs, even under AppleCare+ have been declined as "catastrophic damage" For example. if you drop your MacBook pro in the bathtub and it sunk to the bottom before you could fish it out. That is considered full submersion and is not covered by AppleCare+. Intentional damage, also not covered. So unless you can justify that you accidentally drilled into your mac pro, I don't see that being covered either. Honestly as far as insurance goes, it's not a bad deal. But there are limitations. And it still means that you're subject to whatever other rules Apple puts in place (of which there are many) for what can get repaired and why.

 

 

[hishnash]

5 minutes ago, emosun said:

Again , apple can say whatever they like , it's their track record and what they actually do that matters. 

Track record for AppleCare+ is quite good in fact, they might well ask you to fork out the $299 when sometimes you would prefer to just pay the $99 (external damage should only cost this much). Or even sometimes they might say a warranty style issue will not be repaired unless you also fix up some external damage so you end up paying $99 even though you don't care bout the dent.

But for the long life high priced models if you just take it as you need to pay $299 is is worth it, for a $799 mac mini maybe not.

[emosun]

I think I have way too much life experience to at all agree that they'll honor any warranty at all but maybe someone else can chime in now as this is starting to sound more like an apple ad than a news article.

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, Flannelist said:

And it still means that you're subject to whatever other rules Apple puts in place

yeah like the little sentence in the end user license agreement that says "apple can decline services for any reason at all"

[Flannelist]

Just now, emosun said:

yeah like the little sentence in the end user license agreement that says "apple can decline services for any reason at all"

Yep. Believe me. I get it. I work for an Apple Authorized Service provider. (Despite the fact that i don't actually use Apple products at all for myself, professionally they have become somewhat of a specialty). I try my damnedest to do everything I can without having to send stuff out to Apple, or whatever place they've contracted to do their Service Center level repairs. Because of that sentiment.

 

I hate having to tell people I can't fix something just because "Apple says." Some rules I understand, some are totally nonsensical, and some I don't think everyone who services Apple products have read thoroughly to even know how to implement the guideline. But I have read a lot. Because if i understand what Apple expects, then I know how to get away with stuff when I need to.

 

[StDragon]

1 hour ago, emosun said:

I brought back 2 tv's to bestbuy for their 5 year warranty after they had UI artifacting and they replaced them for free and renewed the 5 year warranty. 

So I'll let you know 5 years from now if I ever had to pay 299.

I've had bad experiences with BestBuys warranty replacement. Never again.

 

All extended warranties are either direct with the manufacture, or with SquareTrade.

[BuckGup]

That's awesome more reasons to be careless at the cost of less money in your possession

[Video Beagle]

4 hours ago, emosun said:

enough louis rossman to know applecare is almost entirely useless regardless of the duration.

rossman's business is dependent on people going to him over other repair services, including Apple's own. NOTHING he says is unbiased. You're a rube if you take any example of his as THE TRUTH.  It is only ONLY his very biased experience.

 

I've been an apple customer for over 40 years, and never had problems with repairs from official service providers and then apple stores in all of that time. I wouldn't say my experience is any more valid, though..other than i have no vested interest in making you believe it. 

 

(But see that 40 years bit? that a rhetorical trick to give me credability...like a video sitting next to a soldering iron does for him)

 

[hishnash]

3 hours ago, BuckGup said:

That's awesome more reasons to be careless at the cost of less money in your possession

is that not what every insurance program provides? (this also extends your warranty as well).

[StDragon]

1 hour ago, Video Beagle said:

rossman's business is dependent on people going to him over other repair services, including Apple's own. NOTHING he says is unbiased.

Of course he's biased; the truth does that to people. If you watched any of his videos, you might learn a thing or two as to why he's biased in the first place.

 

Hint: He doesn't damage Apple products, he fixes them. People bring him broken Apple stuff in for repair.

 

His beef is that Apple tightly controls the supply chain so as to limit 3rd party access to parts that would otherwise drive down the cost of repair. Apple wants to control that market as well as make it more financially appealing up upsell existing owners on a newer product; that's far more profitable for them. Rossman's business takes away potential sales from Apple.

[PocketNerd]

6 hours ago, hishnash said:

AppleCare+  is warranty and damage insurance apple will replace any product (regardless of the damage, you can break it right infant of them on purpose)

Edit: Actually, scratch that. If you INTENTIONALLY broke your iPhone in front of them you would be denied under abuse, voiding AC+

But aside from that, AC+ doesn't cover everything, either. So even on the statement of "any damage" this is false.

[AnonymousGuy]

6 hours ago, Flannelist said:

I would contest that. I have seen cases where repairs, even under AppleCare+ have been declined as "catastrophic damage" For example. if you drop your MacBook pro in the bathtub and it sunk to the bottom before you could fish it out. That is considered full submersion and is not covered by AppleCare+. Intentional damage, also not covered. So unless you can justify that you accidentally drilled into your mac pro, I don't see that being covered either. Honestly as far as insurance goes, it's not a bad deal. But there are limitations. And it still means that you're subject to whatever other rules Apple puts in place (of which there are many) for what can get repaired and why.

 

 

Your information is outdated.  They removed the "catastrophic" language a couple years ago from AppleCare+.  The current terms:  https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/applecare/applecareplus/0421/042021_applecareplus_us.pdf

 

Basically are what people expect: as long as you're not intentionally damaging the product they'll replace it.

[Video Beagle]

7 hours ago, StDragon said:

Of course he's biased; the truth does that to people. ..... Rossman's business takes away potential sales from Apple.

And the truth is Apple takes away potential business away from rossman. He's not a charity. He's not fixing things out of the goodness of his heart. He wants you to give him money that you'd give to Apple. And that's perfectly fair. it's how he makes his living. It doesn't mean he's lying..but it also don't mean he's telling some gospel truths. I'm sure every single horror story he's related has happened. But it's literaly just that...each single story.. not some general trend, or even a fair representation of the whole. And he has a vested interest in only sharing that one point of view.

 

And that's all I'm saying on this matter. (that goes for the tile thread too)