Apple Care Protection Plan

[treicher]

I religiously bought this plan for every Apple computer I got, thinking it would be a great protection. Meanwhile I had two incidents (both harddrive related on two Powerbooks) that taught me that Apples extended warranty is not any better than the one you buy for your fridge or iron. Everytime Apple found a loophole not to repair it under warranty. Latest harddrive issue was declined to repair with the comment that the powerbook was dropped and that this caused the harddrive to go bad. Fact is that the powerbook was dropped BUT 6 months before the issue with the harddrive started. So in my eyes hardly related to it.
Apple quoted me 995$ (no i am not kidding) to repair the harddrive. I declined. Now I have to go to a third party repair provider (macresq who are actually great). They will repair it in 48 hours for 240$. And of course the Apple warranty is voided on the harddisk by that. I will never again buy in such a rip off. I would recommend: Save your money and pay the repair if you need it. It is cheaper that way.

[fryke]

I both agree and disagree with you. First: I wouldn't buy AppleCare - for the reasons you're stating. But: If you _did_ drop your PowerBook, the harddisk probably _did_ take damage. Harddisks are not made for dropping. Well: The ones in newer PBs actually are, although I _still_ don't recommend dropping your PowerBook. ... Either way: I think your harddrive's failure - even though later on - still can be a consequence of that drop...

[Viro]

I don't buy Apple Care or extended warranties of any kind, specifically for this reason. They are a rip off, and vendors don't honor them. It is kinda sad to see Apple behaving like the common vendor. What happened to "Think different"?