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Switching to Mac

Pulvinar said:
Certainly time time is valuable and backups are good. But what would stop you from just buying a replacement for that piece of gear if needed, using the savings from all the extended warranties you hadn't paid for?

This must be purely psychological: not noticing how much these warranties add up to.
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Because warranties are typically one-tenth to one-quarter the cost of a replacement machine.
 
leonAzul said:
Because warranties are typically one-tenth to one-quarter the cost of a replacement machine.
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And you can be assured that the chances of needing to replace it are less than that, likely much less. Say the risk is 1 out of 10. Then instead of paying for 10 extended warranties you could have bought a replacement machine for the one that failed and had money left over.

Or you could buy extended warranties from me: I'll offer them for a few bucks less. Just think of what you'll save!
 
Pulvinar said:
And you can be assured that the chances of needing to replace it are less than that, likely much less. Say the risk is 1 out of 10. Then instead of paying for 10 extended warranties you could have bought a replacement machine for the one that failed and had money left over.

Or you could buy extended warranties from me: I'll offer them for a few bucks less. Just think of what you'll save!
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Only if I can hold you liable for any lost revenue when you fail to provide an equivalent replacement service in a timely manner ;)
 
leonAzul said:
Only if I can hold you liable for any lost revenue when you fail to provide an equivalent replacement service in a timely manner ;)
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You could try, but paragraph 157 in the fine-print agreement would protect me in court. You do read all the fine print, don't you? :)
 
Pulvinar said:
So why do people pay for extended warranties and service plans? Never could figure that one out. Why not just put the money in savings instead and use that to pay for repairs or replacement when needed? Whatever the risk level is, you know they're charging you enough to cover that and more-- they're not stupid.
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Extended warranties are never worth it. The people selling them know this, but they make a lot of money selling them to the statistically challenged.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Extended warranties are never worth it. The people selling them know this, but they make a lot of money selling them to the statistically challenged.
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I agree with you that for most consumers an extended warranty is, indeed, a waste of money. Statistically, most critical flaws in electronic devices will become evident well within a 90 day, or even a 30 day, guarantee period.

Yet I disagree that placing the onus of fall-over insurance on the provider of critical equipment to a business, for a reasonable fee in the form of an extended warranty, is "never worth it".

Horses for courses.
 
leonAzul said:
Yet I disagree that placing the onus of fall-over insurance on the provider of critical equipment to a business, for a reasonable fee in the form of an extended warranty, is "never worth it".
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I have yet to hear a good reason why. If a business can't afford (or can't get credit) to replace one failing machine when needed, that business was ready to fail itself (and would have already failed if it had spent that money on warranties).

For truly critical equipment you'd keep one or more backups in the ready.
 
leonAzul said:
I agree with you that for most consumers an extended warranty is, indeed, a waste of money. Statistically, most critical flaws in electronic devices will become evident well within a 90 day, or even a 30 day, guarantee period.

Yet I disagree that placing the onus of fall-over insurance on the provider of critical equipment to a business, for a reasonable fee in the form of an extended warranty, is "never worth it".

Horses for courses.
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That's my view as well. Never is a big word. I consider extended warranties highly suspect, but in some cases they might be worth it.

To clarify, around here there are no official Apple stores, only certified resellers. They almost all use the same independent repair shop, which - ideally - is the one of several such shops with the best bid. Whether that involves specializing in Apple machines or giving the stores high-volume discounts, or whether it's handled completely through Apple Denmark, I don't know.

In any case, with Applecare, there are considerations about call-in-support, worldwide ease of use, and resale value on top of the statistics. Then, on top of that, I'm not convinced that I'm especially statistically challenged for wanting to see some numbers to convince me that a company like Apple can't offer such a warranty at a profit and have competitive or near-competitive prices. In short, I wouldn't get the same deal at the repair shop as a single individual as Apple and its thousands of transactions gets.

But the conclusion is as always with insurance, do I want or need the benefits and drawbacks of pooled risk? In some cases, the answer could be yes. For a small company like mine, one person and one computer, the hard- and software I use represents a significant investment. I also do not have the cash flow or reserves of a big company. If I deem the worst-case scenario of the computer completely failing to be me having to cover it with my rent money, maybe that insurance is worth it.
 
ThatSoundAgain said:
But the conclusion is as always with insurance, do I want or need the benefits and drawbacks of pooled risk? In some cases, the answer could be yes. For a small company like mine, one person and one computer, the hard- and software I use represents a significant investment. I also do not have the cash flow or reserves of a big company. If I deem the worst-case scenario of the computer completely failing to be me having to cover it with my rent money, maybe that insurance is worth it.
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What has me baffled is how you bought the computer you have (and will buy the next one) if you're living so close to the edge? Surely you must have mustered the willpower to save up at some point, or at least make room on your credit.
 
Pulvinar said:
What has me baffled is how you bought the computer you have (and will buy the next one) if you're living so close to the edge? Surely you must have mustered the willpower to save up at some point, or at least make room on your credit.
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Well, like I said, I chose not to buy the extended warranty, and am not in any immediate danger. But this is something I see among one-man companies - there can be a lack of leeway financially, especially when starting up. Insurance, in that case, can be a good idea, whomever you buy it from.

What do you think about the point that Apple may be able to make a profit and compete on price where they buy service from an (ideally) free market themselves?
 
ThatSoundAgain said:
What do you think about the point that Apple may be able to make a profit and compete on price where they buy service from an (ideally) free market themselves?
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Apple may be able to get a wholesale discount for the repair service if they're handling the transaction overhead. The customer ends up paying for this overhead one way or another. I don't know how much more bargaining they can do: the group of Apple repairers will get Apple customers either way, so the bargaining chip is getting exclusivity for one of them. They would lose this exclusivity if Apple believes they could get more "bang for the buck" from another who is currently catering to non-Applecare customers. So it should remain in the interest of the non-Applecare repairers to be competitive.
 
Pulvinar said:
If a business can't afford (or can't get credit) to replace one failing machine when needed, that business was ready to fail itself (and would have already failed if it had spent that money on warranties).

For truly critical equipment you'd keep one or more backups in the ready.
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This assumes multiple machines are involved.
 
Pulvinar said:
True... though if you (or your company) only buys one machine ever, you must be exceptionally lucky and so won't need insurance anyway!
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Who said anything about only buying a single machine? It's possible to buy multiple machines and only one extended warranty.
 
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Pulvinar said:
All covered for the same price as for one machine?
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I suppose it's possible someone out there might be willing to cover a group of machines for the same price Apple charges for a single unit. But I was thinking more along the lines of buying several computers and a warranty for only one of them.
 
daSkeptic said:
I suppose it's possible someone out there might be willing to cover a group of machines for the same price Apple charges for a single unit. But I was thinking more along the lines of buying several computers and a warranty for only one of them.
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That's why they ask for a serial number. Guess they weren't born yesterday...
 
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