apple care vs. best buy plan - which is better?

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jeri534

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i would think best buys plan is better because you can bring it in and they will replace it for you no questions asked..and its cheaper than apple cares I believe
 

bench

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so what do you think i should do..

should i buy an ipod mini with my student discount at an apple store either with or without apple care
(ipod with student discount comes to about 248 with tax, then plus apple care another 60 to make it about $308)


or should i buy an ipod mini at best buy with their service plan?
(ipod at 249 plus tax comes to about 270, but i'm not sure how much their service plan is so that i can get a final total... anyone know?)

which is a better investment?
 
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Schmoodle

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Hey, can I buy apple care after I bought my mini? At the time I didn't buy it but now I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea.

Anyone know?
 

chinhster

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I can verify that it's $313 total at Best Buy (TX) with the 2 year service plan. They told me the battery is covered but I think they're full of it because I looked at the warranty and it says batteries are covered only for laptops. Someone mentioned Applecare gets you 1 free battery replacement.

However, since the battery on the iPod is not external or easily replaceable, you could claim it's broken. BB is very good about replacing batteries on laptops. I've had to bring in two different laptops that wouldn't hold a charge and they did minimal testing before they gave me a new battery.

With BB, unless they send the warranty repair to Apple, they would seem to be a lot less knowledgeable about repairing the iPod and would probably just refund the purchase price of the iPod + tax (that's what the warranty gets you) which after a year or two, you could replace with a 2G mini.

If I were you, I'd ask BB if the battery is covered and get it in writing if they say it is. I'm going back to confirm it with them since the info I have may be out of date.
 
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bench

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chinhster said:
I can verify that it's $313 total at Best Buy (TX) with the 2 year service plan. They told me the battery is covered but I think they're full of it because I looked at the warranty and it says batteries are covered only for laptops. Someone mentioned Applecare gets you 1 free battery replacement.

However, since the battery on the iPod is not external or easily replaceable, you could claim it's broken. BB is very good about replacing batteries on laptops. I've had to bring in two different laptops that wouldn't hold a charge and they did minimal testing before they gave me a new battery.

With BB, unless they send the warranty repair to Apple, they would seem to be a lot less knowledgeable about repairing the iPod and would probably just refund the purchase price of the iPod + tax (that's what the warranty gets you) which after a year or two, you could replace with a 2G mini.

If I were you, I'd ask BB if the battery is covered and get it in writing if they say it is. I'm going back to confirm it with them since the info I have may be out of date.
texas has sales of about 8% right?
so that means it's $270 without the best buy plan
you said it's $313 with the plan as a final total so that means it's about $43 for a 2 year best buy plan?

is this right?

in that case, it's much better than an apple care plan of 1 year for $60.

so if i go with best buy.. the other problem is waiting for the ipod mini to even be available. the mini is sold out online (best buy website) and not at the store here either. the only place is my campus store that say they'll have them in in at least a couple weeks.

any suggestions? please?!:confused:
 

Phil

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At my local BB, there was a sign where the mp3 players were regarding their protection plan for the ipod. I think it said something about actually sending the ipod off for repair rather than being an automatic replacement program. If that's the case, CompUSA's TAP plan is better, because it's an actual on-site replacement, although you have to re-purchase the plan on the replacement.
 

chinhster

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Yes, we have an 8.25% sales tax so it was probably $40+tax for the extended warranty.

Now I was told they offer a total refund but what they tell you and what's true is often two different things. I remember a few years ago I bought a laptop and the salesman told me with the extended warranty, if I dropped the laptop and cracked the screen, it would be covered. Maybe the policy has changed since then because the warranty nowadays clearly states that kind of damage is not covered.

The salesman I spoke to said the battery was covered who then asked another who said it was total replacement so who knows. I'll check with them again. I mainly got it for the battery coverage.
 

sescob

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Regarding the Best Buy plan...is that available when you purchase online or is it only if you go to an actual BB store?
 

urbanlegend

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Schmoodle said:
Hey, can I buy apple care after I bought my mini? At the time I didn't buy it but now I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea.

Anyone know?
I was told by Apple Canada that I could purchase Apple Care until my original one year warranty expires.
 

chinhster

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Looks like you can order it online from Best Buy but since they're out of the mini, I couldn't confirm it but I tried it with a regular iPod and it's an option after you add it to your cart. They offer a 4 year service plan for the 3G iPod for $40! But I think that's repair only and not replacement. However, I'm sure if they can't fix it, they'll replace it.

Don't forget that Circuit City offers a similar service plan (no repair, just replacement) but at $55.
 
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rt297

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I bought my Mini at a Houston BB on day 1. With the extended 2 year plan and tax, it came to $311.00 even. The salesman also told me the plan included battery. True or not, I hope to never find out. :)
 

crowdkiller

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they cover the battery, coming from someone who works there. also being a ipod owner, who bought one at bestbuy with a psp.
 

bench

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crowdkiller said:
they cover the battery, coming from someone who works there. also being a ipod owner, who bought one at bestbuy with a psp.
so best buy send the mini for repair to apple or just replace with a brand new one on the spot?
 

crowdkiller

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sometimes they send it out on the first time, just say its defective.they should just give you a new one. hasnt it only been a month since the mini came out? cuz you have 30 days to return it.. and bestbuy only sends things only if to the company at last resort. and those are only rare times. other then that they send it to a repair center. hopefully this helps
 

bench

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so i'm hearing a lot of different experiences of buying from best buy but can anyone tell me specifically why you decided to go with best buy (plan) instead of apple care? or circuit city (plan) instead of apple care?

thanks!
 

Dragon_Flight

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I would definately not take the Circuit Cirt plan because its more expensive than the bestbuy and apple plans without adding anything special...

The Apple Care plan is probably best if you don't know too much about computers or don't have time to troubleshoot your mini for 5 hours. It includes phone support to help you.

If you're tech savvy and dont need phone support, go with the bby plan. It replaces the mini so you can just break it before the plan ends and get a 2G mini.

I personally didn't take any plan because I got a government discount at apple.com using my mom and I didn't want to buy applecare right now. I still have a year to decide but with the bestbuy plan, you can't buy it after you purchased the mini.
 

crowdkiller

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how does a higher warranty price make one better then the other? your a moron if you think that. but thats my 2 cents. "you cant buy it after you purchased the mini. " dude where you get your info from, you have 30 days from the day you buy it to buy warranty.
 
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