AppleCare – Apple’s extended warranty plan for Macs and iOS devices – can save you a bundle when it comes time to repair equipment, but it comes at a price that some consumers aren’t willing to pay, at least if an alternative is available. Some bargain-conscious buyers have found vendors on eBay willing to sell AppleCare plans at a steep discount compared to what it costs in Apple stores and at Apple-authorized resellers, but there’s a catch: some of the AppleCare boxes are counterfeit or have been acquired illegitimately. Apple taking steps to weed them out, and consumers may be caught in the crossfire. Don McAllister explains:
“It would appear that proof of purchase via eBay (or any other online auction or classified advertisement service) is not sufficient [for Apple]. I’ve sent off the request to the eBay merchant and if it’s not forthcoming, I’ll be requesting a refund.”
Caveat emptor – AppleCare via eBay [The Mac Screencast Guy]
Can’t be to careful. I purchased Applecare with new Touch from the Apple Online store when I went to register it online, could not. Phoned Apple first rep. thought I was try to pull a fraud said it was not a valid number and would not listen to me. Phoned back new rep. said they would look into it, “Give Us 72 Hr. will phone you back” no return call. Phoned back 10 days later new rep. said she would call me back later that day, Good news she had it straighten out and was going to send me a new agreement because the one they had sent me was invalid. Glad I had purchased it from the Apple Online store and they had all the paper work to validate my purchase. Received the new Agreement this week only took a month!
I was able to successfully purchase two AppleCare packages off of eBay for a nice discount…..however, my 3rd time was not a charm…..
They sent me the code/serial number, as promised. They insisted that they kept the ‘box’ to keep shipping costs down. The code did not work, I insisted on getting the original documentation sent to me. They said, they would just give me another code—she claimed that some numbers in her database got messed up and that she gave me someone else’s code by mistake!
After much stress and hassle….and reporting a fraudulent purchase to eBay, Paypal and my credit card company….I was able to get my money back. It was worth it when I paid for/received the full price product.
this is actually a common stunt on ebay. they do it with apple care, mobile me, one to one and even itunes cards. they email you (and like 20 other folks) the same code ‘to keep costs down’ and you might get lucky and be the first one to use it. or not and join the other 19 folks that got screwed.