OT: Costco Amex Warranty Program works.. Sweet

[Coronita]

A few weeks ago, my Mac Mini server broke unexpectedly. Half the memory bank stopped working after the 1 year manufacturing warranty. (It’s 3 months after the warranty expired). I didn’t buy AppleCare and thought I was toast.

Then I remembered I purchased the Mac Mini server on Amazon with my Costco Amex card that had buyer protection insurance automatically included. Basically, per terms of the card, The Costco Amex card extends the warranty by exactly the same amount offered by the manufacturer.

So I called Amex and they sent me a form to fill out, proof of purchase with Amex (receipt from Amazon), and then an estimate bill of repair. I went to the apple store, and they swapped the logic board for $209 including tax. I submitted the receipt to Costco Amex warranty program.

About 14 days later, Costco sent me an email that they were going to credit me $212 to my Amex account…

Pretty simple and painless, no questions asked..

Thumbs up for Amex!

[jeff303]

Anyone know if this also covers factory refurb items, in particular a refurbished Mac Mini purchased from apple.com? I found lots of conflicting info when I attempted to research it.

[SK in CV]

Yes it does Jeff, but if I remember correctly, the apple warranty on their refurbished stuff is either 30 or 60 days. Double that, and you’re still looking at a very short warranty. I went looking for the same info when shopping for a refurbished ipad, and at least my conclusion was that it only covers manufacturers warranties (including refurbished stuff). It took a few phone calls, but eventually AMEX gave me that info. So it doesn’t apply to refurbished stuff by 3rd parties that include warranties.

[Coronita]

Hey, so this got me thinking…

Next time, when I go to the BMW dealership, and buy a brand new BMW M4 and put it on my Amex card completely (paying the dealership the 2-3% credit card surcharge versus paying cash to let me do it which means it’s really only and extra 1-2% cost, since Amex will give me a 1% cash back on “other purchases”), I wonder if American Express will extend the warranty the car for an additional 4 years after the first 4 years of warranty up to the $1000 per incident of breakage limit

🙂

If so, Paramount, I think I found your solution the next time you buy a german car…

[SK in CV]

I don’t think it would work Flu. (btw, I think it’s most Amex cards, not just Costco.) I tried it twice and it seems to vary by dealership. The Hyundai dealership where I bought one of my kid’s cars would only let me put $1,000 on Amex. I put $5K on Amex at a Toyota dealership. I suspect most have those limits because Amex charges really high discounts to merchants, in some cases almost double Visa or MC. Though they probably wouldn’t let you put the entire purchase on either of those either, their margins just aren’t that high. It was still good for the airline mileage.

[spdrun]

Anything is negotiable — you could tell them to put it on Amex and that you’ll pay the additional spread. Might still be relatively cheap for a doubled warranty.

[Coronita]

[quote=spdrun]Anything is negotiable — you could tell them to put it on Amex and that you’ll pay the additional spread. Might still be relatively cheap for a doubled warranty.[/quote]

That’s what I was thinking, about paying the stealership for the spred…BUT I would be more concerned about “exclusions” from Amex itself…

[Coronita]

[quote=flu][quote=spdrun]Anything is negotiable — you could tell them to put it on Amex and that you’ll pay the additional spread. Might still be relatively cheap for a doubled warranty.[/quote]

That’s what I was thinking, about paying the stealership for the spred…BUT I would be more concerned about “exclusions” from Amex itself…[/quote]

Darn.. So I called again.

1… Motorized vehicles are excluded. Same with mortorized vehicle car parts.

2. Also, the warranty policy is a maximum of 1 year or double the manufacturer’s warranty whichever is less.

Oh well…. 🙂 But hey, can’t blame me for trying 🙂

[earlyretirement]

Yep. I mentioned this in the other thread flu. AMEX is great! I have the Platinum AMEX, SPG Amex and especially the Platinum AMEX from the UK is AMAZING!!

I can’t tell you how many tens of thousands of dollars in benefits I’ve received over the past few decades from it with all the benefits.

Truly the best. I charge ALL electronics and anything with a warranty to my AMEX cards. I’ve NEVER gotten hassled at all about any claims.

I can’t rave enough about them. I have other Premium credit cards that have high annual fees and they are rubbish for the most part for the insurance claims. They make it so difficult and you have to jump through hoops. AMEX I just fill out the claim online and typically a few weeks later I see a credit on my credit card for the claim.

