disappointed with applecare and warranty

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Level 1

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disappointed with applecare and warranty

i have had my 15" g4 aluminum for 2.5 years and love it dearly. i am a devoted mac enthusiast. i have and will always own macs.

if there was ever a time to need/use applecare i would have thought my recent situation would qualify. i was getting out of my car and dropped my computer from the height of the drivers seat to the ground, approximately one and a half feet. the computer was in a soft, padded protective bag. it was not reckless or negligent, just a little misake. we all make them.

anyway, it would not power up after that. booted directly to an open firmware screen. reset (option/apple/power) didn't help, reset open firmware (option/apple/o/f) wouldn't help, reset pram (power/bong/option/apple/p/r/bong) didn't help. i sent it in to applecare. they said there was evidence of a liquid spill which is true, and that the warranty/applecare is therefore void. i spilled soda on the powerbook about one year ago. the computer dried out and has always worked fine before and after the spill. it wasn't until i dropped it recently that something got dislodged and stopped working. however, applecare told me that since i spilled something in the past my applecare/warranty was void and that my repair was going to cost me $950. that is not a good value or worth it, in my opinion, i would rather spend a little more and get a current state-of-the-art machine.

just wanted to vent. i'm disappointed that a spill one year ago that did not damage my machine at all voided what applecare is supposedly good for: keeping you from buying a new computer within 3 years of purchasing one.

-b.

Posted on Feb 17, 2006 1:44 AM

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Answer 1

TheQ

Level 2

165 points

Feb 17, 2006 4:37 AM in response to Bryan Cook1

I wouldn't be blaming Applecare for their handling of this one. They only provide cover against defects and faults that can be attributed to the manufacturing or engineering of the equipment. You can't really expect them to cover problems that are the result of your own doing, however accidental it might be. That is what personal property insurance is for.

My biggest gripe with applecare, at least in Australia, is that while their phone support is exceptional, their repair service relies on local service centres which in my area at least, are disgracefully slow, I'm talking 10 business days before they even start to look at your equipment. This is bad to the point where currently I am hesitant to recommend a Mac to others who, like me, rely on it as an essential part of their every day work.

In my experience Dell, HP and IBM all offer MUCH more responsive repair service. It's an area that Apple really should look at improving, as it's the only bad experience I have had with the company to date.

Seeya...Q

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Answer 2

Feb 17, 2006 4:47 AM in response to Bryan Cook1

That's really a shame...

I've found that one's success with Apple service is directly related to the facility you take it to and and what techs are working that day.

My old (2002) iBook was delivered with a faulty logic board, and the first tech just reinstalled the OS and sent it back with a condescending note!

Since then I managed to rewire the broken backlight invertor power lines by myself after the hinge mechanism severed a couple, and then much later the main board died (again) and the tech at CPUsed here in Toronto replaced the board for free (under the Official Replacement Program) and went as far to put a new wiring harness in to replace my hacked-up one, and also replaced the DC input board for free.

I know that they log service on machines so if you were to take your machine to another authorized service centre they would probably see the last note on it and still charge you the big $$$ for a repair... but it may be worth a try.

Good luck!
cd

PowerBook G4 1.67, DL-SD, 15" hi-res Mac OS X (10.4.5)

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Answer 3

Feb 21, 2006 7:32 AM in response to Bryan Cook1

Like most extended warranties, AppleCare is just a way to get people to give more money to a company for free. The major expense item, screen, is not covered for most types of damage, and the second most common cause of laptop demise, the spill, is also not covered. So it's an expensive way to pay a company to do what they should do anyway, which is have more than a 12 month warranty.

Now I'm not suggesting Apple should insure people for dropping their equipment, which is of course not Apple's fault. It's just that the extended warranty is very expensive for what it covers.

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Answer 4

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Feb 21, 2006 7:38 AM in response to Alfred Brunner

"...Now I'm not suggesting Apple should insure people for dropping their equipment, which is of course not Apple's fault. It's just that the extended warranty is very expensive for what it covers."

So you feel that if you spill your wine into the keyboard Apple should pay for the repair? They didn't even get an opportunity to choose the wine.

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Answer 5

Bryan Cook1 Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2006 10:07 AM in response to TheQ

i agree that spilling on the laptop is completely my fault, and that they should cover things that are their fault. however, the spill did not damage anything or make anything non-functional. BUT, the spill (which didn't do any damage) is voiding the whole warranty and keeping them from working on other freak malfunctions, and i think that is lame. issues that are directly related to a spill would be one thing i could understand...

it is quite expensive for what you get.

-b.

