Exclusive Deal While supplies last, save 40% off over 40 iPhone 5 and iPhone 4/4S cases and chargers as well as Samsung S III cases at Kensington.com. Use coupon code 'SAVE40%' at checkout to receive this exclusive discount.      
toggle

AAPL Stock: 443.82 ( + 1.68 )

http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/11/03/tight.limits.apply/

AppleCare plans now transferable between products

updated 09:40 am EDT, Wed November 3, 2010

 

Tight limits apply


Apple has slightly loosened the restrictions of its AppleCare warranty plans, a leaked memo shows. Retroactive to October 28th, people who want to can now transfer any existing AppleCare plan to a new product. Previously, Apple notes, people would simply have to buy a new AppleCare term unless both products were iPhones. iPhone plans have been transferable since June 23rd.

The change comes with some heavy restrictions. The original product must have been bought within 30 days before the transfer request, and the new one must fall within the scope of the same type of AppleCare plan. Coverage bought for an iPad, for example, cannot be carried over to a Cinema Display.




by MacNN Staff

Post tools:

TAGS :

 troubleshooting, Apple, AppleCare

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Comments

  1. pairof9s

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Jan 2008

    +4
    11/03, 10:06am | report spam | Reply |

    Glad that was conveyed!

    Would've been nice of Apple to inform this news to all current AppleCare owners instead of letting us continue to purchase comparable warranties to new purchases.

    /

  1. Paul Huang

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Sep 1999

    +2
    11/03, 10:34am | report spam | Reply |

    You might as well forget about it

    Let's say your computer drops dead at the end of the second year and you have ONE year of AppleCare left, you transfer it to the new unit. What do you gain? Just 270 days of phone call support without charge. Hardware coverage remains to be ONE YEAR (standard warranty, nothing added).

    1 + 1 = 1

    This is called Apple's 'new math'.

    I'd much rather get the 1/3 refund.

  1. bjojade

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2007

    +5
    11/03, 10:59am | report spam | Reply |

    They fix it.

    If you have AppleCare and your computer 'drops dead' at the end of year 2, it's covered under AppleCare, and Apple fixes it. The difference is if you damage the machine in a non warranty situation. In that case, you can transfer the AppleCare to the new machine that you buy to replace it.

  1. milkmage

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2003

    0
    11/03, 11:30am | report spam | Reply |

    year 2?

    @Paul I think you're out of luck. FTA: The original product must have been bought within 30 days before the transfer request, and the new one must fall within the scope of the same type of AppleCare plan.

    you have to transfer that plan in a month.

    I buy a laptop w/ AC.. why am I replacing that laptop in 30 days? if it's a lemon, they'll take care of it because it's the first year.. if I need a second laptop.. i need a second AC. the only benefit is for accidental damage.. so if I drop the mac in the pool, it's NOT covered, so I can move my coverage to a new machine (as bjojade points out). but saving the cost of a new AC plan when i have to buy a new machine due to my own stupidity is little consolation.

    I don't understand your comment about hardware. I have an imac @ work.. just last month (year 2 of AC) I got a new optical drive and cabling bundle (onsite repair too!) my company paid nothing. year one (same machine) I got a new hard drive. AC's already paid for itself

  1. Paul Huang

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Sep 1999

    0
    11/03, 11:49am | report spam | Reply |

    I meant dropped and is beyond repair

    and you have to transfer the remainder of one year AppleCare to another new computer or get a refund on 1/3 of it.

  1. Paul Huang

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Sep 1999

    +2
    11/03, 11:56am | report spam | Reply |

    transfer...

    @ Milkmage

    Apple did transfer the remainder of AppleCare (let's say the first one is damaged and cannot be covered by AppleCare) to a newly-purchased Mac of the same type (11.6-13.3" portables, 15.4-17", Mac mini, Mac Pro, iMac, etc). However, that policy changed to refund only in recent years.

