My Dilemma: Apple's Applecare Refurb Service - Your experiences

This thread is aimed at the tech-heads amongst you. I'm looking for a technical view on a little risk I am about to take. First the background:

I have a 3g 40g which was purchased in Feb 04, alongside an AppleCare plan for the unit.

Battery life has dropped to around 4.5 hrs as a rough average, and charge holding is dreadful (she can be fully charged, unplayed but a week later be completely flat), so I'm looking to replace the battery.

Utilisation over the past two years has been at roughly 16-20h per week average. The ipod has Feb '05 software and is PC formatted. I use .wav files exclusively (which increases disk activity). The unit is not used regularly as an external disk.

Here's my dilemma: I want to use my Applecare warranty if I can.

The unit I get back from Apple is likely to be a refurb (and a unit that I have no details on the history of). This concerns me. The refurb unit isn't guaranteed any further than the original warranty (expires feb 06) AFAIK.

I'm happy with my disk performance currently, and I know that the unit has never been subjected to shock (drops, bangs etc). I am concerned that I have no prior knowledge of the HD in the refurb unit that I get back, and it could fail. Clearly my current HD fail too, (no guarantees) but at least I know what it's been through!

I'm interested in the view of the collected widom around me. What are your experiences of RMA / Refurb units? Do apple automatically replace under the Applecare warranty or do they just change the battery? The Apple callcentre tell me they just replace the battery. I am not convinced, I think they send you a refurb unit.

So I have a balance: continue using 2yr old hd whose history I know & suck down cost of replacement battery (self fit)... or go refurb .... & take the risk

cheers

chavo

give it a nice scratch in a strategic area or something of that sort or do a mod that changes the boot up logo

Plus I doubt they will unload your music and then reload it on the refurb.. you'll probably get the exact same iPod that you gave them.. I don't see any reason why you would not. It would be too much work for Apple to do otherwise.

Murlyn said:

give it a nice scratch in a strategic area or something of that sort or do a mod that changes the boot up logo

Plus I doubt they will unload your music and then reload it on the refurb.. you'll probably get the exact same iPod that you gave them.. I don't see any reason why you would not. It would be too much work for Apple to do otherwise.

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Based on what i've read so far, I heard they give u a refurbished unit.. but I hope you're right

Chavo, if you have an apple store near you, take it there... expalin to them that your battery refuses to hold a charge.... they will replace it on the spot... Brand New....

MadRhino23 said:

Chavo, if you have an apple store near you, take it there... expalin to them that your battery refuses to hold a charge.... they will replace it on the spot... Brand New....

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I considered doing that. For the price of a train ticket and the convenience of getting it done there and then, perhaps I should have done that.

Murlyn said:

Plus I doubt they will unload your music and then reload it on the refurb.. you'll probably get the exact same iPod that you gave them.. I don't see any reason why you would not. It would be too much work for Apple to do otherwise.

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They say when you send it in they will delete all of your files. So you would lose all of your songs anyways.