Recently I had to get my MacBook pro repaired. I made the rookie error of placing pieces of paper between the screen and keyboard, and closed it. When I got home I realized I had made a huge mistake. The pieces of paper were stapled. And I just happened to have placed the staple at the base of the hinge, where most of the torque would be applied upon closing.
You guessed it right; the staple became a fulcrum that punched through the screen and cracked it. I had gotten the MBP only a couple of months back and when I purchased it I decided to skip AppleCare. My calculus was; AppleCare extends the warranty for 2 years past the base warranty and I can purchase it before it expires, so I’ll do that when the time comes.
I made an appointment and went to a local Apple Store and explained the issue. They quickly pointed out the crack and said it was considered accidental damage and not covered by their warranty. That’s fine, “how much is it”, I asked. Well, “if you had AppleCare it would be $99.00”, the lady explained. “I do not”, I told her. How much more could it be? A whole other $100? $150? $200?
“The total cost, to fix your screen, without AppleCare will be $475”. You read that right, Where AppleCare costs $250, plus the $99 to replace the screen for a grand total of $349, the screen replacement would cost me a premium of $125 on top of that; and I’d end up without AppleCare thereafter.
Think about that. Apple is basically saying; pay us an insurance premium of $250 for two years, and if you do not, we’ll not only double the cost of repairs, we’ll quintuple them.
My issue is with the overall cost of repairs. Apple can offer an insurance service if they want, that’s fine. But by quintupling the cost of repairs they are in essence forcing their users to purchase it. And that to me, does not seem like fair business practices.
