WWAD (What would AppleCare Do?)

[realityisterror]

First, a small little thing... My PowerBook (15" High-Res) is about 4.5 months old. Since it's past the 90 days and I didn't buy AppleCare, will I have to pay to talk to Customer Service?

Alright... a small list of problems I'm having:

• Horizontal lines
• Buzzing/high pitched whining coming from power supply after unplugging
• Ethernet jack decides to randomly stop working (like now)
• Constant hard drive noise...
• And, of course, horrible AirPort reception...

I'm planing on reading through the horizontal lines thread sometime tonight or this weekend, but I have no idea what's going on in there... My lines aren't too bad...

Overall, I'm just not too pleased with this PowerBook, and I want to know what can be done about it...

Will Apple fix these things?
Is there any possible way I could get a refund/replacement with another product after all this time for rather trivial issues?
And will I have to pay to talk to support?

Thanks,
reality

 

[portent]

Assuming the "ATL" in your profile means Atlanta, GA...I'd take it to the Apple Store(s). They shouldn't charge you to look at it, and they'll get a better idea of the problems than is possible over the phone.

It's Apple's decision whether they attempt to repair the unit, or just give you a new one. They may do either, and it may be up to the actual technician to decide which.

 

[realityisterror]

Well... yeah, I'm also 15 and it's a hassle to get there. There's one about 45 minutes away and another closer to an hour... but that's without traffic...


I was mostly wondering if anyone else had similar experience with a newer machine...

 

[Macky-Mac]

....Overall, I'm just not too pleased with this PowerBook, and I want to know what can be done about it...

Will Apple fix these things?
Is there any possible way I could get a refund/replacement with another product after all this time for rather trivial issues?
And will I have to pay to talk to support?

Thanks,
reality

First of all, the suggestion to take it to an Apple store and have the "genius bar" people look at it is a good one.

You're past the return period so, no, they're not going to replace it just because you're dissatisfied with it. They will fix hardware defects that are under warranty and it sounds like you might have some....so take it to the Apple store and have them look at it to see if they think your problems are indeed covered by the warranty.

As for calling Applecare, if you have hardware issues that are covered by the warranty then you wont have to pay for the call....but if you're not sure that's what your situation is and you're just wanting to have a chat about the situation then they probably will want to charge you if you call tech support...........well, that's another good reason to take it to an Apple store first

 

[gman71882]

Warranty Info

You can buy the Extended warranty for your Apple anytime in the First year of Ownership. Just by going to the apple website or Apple Store and purchasing AppleCare for your specific computer. All you have to do then is register the computer.
That way if you ever have any serious problems with it in the 3 year period you can get it fixed for free.
Educational Price for warranty : $249
Regular Price : $349

I have found than it is always worth it to get the warranty:
Had my Superdrive replaced & my screen replaced due to a faulty hinge
also my g/f had her screen replaced due to many many dead pixels... all covered under the warranty.

 

[realityisterror]

That's probably what I'll eventually have to do...
I've meaning to buy RAM and AppleCare since I got the computer on Halloween, but it's already so expensive to begin with...

I just wish Apple hadn't released this revision of PowerBooks... I would have waited for the MBP or iMac Core Duo...

Ah well...