Always Get AppleCare

I never buy warranties for my purchases - if someone is expensive enough it should go on your home insurance policy. If it’s cheap enough, just replace it - we live in a society of garbage anyway. Getting serviced when things break is more often than not a huge waste of time. AppleCare is different.

AppleCare is the exception to my “policy”. Like the rest of Apple’s products it comes with a premium price tag, but unlike many company warranty products, Apple actually seems to stand behind their plans - except, apparently, if your device is damaged by water, but we can talk about that another time.

Fixing a Broken Screen

A few months ago (and not long after I first got it) my phone took a fall onto the pavement and the screen shattered. Not sure why I left it so long but on a whim I loaded up the Store app and booked an appointment to be seen by a “genius” at the nearest Apple store.

An hour later I was sitting at their genius bar with my phone being seen by a blue-shirted worker. No questions asked about how it got damaged, no trying to invalidate the AppleCare plan I had on the phone. The dent in the corner was too deep to replace the screen so they replaced my phone and I was out of there in under 15 minutes.

Without the AppleCare I would have still gotten the refurbished phone, but it would have cost hundreds of dollars. It was disappointing to break my phone when it was brand new, but I’m definitely glad I sprung for the protection plan.

[Edit: February 2016]

Servicing the Battery - AppleCare again

The battery on my Macbook Pro gave out just before a business trip. AppleCare to the rescue again! Without it, I would have been out $600, since the battery is connected to the case and the whole top part over the keyboard needed replacement.

Maybe it’s a bit dirty to have everything so proprietary and tightly packed that your customers are basically forced to buy insurance instead of pay hefty repair things, but based on the bill amounts I saw, the warranty has paid for itself.