from: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/03/28/apple-doesnt-care-about-its-customers/

"We here at BGR love Apple products as much as the next guy, but we think this crossed the line a little bit. Thanks to tip from a close friend of the Boy Genius Report, we’ve uncovered a truly amazing exchange between Apple and a customer. The customer, an owner of a recently water-damaged MacBook Pro, called Apple customer care to get information about repair costs. Accepting full responsibility for the water damage, the customer was still subjected to confusing and contradictory information about the repair. Frustrated with his experience, he took matters into his own hands, emailing sjobs@apple.com (a widely acknowledged direct line to high-level Apple customer care). The customer’s email is as follows:

Dear Steve Jobs,

I wanted to write and express my concern about some recent problems that I have had with Apple Care. This week, my MacBook Pro unfortunately sustained water damage. I understand this is entirely my fault but it is still something I would like to get fixed. After three or four calls I was finally able to get a straight answer. While I was happy to get a straight answer, I was not at all happy with the answer. It is very worrisome to me that the only way to get my computer fixed is to pay almost $300.00 up front with no guarantee that this will fix the problem. I was horrified to learn that their is no system to assess the problem and bill once all damage is known. I am reluctant to put money into a problem that could easily grow. I have had three Apple computers in a row. I love using them but I am not sure if my replacement will be one. I feel powerless in the situation and the whole experience has turned me off of the Apple company.

Sincerely,

Xxxxxx Xxxx

Reasonable? We think so. Shortly after, the customer received the following response:

Xxxxxxx,

This is what happens when your MacBook Pro sustains water damage.They are pro machines and they don’t like water. It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to get mad at other than yourself.

Steve

We find that response totally comical! Don’t you? While we’re guessing Steve Jobs himself wasn’t on the other end of this, it’s certainly a direct response from the @apple.com domain, which is only available to employees of the company. This means that someone directly representing Apple was responsible for this stunt. Come on, Apple. Seriously, this isn’t a good way to treat your customers, though you do get major points for the witty and comical response."

Kind of takes the sting off of waiting a few weeks to get your 360 back doesn't it? 

I'm sorry, but that was hilarious.

Look on the brightside, at least you talked to someone at Apple.  You call Microsoft with a support question and they pretend they're a pizza delivery company.

Apple care sucks. The best thing is to get insurance from an insurance broker.

But to be fair, it's not just apple. Pretty much all manufacturer and store bought insurance is lousy.

It wasn't me, I don't own an Apple. I just read the story and thought it might make for a good topic of discussion.

It's a good topic. I just wanted to point out that that when you buy insurance from a retail outlet it's generally a ripoff. Retailers are only a middle man to the insurance companies, so it's a much better deal to get it from the source. The profit margins that the retailers get is ridiculously high, which is why they always try to sucker people into buying it.

Anecdotal experiences FTW!

 Agreed, when I bought my 360 Best Buy wanted me to pay an extra 50 bucks to insure it.  No thanks, I'll just stick with the three year warranty.

Also credit card companies will often extend the manufacturer warranty.