The Platinum and SPG cards even cover loss in the first 90 days! Case in point, a few months ago my wife bought my 5 year old daughter a small diamond necklace and it got broken on the playground at school and the diamond came off. Well, the teacher put it in her cubby but someone took it or it got lost. We just submitted a claim online and 2 weeks later they provided a credit for the cost of the necklace! I have so many examples like that.

[BoomerAang]

I love my AMEX card as well, but it is not accepted everywhere. I get shot down a lot with that card since they charge the merchant double what VISA/Mastercard do. Discover and AMEX have this extended warranty for all of their customers. I believe VISA signature cards also have a similar policy that extends the manufacturers warranty by a year. The VISA and Mastercard policy is different for each card.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=BoomerAang]I love my AMEX card as well, but it is not accepted everywhere. I get shot down a lot with that card since they charge the merchant double what VISA/Mastercard do. Discover and AMEX have this extended warranty for all of their customers. I believe VISA signature cards also have a similar policy that extends the manufacturers warranty by a year. The VISA and Mastercard policy is different for each card.[/quote]

Yeah. That’s the thing that sucks, especially for people that travel overseas quite a bit. Here in the USA, AMEX is accepted in most places but where it gets tricky is overseas. I travel abroad quite a bit and AMEX isn’t taken in many places.

I found the Citibank Executive card (Black) is really great. The annual fee is high at something like $500 a year but they don’t charge on forex fees and I get AA miles which are valuable to me. The amount I save on forex fees more than makes up for the annual fee. But other perks like the American Airlines Admiral’s Club isn’t really a perk because any AMEX Platinum card allows you to enter the Admiral’s Club.

Still the Visa Signature still sucks. I’ve gone through that extended warranty process before and they ask for TONS of paperwork, it takes tons of time and although you ultimately might get reimbursed, I have to put a value on my time and by the time I get done with all of that it feels like I just filled out the paperwork to adopt a blind kid out of China! LOL.

AMEX process is so effortless. I’ve never even had to fill out a police report or even get a quote before.

[jeff303]

[quote=SK in CV]Yes it does Jeff, but if I remember correctly, the apple warranty on their refurbished stuff is either 30 or 60 days. Double that, and you’re still looking at a very short warranty. I went looking for the same info when shopping for a refurbished ipad, and at least my conclusion was that it only covers manufacturers warranties (including refurbished stuff). It took a few phone calls, but eventually AMEX gave me that info. So it doesn’t apply to refurbished stuff by 3rd parties that include warranties.[/quote]

Thanks very much for the info. As it happens, I think the one I purchased (essentially this) does have a 1-year warranty, which would presumably be doubled.

[scaredyclassic]

Useful info.

This is the only card I use because I think the rebate adds up the highest based on my use.

But I will definitely be looking to warranty issues.

[Coronita]

[quote=jeff303][quote=SK in CV]Yes it does Jeff, but if I remember correctly, the apple warranty on their refurbished stuff is either 30 or 60 days. Double that, and you’re still looking at a very short warranty. I went looking for the same info when shopping for a refurbished ipad, and at least my conclusion was that it only covers manufacturers warranties (including refurbished stuff). It took a few phone calls, but eventually AMEX gave me that info. So it doesn’t apply to refurbished stuff by 3rd parties that include warranties.[/quote]

Thanks very much for the info. As it happens, I think the one I purchased (essentially this) does have a 1-year warranty, which would presumably be doubled.[/quote]

Lol. That’s exactly the same one I have that broke with the bad 1/2 side memory bank… LOL….

I’d try it with Amex anyway. I seriously doubt they would be figuring out whether it’s refurbished or not..
Worst comes to worse, if you’re just having a logic board problem and you go to the apple store, you’re out just $209 which isn’t that bad…

[jeff303]

[quote=flu]
Lol. That’s exactly the same one I have that broke with the bad 1/2 side memory bank… LOL….

I’d try it with Amex anyway. I seriously doubt they would be figuring out whether it’s refurbished or not..
Worst comes to worse, if you’re just having a logic board problem and you go to the apple store, you’re out just $209 which isn’t that bad…[/quote]

Great… I suppose I’m in for trouble then since I swapped out all the RAM for 16GB of aftermarket, and moved the original HDD to the secondary bay to install an SSD.

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