3rd-party equivalent to AppleCare?

[d000hg]

Anyway now I have a nice shiny 27" Retina iMac. CUK has never looked so good.

[d000hg]

Insurance being a gamble your device has an expensive problem, I've decided not to take the bet.
An immoral person could imagine that if it fails in a non-fixable way outside the warranty, it might happen to get dropped down the stairs and be covered on their household policy...

[blacjac]

Had a battery expanding problem on a macbook pro last year (one of the first touchbar ones), no apple care. Apple charged £199 inc VAT to replace it.

Accidental damage has always been covered under my buisnesss insurance (somthing like 20 quid a year for 10k equipment cover including 5k portable computers),but I've never had to claim on that so YMMV...

[eek]

They only offer a reduced subset of current Apple products though. And I don't have a mate there who can get a discount.

my point is you are swapping 3 year warranty for 1 given that Durham is a Stormfront store (and just about the only remaining shop on silver street).

Yeah, we have one of those fake-Apple stores (Stormfront?) in Durham city but I think they are authorised.
Thing is, the refurb machine I'm looking at is marked down about £250, if I was buying brand new I'd get a 2-year warranty(?) and not bother with AC so it seems a bit pointless.

[courtg9000]

Yeah, we have one of those fake-Apple stores (Stormfront?) in Durham city but I think they are authorised.
Thing is, the refurb machine I'm looking at is marked down about £250, if I was buying brand new I'd get a 2-year warranty(?) and not bother with AC so it seems a bit pointless.

My biggest issue would be speed and service in case of a failure... does AC membership get me any priority? They're not going to collect it from my house and drop off a temporary machine I assume
In which case it boils down to betting whether the thing is likely to have a catastrophic failure or not!

StormFront are Apple authorised.

[d000hg]

Stormfront offer 3 years guarantee as standard see Stormfront Guarantee | Stormfront

They only offer a reduced subset of current Apple products though. And I don't have a mate there who can get a discount.

[eek]

Yeah, we have one of those fake-Apple stores (Stormfront?) in Durham city but I think they are authorised.
Thing is, the refurb machine I'm looking at is marked down about £250, if I was buying brand new I'd get a 2-year warranty(?) and not bother with AC so it seems a bit pointless.

My biggest issue would be speed and service in case of a failure... does AC membership get me any priority? They're not going to collect it from my house and drop off a temporary machine I assume
In which case it boils down to betting whether the thing is likely to have a catastrophic failure or not!

Stormfront offer 3 years guarantee as standard see Stormfront Guarantee | Stormfront

[d000hg]

Sadly he's in Durham and I can't think of anyone local to trust.

Also unless I'm mistaken its £189 for an imac, which ain't that bad given how much a replacement xyz would cost if you needed it repaired.

Yeah, we have one of those fake-Apple stores (Stormfront?) in Durham city but I think they are authorised.
Thing is, the refurb machine I'm looking at is marked down about £250, if I was buying brand new I'd get a 2-year warranty(?) and not bother with AC so it seems a bit pointless.

My biggest issue would be speed and service in case of a failure... does AC membership get me any priority? They're not going to collect it from my house and drop off a temporary machine I assume
In which case it boils down to betting whether the thing is likely to have a catastrophic failure or not!

[eek]

If you are in the Londonish area Apple Heroes, Park Royal are pretty good

Sadly he's in Durham and I can't think of anyone local to trust.

Also unless I'm mistaken its £189 for an imac, which ain't that bad given how much a replacement xyz would cost if you needed it repaired.

[courtg9000]

I can't think of a good way to find an unauthorised, reputable Apple Repair centre i.e. one Apple would farm stuff out to.

If you are in the Londonish area Apple Heroes, Park Royal are pretty good

[d000hg]

Yeah I have no real interest in accidental cover for a desktop. If I drop it down the stairs moving house I'd ring my house insurer.
One assumes AppleCare makes a profit like other insurance so on average the cost of repairs of any one item is less than the insurance cost - unless Apple do it as a service that is.

I can't think of a good way to find an unauthorised, reputable Apple Repair centre i.e. one Apple would farm stuff out to.

[eek]

It's hard to tell as Applecare is a combination of accidental damage and extended warranty.

Personally I had it on a macbook pro and Apple both repaired the computer and gave me a replacement charger as well (which I wasn't expecting and would have cost £130).

[Lance]

I'm quite interested in getting an official Apple-refurbed machine but the 1-year warranty on an expensive machine concerns me; this isn't a £400 beige box that if it dies in 2 years I can toss (or probably repair cheaply).

AppleCare has always struck me as a total scam but is that fair? Are there other companies offering a similar product? If it goes wrong - say it just won't turn on one day - what is the experience like?
Equally, if it goes wrong and I don't have AppleCare what are my options? Is it bricked or will Apple fix it for a reasonable charge?

As my main work machine, if it dies then every day without it is a big problem. As is having to traipse to another city to my nearest 'dealer'.
I've never had any specific insurance on a phone or PC to know what it's like - your stories are welcome

I had Apple Care on a Macbook Pro. That turned out to be worthwhile as it developed a fault with the screen about 2.5 years in. Although the repair centre who fixed it weren't an Apple store and they would have done it for a price.
The repair centre have to use genuine Apple parts for an Apple Care repair. Not if you're paying for it yourself. So my advice would be to talk to your local independent Apple Care repair centre.

[d000hg]

I'm quite interested in getting an official Apple-refurbed machine but the 1-year warranty on an expensive machine concerns me; this isn't a £400 beige box that if it dies in 2 years I can toss (or probably repair cheaply).

AppleCare has always struck me as a total scam but is that fair? Are there other companies offering a similar product? If it goes wrong - say it just won't turn on one day - what is the experience like?
Equally, if it goes wrong and I don't have AppleCare what are my options? Is it bricked or will Apple fix it for a reasonable charge?

As my main work machine, if it dies then every day without it is a big problem. As is having to traipse to another city to my nearest 'dealer'.
I've never had any specific insurance on a phone or PC to know what it's like - your stories are welcome