Yesterday I went to help a computer owner whose explanation on the phone was “I’m just having more and more trouble getting on the internet. It takes several tries, although once I’m on, things go very smoothly.”
Now this customer is on DSL, so I suspected there might be more to this story. Im very aware (as many phone support people do NOT seem able to grasp) that most home users are not familiar with computer speak. I have customers that call the cpu a modem and the other day I had to figure out that a customer who said she couldnt save file changes to the drive was in fact trying to make changes to a presentation that was on a cd-r and then save those changes back onto the CD. Often, phone support involves hearing what customers think they are telling you as opposed to what they are saying.
Anyway, when I got to the cant get on the internet customers home, what I found was a computer that would only boot about 1 in 10 tries. This was an iMac, so I ran the Mac hardware test CD and quickly determined there was a video issue. As I worked, the customer sat at my elbow chatting and I heard him say phone support had given him a certain keyboard shortcut.
So, youve called Apple on this problem?
No, I bought the store warranty, so Ive talked with the store people.
I knew the approximate age of the computer, so I asked him for his paperwork and sure enough, he had less than a week left on the 3 year warranty. A phone call to the store revealed that they had to have the computer checked into their tech department before the date the warranty ran out, or there was nothing they could do.
The point of this story is not whether we get the computer fixed. The real point of this story is: if you have an extended warranty, dont try for three months to deal with a problem on your own. Take advantage of the warranty you paid good money to purchase…thats what its for.
Another point is that store warranties will require you to return the item to the store. Manufacturers warranties sometimes require a trip to a local repair facility, but can also let you ship the item to the manufacturer. Be aware of these differences when choosing a warranty. My customer is extremely elderly and was intimidated by the trip to the Indianapolis megastore as well as facing the tech people.
He would have been much better off with AppleCare on this computer. While I dont know about the price difference, I do know that AppleCare would have dealt with this rather major problem by having him ship the computer to them and in a turnaround of just a day or two, would have sent him a repaired or replacement computer.
AppleCare is an excellent investment on any Apple product, so if you are the sort of customer who always buys the extended warranty, my advice is to skip the store warranty and go for the manufacturer (AppleCare) warranty.
In this case, the customer tried to handle his problem and/or live with it for nearly three months and almost waited too long to actually use the warranty. His problem is a serious hardware failure and will soon result in the computer being unusable. The repair costs will almost surely be more than the cost of the warranty, so he would have doubled the cost to himself by letting the warranty run out and then paying for the repair.
When you buy a warranty, you are betting that something major will go wrong with the device….the manufacturer (or the store) is betting that everything will be fine, but they have the house advantage, because they are gambling that you will not keep close tabs on the life of the warranty or in the case of most repairs, it will seem like too much trouble to return to the store. Human nature says the odds are in their favor!
Lesson learned: If you pay for an extended warranty study the options and weigh the differences, then keep careful records for the life of the warranty, and above all, use it when you need it.