AppleCare: The Good and the Bad

The headphone jack on my MacBook started having problems last week, and since it’s still quite covered under AppleCare, I took it in to The Mac Store here in Portland, to have it serviced. I don’t much care for The Mac Store, but it’s convenient to take a computer in there for repairs.

The Good: I was really impressed with all the work Apple did for such a small problem. Sadly, the entire logic board must be replaced for a problem like a damaged headphone jack, which Apple did very quickly. Not only that, they also noticed that my computer was one of many that suffered from a temperature-triggered discoloration problem beside the track pad, something I wasn’t even aware of, so they also replaced the entire inside face, keyboard and all. In other words, they replaced at least half of the computer, just because I was having problems with the headphone jack! You’ve got to appreciate that.

The Bad: If you don’t “unregister” a computer from the iTunes Music Store, that’s one less computer you can play your purchased media on. And apparently, replacing the logic board means I have a new computer, in the eyes of the iTunes Music Store! So now I have an unused license out there somewhere, and no way to revoke it. That’s fine, I’ve had this happen before, and it just requires contacting Apple. However, knowing this might happen, Apple should either have the employee who takes your computer un-register it on the spot, saving all the trouble, or Apple should do it when they replace the logic board. It just makes sense, and it would save me some time and effort I’d rather not devote to this kind of nonsense.

But all in all, another good experience with AppleCare. Good stuff.

Raymond Brigleb

Creative Director, dreamer, partner, father, musician, photographer. Has been known to ride the rails. Pulls one heck of a shot.