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Answer 6

Mar 22, 2006 10:29 AM in response to Bryan Cook1

Fair enough, but I think you're asking a bit much of their forensic skills to be able to differentiate component failure from the spill and for some other reason, especially if the spill is still evident 1 year later. In an ideal world, yes, they would a) take your word for it that the spill didn't cause any further issues, b) be able to diagnose what the spill did/didn't cause - but the world is far from being that ideal. In any event, they may even have a good argument that the spill made the failure more likely when you dropped it - just speculation.

I completely understand your disappointment in this matter, I'd say it is misdirected though - The thing is that warranty and insurance are not the same thing and even if you ignore the liquid, the fall may well have been responsible, even on your own account.

2 possibilities which might assist

a) If you paid with a credit card, check to see that they didn't add cover for accidents. Many cards double warranty and add accident insurance.
b) If you have home contents insurance, check with them to see if they cover.

Very sorry for your misfortune, I do hope that some solution presents itself.

Best of luck.

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Answer 7

TheQ

Level 2

165 points

Mar 22, 2006 3:55 PM in response to Bryan Cook1

i agree that spilling on the laptop is completely my
fault, and that they should cover things that are
their fault. however, the spill did not damage
anything or make anything non-functional. BUT, the
spill (which didn't do any damage) is voiding the
whole warranty and keeping them from working on other
freak malfunctions, and i think that is lame. issues
that are directly related to a spill would be one
thing i could understand...

You are saying that you dropping the machine out of your car onto the ground resulting in it failing to work is Apple's fault and not yours? I'm sorry but it's not, that is neglect pure and simple.

So ultimately what you are really upset about is that they are voiding your warranty for spilling something on the machine when in fact they should be voiding it because you dropped it. Did you even tell Apple you dropped it?

It don't think that's being very reasonable. You can't expect Apple to pay for your mistake, that's what accident insurance is for, not warranty.

Seeya...Q

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Answer 8

Mar 23, 2006 10:17 PM in response to TheQ

Apple Care is worth the $$. I went through 4, yes four logic boards and a top case - the track pad failed - on my Ti 667. The firewire port was of poor design. They seem to have fixed it in models released since then.

You can get Apple Care for the PB for LESS than the $350 that Apple wants by using an after market retailer. I got my current Apple Care from the Apple Store at $250 because I told then that I would purchase it at a lesser price online from another retailer.

As for the dropped PB and the past spill that had nothing to do with the current problem. That part does stink. So what is the current problem as to why the PB will not boot?

MJ

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Answer 9

MIR007

Level 1

0 points

Mar 30, 2006 11:37 AM in response to Bryan Cook1

Do you still have your computer box?

The reason why I asked, I purchased a 15 inch power book G4 stocked with a 100 gb hard drive and 1 gig of ram. When I started it up it shows I only have 93.1 GB. The computer is suppose to have a disclamer on its box that the actual capacity of the hard drive is less. Apparently Apple provides this disclaimer on every model except the 12 inch and 15 inch stocked with a 100 GB hard drive and 1 gig of ram.

I am looking to find other mac users out there in California that were also not provided this disclaimer?

my email is mrott@hrollp.com

Thanks

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Answer 10

TheQ

Level 2

165 points

Mar 30, 2006 4:55 PM in response to MIR007

There is something you should probably know about this before you get too upset. Disclaimer or not, this isn't anything new or untoward, rather it is the unfortunate side effect of overlapping terminology that originates from two different industries.

There are TWO different, equally correct, meanings for the term Gigabyte, the SI unit used for Telecomunications and storage, and the binary unit used for designating computer memory and computer software.

The confusion lies in the fact that computer software uses the binary units (based on powers of 2) to describe all forms of storage, regardless of whether it's system memory or physical storage. While physical media such as HDD and Flash drives are (and always have been) manufactured and designated using the SI unit of measurement which is based on powers of 10.

The 100GB that is designated on your HDD is a Decimal or Metric Gigabyte,
ie. It's 100 x 1,000,000,000 bytes (or 100 x 10^9)

However due to their binary nature, computer operating systems have always used a different definition of a Gigabyte.

The 1GB of RAM your system has is a Binary Gigabyte,
ie. It's 1 x 1,073,741,824 bytes (or 1 x 1024^3 = 1 x 2^30)

So if you represented 100GB Metric as Decimal you get

100 x 10^9 / 2^30 = 93.13 GiB

Which is why your operating system says you have a 93GB capacity from your 100GB HDD.

This is an unfortunate case of one word having two slightly different meanings depending on the context in which it's used, which is pretty typical of the English language in general.

Seeya...Q

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