Posts tagged Warranty at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Posts with tag warranty

Original iPhone warranties about to expire

Posted Jun 26th 2008 8:00AM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: iPhone

Do you hear that ticking noise? It's your iPhone's warranty preparing to go "boom." If you purchased your iPhone on the original US release date -- June 29, 2007 -- your warranty will expire in three days (as of this writing) on June 29th, 2008.

Tick, tick.

Of course, you can extend coverage by purchasing AppleCare for the iPhone at $69.95US (or toss in an additional $129 for iPhone 3G). Otherwise, get yourself to an Apple Store Genius Bar ASAP!

If the iPhone is anything like most cars I've owned, everything will go wrong the very day after the warranty expires. I'm just saying.

AT&T refurb iPhones arrive with incorrect warranty coverage

Posted Mar 31st 2008 4:00PM by Erica Sadun
Filed under: iPhone

Doug Toombs from Howard Forums tipped us off that those refurb AT&T iPhones many TUAW readers bought a few weeks ago might not have properly issued warranties. He sent me over to Apple's warranty self-checking site and sure enough my new iPhone's limited warranty is due to expire on July 22nd.

I gave Apple a call at 1-800-694-7466. I was given the standard Apple line: they do not offer a full year warranty on refurbs. Your warranty ends a year from when the iPhone was originally sold and activated. She then connected me to AT&T, which promptly hung up on me.

So I called back. The sticker on the AT&T box says clearly: "Refurbished iPhones have a full 1 year warranty. You must retain receipt for warranty claims through Apple."

Second time around, I got the most fabulous agent. She contacted the agreement administrator and within a few minutes my warranty was extended to 03/2009, no fuss, no muss. I'm kicking myself though that I did not check into whether I could extend the warranty after that year through AppleCare--so if you find out, do let us know in the comments. Thanks!

Anyway, to summarize: I did need to confirm a valid AT&T account, explaining that I was upgrading from my 4GB to my new 8GB. I offered to send a picture of the sticker on the AT&T box but the agent said this had to be a known problem and that she didn't need either that or the receipt. I also took advantage of the Apple call-you-back service. Instead of waiting on line, they automagically take your number and call it back when you're ready to hit the head of the queue. Very convenient.

To buy AppleCare or not?

Posted Mar 6th 2008 8:00AM by Cory Bohon
Filed under: Desktops, Hardware, Features, Apple

Most people are split on the decision to buy an extended warranty on their electronic devices. Some think it's the best "accessory" that you can buy for your gear, while others think it's a total waste of money. Speaking from my personal experience with AppleCare support -- it has been a worthwhile investment.

While I have never experienced a major problem with any of my Macs, iPod, or iPhone, AppleCare has definitely been there to solve those minor glitches. Case in point: this weekend my Mighty Mouse's scroll wheel stopped working (this is the 3rd Mighty Mouse in less than one year). I simply called Apple's support and told them what was going on. "My Mighty Mouse stopped scrolling," I said. The Apple representative gave me some simple troubleshooting tips to make sure that my computer wasn't doing anything strange. I was asked to check the scroll speed and then they asked me to reset the PRAM (I don't really understand that one, but OK). After that, the representative said that my mouse was, in fact, defective (no duh), took my address and said they would have a new one out to me in "5 to 7 business days."

That was on Saturday. On Monday I got a knock on the door from a DHL delivery guy with a box in his hand -- you guessed it, Apple overnighted me a wireless Mighty Mouse! The cost to overnight the package: $70. This is just one example of AppleCare's good service.

Continue reading To buy AppleCare or not?

Is it legal to unlock your iPhone?

Posted Aug 26th 2007 4:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone

Just in case you missed it, Engadget did a nice little analysis of whether it's legal to unlock your iPhone or not-- a more and more pertinent question as we get closer and closer to having unlocking solutions become available. In short, it is legal... mostly.

The main questions of legality lie around an exception to the DMCA, which allows you to unlock your cell phone "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network." Under that law and that exception, it's perfectly legal to use an iPhone on T-mobile, Verizon, or any other provider that you can get it to work with. Things really only get prickly when you start selling those unlocked phones, or somehow profit off of selling unlocked phones. Then, Apple and AT&T start to have a case against you for honing in on their business.

Oh, and the other fun part is that the DMCA exemption that gives you an out on this one actually expires in November of 2009. So if nothing is done on that front, unlocking phones will be illegal within a few years. Still, Engadget makes the same conclusion that I would-- unlocking your iPhone for personal use on another network very likely won't bring AT&T's legal goons to your doors. It likely will void your warranty, and while some unlocks brag that they'll stay after updates, a future update may undo the unlock.

iPhone battery a ticking time bomb?

