US Applecare works in UK? Real life experiences please!

[M-X]

Hi

So I finally cracked waiting for a merom mbp, a blew a very reasonable sum on a 15" 2.16 CD, 100GB 7200RPM refurb, which is waiting for me at home!

My question is about applecare - I've done searches of this forum but wasn't convinced the issue had been nailed down (please correct me if i'm wrong - does US bought applecare (eg over ebay) work on a UK machine? The savings are quite spectacular, so I hope so.

There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest yes, but any UK/ EU owners out there rocking US warranties glitch free?

Thanks

M-X

 

[ozontheroad]

Hi M-X

AppleCare for portables works anywhere in the world, AppleCare for desktop machines only works in the country where you purchased the computer.

I bought my PB in New York (with AppleCare) and have used it twice, once in Greece to replace the hard drive and once in Argentina to replace the battery.

S

 

[ozontheroad]

posted the same answer twice

 

[YS2003]

AppleCare for portables works anywhere in the world, AppleCare for desktop machines only works in the country where you purchased the computer.

I heard Apple made the warranty for its desktop computers available internationally. In the past, the warranty for the desktop is only covered in the country you bought the unit. But, I heard the policy has changed and all Macs are covered internationally regardless where you bought the unit. Here is the link. The last paragraph says AC provides the global repair service.
I also heard all Macs now has AC adaptors which adjusts 50Hz-60Hz ,100 V-240 V automatically. In the past, the US-spec iMac would get fried if you plug that baby in to UK power source.

 

[ozontheroad]

I heard Apple made the warranty for its desktop computers available internationally. In the past, the warranty for the desktop is only covered in the country you bought the unit. But, I heard the policy has changed and all Macs are covered internationally regardless where you bought the unit. Here is the link. The last paragraph says AC provides the global repair service.
I also heard all Macs now has AC adaptors which adjusts 50Hz-60Hz ,100 V-240 V automatically. In the past, the US-spec iMac would get fried if you plug that baby in to UK power source.

Thanks for the info and link.

 

[jane doe]

The AppleCare warranty is Global, Depending on where you are and the type of computer you have will determine how your repair gets handled.

For example, US portable computers get mailed in to a repair center, That same portable in Canada would be carried into a Service provider to be repaired.

So the point of this is, Yes it is global but different parts of the world are set for different service strategies.

 

[Dubba]

I have brought two laptops from the US to the UK - my personal 12" PowerBook, bought with education discount and UA AppleCare, and my former employer's 14" iBook, which also had AppleCare.

Both machines had problems - the iBook had severe logic board issues and was repaired three times and finally replaced with another iBook in the UK by UK AppleCare in 2004; the PowerBook's logic board was replaced twice and the optical drive stopped working recently, and it was replaced by the base 15" MacBook Pro.

In both cases, AppleCare was bought in the US; when I called AppleCare in the UK, they just updated my address the first time, and that was it - no other questions asked.

Given that I am selling that MBP today, when I buy my new MacBook in the US, I will also buy AppleCare there but register it here.

Hope this helps.

 

[ozontheroad]

My AppleCare was registered with the address of the SOHO Apple Store

 

[M-X]

Thanks for all the replies - I bought applecare off ebay from a US seller last night. 215 dollars (roughly 120 pounds instead of 270 pounds in the apple store). Registered the code already and I'm covered to October 2009!

Sweeeet.

 

[PatrickF]

Thanks for all the replies - I bought applecare off ebay from a US seller last night. 215 dollars (roughly 120 pounds instead of 270 pounds in the apple store). Registered the code already and I'm covered to October 2009!

Sweeeet.

Did you have to register it against a US address or did you just follow the normal UK registration process?

I need to get AppleCare pretty soon and I don't really have the money to fork out £270 for the pleasure.

 

[M-X]

Nope was fine - the guy emailed me the registration code after I paid, I put it straight in with my UK address et voila.

Saved a cool 150 quid!

M-X

 

[Dubba]

M-X: Glad it worked out and you saved some £$!

 

[M-X]

Ironically...the mbp is on its way back to apple for a refund...

At least they said i can transfer the Applecare to a new mbp