[Ti] Best price for Applecare?

[Bill Palmer]

I'm not sure why we're getting this Smalldog bashing here.  If you go to 
the Apple website and read the terms and conditions for the Applecare 
product, you'll see that *Apple* is the one making the "no sale to end 
users in Florida" rule.  I quote:

"9  Other Provisions
...
c  This plan is offered and valid only in the 50 United States, the 
District of Columbia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico.  This Plan is not 
valid in any other country or U.S. territory.  This Plan is not 
available for Florida consumers or where prohibited by law."

In other words, Smalldog does a better job of disclosing the "gotchas" 
than Apple does on the website, not requiring you to read a couple of 
pages of fine print to discover that you live in the one state where the 
plan isn't valid.  Perhaps if you actually try to order Applecare from a 
FL address the Apple website will catch it and warn you, I don't know.

As for having to ship things back to Smalldog for Applecare service, I 
don't see any indication of that on the Smalldog website (feel free to 
point it out), and it hasn't been my experience with either of the 
Applecare plans I purchased from them.  In fact, the time I wanted 
coverage in a hurry, they were willing to open up the package and give 
me the enrollment number over the phone so that I could have the number 
immediately to call Apple without having to pay for express shipping.  
Combined with a roughly 15% discount on the price, what's not to like? 

Bill Reburn wrote:

>On 4/22/03 7:33 PM, "b" <galahad9 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Bill Reburn paused, thought it over, and spoke thusly:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Here are a few quotes from the Smalldog site, whats up with Florida??!! You
>>>can buy it from Smalldog from anywhere and have full coverage but you'll
>>>have to ship it to them for repairs. (read below for clarification) There
>>>are several lawyers on this list - they'll all tell ya, READ THE FINE PRINT
>>>(I guess you don't need a lawyer to tell you that :-).
>>>
>>>"Not available for used or otherwise out-of-warranty product, or for end
>>>users in the State of Florida."
>>>      
>>>
>>Well that's pretty discouraging. I'm living in Florida, but moving to
>>Syracuse, NY, so i wonder if I can just buy Apple care when i get
>>there. I'm having a minor screen issue. I cannot work without my
>>Ti-Book, all my other Macs are either in technical limbo, or on loan
>>semi-permanently elsewhere.
>>    
>>
>
>I think that there's probably a regionally specific (there's that term
>again) AppleCare that you need to purchase in Florida? Like I mentioned, it
>is just the actual AppleCare purchase that is regional - your coverage is
>national if not international.
>
>What, is Florida Dell country or something? Why the Florida snub from
>Apple???
>
>I imagine Apple has all these wacky terms because every state has totally
>contrary insurance legalities. Just like how in some parts of Europe, all
>electronics, including Apple comp's receive 2 years minimum warranty.
>
>I am sure you can still get coverage, just be careful who you buy it from
>and that they know of these issues.. Otherwise they could pull a SmallDog on
>you and make you ship it off.
>
>  
>