[Ti] Best price for Applecare?

[Bill Reburn]

On 4/23/03 9:24 AM, "Bill Palmer" <whpalmer4 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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:

There's no bashing involved Bill, I simply pointed out that you should be
aware of who and where you're purchasing your coverage from (specifically
outside of Continental US or Canada, Mexico - which is half the world,
geographically). The Florida thing I stumbled on accidentally and is just
plain funny (except for users in Fla!)

If you refer to my message I in fact quote BOTH Apple and SmallDog's terms
(which are similar, but more restrictive on SmallDog's end if you actually
need repairs and do not live in the USofA). Apple redirects you to your
appropriate regional connection for purchase of AppleCare (so you don't ship
your equipment anywhere).

> 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.

Smallprint is small print, SmallDog posts it on their webpage, Apple
provides it in a 2 pg pdf (The UK pdf is 5 pages!), no hiding anything in my
opinion. Both companies provide the access to the information in the same
convenient manner. I might say Apple provides the better info, since they
re-direct you at purchase time. Does SmallDog inform their customers of out
of country warranty conditions at purchase time? I have not purchased
anything from them is why I ask. I quoted their conditions for you below.

You're right about ordering the AppleCare from Apple and it catching you - I
figured all of this out when I tried to purchase AppleCare and I would be
transferred to www.apple.ca (yes I'm in Canada). No doubt you can not buy
Canadian AppleCare from the US if you tried.

> 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), 

Notice that this quote below says - "to facilitate US warranty service", how
is this different from any other warranty service? What is US Warranty
Service? I take that as nothing more than service to be completed within the
US, No? I remember some list members here purchasing AppleCare in say,
Germany and it not being valid in Asia. Laptops are something of an
exception in some areas though. When you buy something from Apple, you are
not paying some global Apple account, they're regional and as a business
unit, act seperately country to country, with different laws to adhere to
(as I mentioned about Europe receiving an automatic 2 year warranty) If you
purchase AppleCare from SmallDog in the US (and you don't live in the US),
you would have to (not in all instances) have the warranty work done at
SmallDog in the US.

"Most of Small Dog's products do have a warranty, the vast majority of which
is not valid outside of the United States. Small Dog is glad to facilitate
US warranty service for international customers, but all shipping charges
both to and from Small Dog remain the responsibility of the customer. Please
contact us for an RMA # for return shipping and warranty repair. "


And from http://www.smalldog.com/product/42901 (SD's Applecare page)

"Service Repair Options - These are the current AppleCare service methods in
the U.S. under the AppleCare Protection Plan:
- Carry-in service is available for most products at any Apple Authorized
Service Provider in the U.S."

"The Protection Plan is valid in the U.S. Apple does not promise that onsite
service will be available on all products in all areas of the U.S."

And

Here is a quote from the CDN AppleCare PDF, further proving my point.

"The Plan¹s obligor in the U.S. is Apple Computer, Inc., 1 Infinite Loop,
Cupertino, CA 95014, U.S., unless the laws of your state require otherwise,
in which case Apple acts as the agent of the obligor.

The Plan¹s obligor in Canada is Apple Canada Inc., 7495 Birchmount Road,
Markham, Ontario, L3R 5G2, Canada."


Here is a quote from the Ireland/UK AppleCare PDF

"This Plan is offered and valid only in countries of United Kingdom,
Ireland, mainland France, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria,
Italy, mainland Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden,
Denmark, Norway and Finland and, unless specifically agreed with Apple, is
available only in the country where the entitlement to the Plan is purchased
and activated. The address you provide to Apple at the time of purchase of
entitlement shall be deemed to be the address where the Covered Equipment
Is located unless you inform Apple to the contrary."



> and it hasn't been my experience with either of the
> Applecare plans I purchased from them.

Where do you live and what piece of equipment did you have repaired under
AppleCare purchased from SmallDog?

> 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?

No one has said, don't buy it from SmallDog and I already mentioned that
shops will give you the number before the pckge arrives. But if you do not
live in the US the shipping back to the US for repairs is what's not to
like. 15% doesn't cover those expenses.


Bill Reburn