    You did not understand my original message. What I have stated is exactly the scenario you have described:

    If the computer is covered under AppleCare but was damaged (I shouldn't have used dropped dead, but physically damaged beyond repair/beyond AppleCare coverage), then the remainder of the AppleCare could be transferred to another NEW Mac of the same type, except that if you have one year left, that one year will FUSE into the one-year standard warranty, so the net gain is just the extension of phone support from 90 days to one year.

    The standard non-battery-operated Macs have one year LOCAL warranty, not world-wide coverage. AppleCare provides that, so this is a little-known fact.

  1. Jonathan-Tanya

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2004

    -8
    11/03, 11:58am | report spam | Reply |

    I don't buy AppleCare

    Before this change, after it, I never found it to be a compelling product.

    If you like it, great.

    But, extended warranties and support are usually huge profit centers for companies.

    It's better just to set some money aside in your own savings account - granted some corporations can't do that and are forced to budget (and spend) a projects money in advance - but that is, just an unfortunate, illogical and mistaken business practice, and yes, you can change your business practices, at least in theory.

  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +5
    11/03, 12:21pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: I don't buy AppleCare

    I never found it to be a compelling product.

    Considering the (a) cost of fixing any mac, and (b) the drop in quality at Apple over the last 10 years, I highly recommend it on any Mac with a built-in screen or a MacPro. The cost of screen replacement alone offsets the price, if a problem occurs. And laptop repairs are never cheap, regardless of whether it's a Mac or PC.

    In the 80s/90s, I never would have dreamed of buying it. When reading articles about comparing customer support quality, I always said "I don't know how Apple's customer/tech support is, for I never needed to call them." That changed with Apple's growth (which seems obvious, the more you sell, the more likely corners are being cut, quality is going down).

    My PPC Tower died 2 years into ownership. All sorts of mobo issues. I seriously doubt Apple would have fixed replacing the motherboard (twice) for less than the $250 the coverage costs.

    My iBook needed to be sent in twice for repair over the crappy video issue it had (and, no, I don't believe my iBook was in the 'blessed' range that Apple stated had the problem). Again, $150 more than paid for itself.

    If you like it, great. But, extended warranties and support are usually huge profit centers for companies.

    Which is true, but that's because some people are idiots on buy it on everything they own, regardless of cost, history of performance. Buying it on a mini or iPod is throwing money away, as the computer is too cheap to warrant it. h***, I remember buying a $9 network card from CompUSA and was asked if I wanted to get the protection plan (seriously, on a $9 item).

  1. Paul Huang

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Sep 1999

    +4
    11/03, 12:48pm | report spam | Reply |

    Mac Pro AppleCare is the best value

    As prices for the portables dropped from the high 3000 to 2000, AppleCare has not dropped, but as the starting price of towers rose from the low 1000s to 2500 and up, AppleCare has not gone up, either.

    Buy a 6000 Mac Pro and AppleCare (including monitor) is only $200. It's a bargain.

    I have handled many replacements at the end of the 3-year period. Completely new unit for the cost of AppleCare.

  1. climacs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

    +2
    11/03, 05:26pm | report spam | Reply |

    most of the time

    warranties like they try to sell you at Radio Shack and Best Buy are not worth it.

    But for your Mac, it's well worth it. They just fix it, virtually no questions asked. With a laptop it's especially foolish to go without it.

    Best warranty and warranty support in any business.

Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

MacNN Sponsor

Recent Reviews

MaxUpgrades MaxConnect for 2006-2008 Mac Pro

Nobody outside of Cupertino's privileged bunch knows the future of the Mac Pro line for sure. Despite Apple's reluctance to tell us wh ...

Brother HL-3170CDW LED Printer

We've mentioned before that we are far from a paperless society. For now, at least, there are tasks that require a piece of paper for ...

HTC One

It is hard to overstate just how critically important the HTC One is to the Taiwanese company’s fortunes. Despite its alarming decline ...

toggle

Most Commented

 

Popular News