Does apple give grace period when warranty/apple care protection plan expires?

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Level 1

10 points

Does apple give grace period when warranty/apple care protection plan expires?

We have purchase an iMac 3 years ago and an apple care protection plan which was valid until January 15 of 2016. On February 10, our iMac started experiencing problems - it would not power up but only displayed a folder with a question mark jn the middle. We contacted apple centre in Canada and after troubleshooting over the phone were advised to take it to an authorized Apple repair centre. We did and the result was that the hard drive was failing and needed be replaced. A total cost of the repair is $320 plus tax which includes a hard drive replacement and data recovery. The technician is currently working on it and advised that we call back Apple and ask if they would consider helping with the hard drive repair considering that our iMac has been barely 2 months out of warranty when the hard drive failed. The technician said that they would be surprised if apple says no to this request since the computer literary broke down right after the warranty expired. Well, today I called Apple to discuss the above and the answer was a flat out no and was told that the technician has led us on. Somehow, the entire conversation with Apple left me feeling uncertain and thinking that I was not speaking to the right person who kept on blaming the technician for misinformation and not giving us any kind of comfort/solution or at least meeting half way with a die hard Apple customer. Did anyone have this experience and do you know if Apple is giving grace periods when warranty expires and the product has been out of warranty for such a short time? I wonder what kind of answer I would get from Apple if our iMac broke down one day after the warranty expires?

iMac

Posted on Apr 9, 2016 11:04 AM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,606 points

Apr 9, 2016 11:33 AM in response to punkyca

It is certainly frustrating that your problem surfaced shortly after the warranty expired, but the fact is that all hard drives will fail at some point: some sooner and some later.

No company is obliged to do anything (free) after the warranty has expired and most do not. I was 1 week past my warranty on an external DVD burner/drive and that company did not offer to repair or replace for free. I did not like it, but had to accept it. That is why there is a time limit on any warranty.

So, I would not expect anything; and, anything a technician tells me regarding warranty issues is not necessarily true or company policy - he should not have said anything besides "try it, but I wouldn't expect anything".

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Answer 2

MichelPM

Level 10

81,601 points

Apr 9, 2016 11:53 PM in response to punkyca

I, seriously, doubt Apple will pay extend the warranty period to cover your repair.

Your 3 years of coverage ended in January.

It is, nearly, 3 months later.

If it had been 3 days or even 3 weeks later, your iMac broke down, I certainly would have asked a tried to get Apple to cover a fairly early repair after the 3 year mark had passed.

But I don't think this will be possible, now, as too much time has passed after your 3 year warranty period ended.

My opinion.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,853 points

Apr 10, 2016 2:42 AM in response to punkyca

FWIW, Warranties for any product are for a fixed time period. They are not for a fixed time period plus some arbitrary grace period. There is nothing in the AppleCare agreement that suggests a grace period.

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Answer 4

Apr 10, 2016 5:32 AM in response to punkyca

The solution to your problem may have been relatively simple and much cheaper. In my case the hard drive of my 2007 iMac burnt out and I removed it as a precaution. Then I did the following:

1. Buy an external drive.

2. Used the start-up disc's Disk Utility program > Erase > Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Name: Macintosh HD > Erase.

3. Then restored my whole system using my latest Time Machine back-up.

By saying "data recovery" I assume you didn't back-up your system. If so, start doing it NOW and treat your current situation as an expensive lesson, after all, an external drive is quite cheep and a very good investment.

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