Posted Jul 20th 2007 12:00PM by Victor Agreda, Jr.
Filed under: iPhone

No, not exploding batteries. I'm talking about 12-18 months from now, when thousands upon thousands of iPhone batteries, completely sealed from consumers, will begin to lose their juice. Sheldon Liber, on our sister site Blogging Stocks, suggests that in about a year, Apple is going to be dealing with a lot of unhappy campers who will have to surrender their iPhones for a bit while a new battery is transplanted into their tiny tech wonders.

Of course, we now have warranty info, which means you really shouldn't worry until next July, right? Something Sheldon misses is the fact that, for another $30 or so, they'll give you a loaner. That should put a stop to the whining-- mostly. It will certainly ease the sting of a 3-day turnaround. But when you can get a replacement BlackBerry battery for less than $10 in many cases, once again users may complain about the "Apple tax."

iPhone battery warranty, replacement information

Posted Jul 2nd 2007 5:30PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: iPhone

Apple released information on the iPhone battery's warranty today, as well as the cost of a replacement.

Out of the box, your iPhone's battery is covered for 1 year. Apple intends to release Apple Care for iPhone sometime this summer (allegedly). Customers of Apple Care for iPhone will be entitled to a new battery IF the one they're using drops to below 50% of capacity before their Apple Care runs out.

Otherwise, a new one will cost you $79US. One other note: Apple states that they get rid of dead batteries in "...an environmentally-friendly manner." So don't get all excited, Greenpeace.

3 year warranty with Higher Ed. purchases, or not?

Posted May 26th 2006 1:00PM by Conrad Quilty-Harper
Filed under: Bad Apple

A few weeks ago, Apple stuck a message up on their Higher Education store (EU only) stating that due to a new national agreement for Higher Education individual purchases, any Macs purchased from the store would receive three years of parts and labor coverage at no extra cost. When I later purchased a MacBook from the HE store, I was so excited to be picking up a new Mac as to not notice that the sign had disappeared. I was reassured later on by several people in the support forums who showed me this extract from the HE Store's Terms and Conditions (no, not this one! Yes, there are two T&Cs *sigh*):

"10.1.1 All Apple-branded desktop and portable computer products shall be subject to a 36 calendar month warranty period commencing from the date of delivery."

When I received my MacBook, I checked the included booklet regarding my warranty: the above clause is nowhere to be seen. Instead the booklet talks exclusively about my one year limited warranty with no mention of Higher Education or extended warranties. Likewise, when I use Apple's tool to check how much AppleCare you have remaining, it returns a result of 356 days. Apple has confused me even further by allowing people who have purchased new Macs from the HE Store to purchase 3 year telephone coverage for around £50. When I bought my MacBook, there wasn't even an option to purchase AppleCare in the build to order section!

I'm not the only one to feel confused. People over at the Apple support forums (1, 2, 3) and the MacRumors.com forums are equally mixed up. So, what's the deal Apple?

Macworld goes inside the MacBook

Posted May 18th 2006 11:30AM by Victor Agreda, Jr.
Filed under: Video, Mods, MacBook

Macworld does what most of us won't: they void their MacBook's warranty by opening up the battery compartment and removing the RAM and hard drive. And as a special treat for us all, they posted the video on YouTube. Thanks guys!

Wow, easily removable drives on an ~~iBook~~ MacBook? Wow, how many Dell engineers did they have to hire to pull that one off? Personally, I'm just happy the battery on the MacBooks will no longer have those ugly seams around the battery visible while the machine sits on my desk. The iBook looks great, but I never understood why the seam had to extend up the side of the machine... Apparently Ive didn't see why either.

And for the record, the mere act of doing what Macworld did won't automatically void your Apple warranty. But, according to the terms, if anything goes wrong (like, in the future even), they can always negate your claim because you did the swap. So those of you looking to save some bucks by ordering a lower-capacity model and upgrading should consider the warranty and its restrictions first.

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Cory Bohon	86	2
2	Robert Palmer	58	46
3	Steven Sande	56	23
4	Dave Caolo	37	0
5	Scott McNulty	37	0
6	Mat Lu	34	8
7	Erica Sadun	28	2
8	Brett Terpstra	21	0
9	Mike Schramm	21	2
10	Michael Rose	13	34
11	Christina Warren	12	42
12	Joshua Ellis	5	4
13	Lisa Hoover	2	6
14	Chris Ullrich	1	2
15	Jason Clarke	1	1

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Original iPhone warranties about to expire

AT&T refurb iPhones arrive with incorrect warranty coverage

To buy AppleCare or not?

Is it legal to unlock your iPhone?

iPhone battery a ticking time bomb?

iPhone battery warranty, replacement information

3 year warranty with Higher Ed. purchases, or not?

Macworld goes inside the MacBook

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