The macosxhints Forums - Warranty and/or AppleCare

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- - Warranty and/or AppleCare (http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=42926)

Quote:

Originally Posted by giskard22

So in the end, the replacement didn't cost you anything, right? Or did they still charge you the $50? If so, I think you need to call and demand a refund; as far as I know, you only pay for a phone support incident if it does not result in hardware repair.

Thanks for asking about this, I'm pretty sure it's all resolved now with me not paying anything in the end. Current status: A charge will appear on my statement, and a credit will be issued which will take effect in a week but not appear on my statement for a month or two.

Quote:

Originally Posted by giskard22

Regarding the original topic:
AppleCare is basically insurance against the cost of hardware repairs and support. In the long run, assuming the insurance provider got their pricing scheme correct, the cost of insurance on average will outweigh the benefits.

To me the economics of insurance is like going to a casino and betting that your computer will fail (or you will die or get injured or whatever). If it does fail you win the bet and get enough money to pay off the repair. If it doesn't, you lose, the casino keeps your money. AppleCare is a little different because there are other benefits. You can call and get help with software problems (I think). But still the house gets to set the odds...

Quote:

But if you won't have the funds to spend $400 or $800 or possibly even more on a sudden repair, you need to have insurance.

I think this is a very good point, and that's what I think of any insurance, but usually the cost of the insurance is somehow related to the possible cost of the benefit. I have to pay $500 dollars of car insurance a year, and I never had an accident. But if I happen to be in an accident where someone gets injured, the cost of not having insurance can go from hundreds of thousands of dollars to jail time!, therefore $1000 dollars for two years is definitely worth my peace of mind.

On the other hand, a paid $1500 for my powerbook, and something like $2700 for my PM (both with the student discount). The PB is almost a year old, and now I can find the same model (with the same upgrades) used for $1000... even in the worst scenario, the ratio price of insurance/benefit is two high!.

R.