Next time you buy an iPhone or iPad, make sure to pay via your credit card. In fact, next time you buy just about any other consumer electronic item, be sure to use your credit card to pay in full.
Visa, Amex, and MasterCard in the United States offer certain benefits to their card holders, and one them entitles you to an extended warranty for the second year or coverage against charges for any repair that might need to be done in the second year of owning the device. Amex offers the latter option to its card holders, with the maximum coverage being up to $10,000. The offer is only eligible for products that offer less than five years of warranty in the US.
Keep in mind that owning a credit card itself will not entitle you to the above benefits. Visa, for example, only offers its ‘Signature’ card holders the option to extend the warranty of a product of their choice by registering it with them.
An Extended Service Agreement is optional protection you can purchase beyond the benefit provided to you on your credit card. It is available to extend your warranty coverage on eligible items for up to five (5) years from the date of product purchase. This provides you with an easy way to cover parts and labor costs necessary to repair your product in case of failure.
Below is how Nathan Mcalone of Business Insider used the extended warranty coverage of his Amex card to get the keyboard of his MacBook Air repaired for free.
I bought a Macbook Air in 2012, and decided against getting any additional protection because, at the time, the price of the laptop itself seemed high enough. Fast forward a year and a half and my keyboard stops working for no discernible reason.
I got Amex on the phone to make an extended warranty claim. They spoke to me for a few minutes and then sent me this follow-up email.
All I had to do was go to the Apple Store and get a repair estimate, then screenshot the receipt Apple had emailed to me when I originally purchased the laptop.
A few days later I was approved and I got a completely new keyboard for my laptop for free. And, as a sidenote, you would be appalled to hear how much Apple wanted to charge me for that keyboard repair.
Using this extended warranty benefit offered by your credit card service will effectively allow you to save money by not purchasing Apple’s costly AppleCare+ protection plan for your iPhone, iPad, or Macs.
Update: As pointed by Guid0man below, the relatively new EU laws have made it mandatory for any consumer product to have at least 2 years of warranty. So, if you live in Europe, you can take advantage of the law to get your iPhone, iPad or Mac repaired or replaced if it is less than two years old
[Via Business Insider]
