Apple Reportedly Addressing Fraud by Third-Party Service Centers

[Unspeaked]

You do realize it has everything to do with the topic. Fraud. Although Best Buy might not be managing a warehouse of used Mac Parts and making money off of "in warranty" and "out of warranty" items.....they are making money off misleading consumers about the warranty their computer carries.

I don't think what you describe Best Buy doing is fraud. It's just retail.

I loathe Best Buy and would never even think of buying anything from them, but I do go into the stores sometimes to check out products. I know for a fact their iPod service plans are cheaper than Apple's (at least as of a year or two back when a relative picked one up) and I'd be surprised if their desktop/laptops plans were anymore. Yes, the service is probably much worth than AppleCare, but I can't really judge since I'm not familiar with it.

Plus, the kid trying to push their in-house plans is a minimum wage slave who probably gets a few bucks kick-back on any extended warranty he sells (and nothing on AppleCare) so give him a break.

The real tragedy in the scenario you describe is that anyone would go to Best Buy in the first place to buy a Mac. Once they decide that's who they want to give their money to (when they could have gotten the same price at an Apple Store or Apple.com) then any way the retailer takes advantage of them from then on is their own fault.

 

[Durendal]

yes but the centers knew what they were getting into when they signed the agreement to be 'authorized'. if they didn't like the deal they should have skipped it. they could still fix the machines and charge what they want, if customers are willing to go to them. and for out of warranty repairs it doesn't matter since there's no warranty to void anyway.

Yeah, but seeing it on paper and the reality of it are two different things. You can make money doing Apple service, but with all the bullcrap you have to wonder if it's worth it. Replace a power supply in a PCIe G5 tower or the power cable along the back of an aluminum iMac (which had a number of faulty units) and then wonder if Apple's payment is worth it. Yes, out of warranty is a very different thing. You can charge the customer and make additional money on part markup. That's a completely different ball of wax.

Not saying that I condone the behavior of these service centers, of course. It's just that when you put the wood to the guys who clean up your mess, some of the lesser elements are bound to start pulling this crap.

And on the subject of Best Buy, it's sadly the only place around here that really sells Macs. If a customer wants to buy one, I tell them which model to pick out depending on what they want and tell them not to listen to any of the sales monkeys. Get what you want and go. Geek Squad can eat crap. They should just stop trying to fix any Macs at all. I've done a lot of out of warranty repairs that BB tried and failed to fix. A LOT. It makes me sad that people even take in-warranty Macs there as they don't even fix them on site. They ship to some repair depot and the customer is without their Mac for weeks.

 

[xIGmanIx]

best buy and geek squad are not the same company, i believe they used to be but now i believe they are separate entities.

 

[rdowns]

best buy and geek squad are not the same company, i believe they used to be but now i believe they are separate entities.

Best Buy owns Geek Squad.

 

[SiriusExcelsior]

When I had to get my 2007 MacBook charger replaced back in May 2009, I called up the place where I bought it (a student-friendly Apple retailer) and they told me to call Apple and get a case number. I did that, and Apple said to call into an authorised service centre for them to take a look, and see if it can be replaced under warranty.

So I went to a certain Apple reseller/service centre here in Newmarket, Auckland, where a sales rep (who struck me as rather arrogant) decided, *after* he inspected the charger, that he needed to charge $60 for an inspection fee, despite it being Apple who told me to get it checked out (and provided me with a case number). Luckily I only had $20 on me, so just gave that to him, and while he was busy sorting other stuff out, I took my charger and left.

I later went back to the student-friendly outfit and got both the charger and my greying, cracking top case replaced for free. I also bought a second charger from them partly as a thank-you gift for being so nice. I have since boycotted the Newmarket store...

I work as a technician at a repair centre for another notebook manufacturer, and all spare parts for warranty repairs have to have their serial numbers noted and associated with the notebook's own serial number (and the old part sent back to have its serial checked). This is all noted on the notebook mfg's own database, which should make it harder to pull stunts like what's happening here with Apple...

 

[arkmannj]

Sad tha Apple should even have to worry about this kinda stuff, imagine the money they've spent investigating and lost money from bogus claims being put towards more innovation, etc.

 

[Erwin-Br]

I'm still baffled that Apple only offers one year of free warranty! For a computer! Damn... Even the lamest laptop you can buy that has no known brand has 2 years of warranty at least.

I know! I'd say it's only one year because Apple doesn't have much confidence in its own products.

What's also interesting is that most people in Europe don't know their Apple Care is pretty much useless, because retailers/manufacturers are required to repair or compensate for products that don't work as advertised, BY LAW. And I mean without buying a warranty or protection plan! For computers it's 3 years. In some countries 2 years. This is why I've never bought Apple Care. A friend of mine got his Macbook repaired free of charge after 2/5 years, without Apple Care. Consumer rights are very well defined and governed by the ECC (European Consumer Centres Network) and Consumer Affairs.

 

[DanielSw]

I'm not trying to defend these service centers or say that they aren't doing anything wrong, but I bet Apple wouldn't have these problems if they didn't make it so hard for these companies to make any money. Apple makes huge margins on their computers, but only lets Authorized Resellers make around 10% on each.

Hey, quit this stupid "logic" of offering lame excuses for criminal behavior.

 

[JoeG4]

Perhaps a big part of the reason the Apple store has lower repair #s than the providers do is Apple is stringent about fixing people's machines..

*walks into an Apple store complaining about dead pixels on his Cinema Display*

"ugh sir. The fart sensor in here suggests you farted within the vicinity of this Apple product. Apple customers do not fart, thus our warranty is void if you farted. Did you fart sir?"

"Uh.. I dunno.. hopefully not"

"Let me see your iPhone"

"I don't have one"

"Whoa.. AND NO TIGHT JEANS EITHER! SECURRRITTYY!!!!!."

 

[jo0]

"Let me see your iPhone"

"I don't have one"

"Whoa.. AND NO TIGHT JEANS EITHER! SECURRRITTYY!!!!!."

i dont understand this stereotype at all.....

 

[Ryano AU]

I'm sure other people know about this happening.

Dunno if my post will raise any alarms, but the MacOne chain in Australia is doing the same thing.

I tried to claim on my warranty, and they told me I couldn't - why? They'd already claimed on my parts, and were being dodgy! Had to sort out the garbage with the apple hotline, and haven't gone back there since.

 

[scottness]

I'm not trying to defend these service centers or say that they aren't doing anything wrong, but I bet Apple wouldn't have these problems if they didn't make it so hard for these companies to make any money. Apple makes huge margins on their computers, but only lets Authorized Resellers make around 10% on each.

The reseller know this going in. I wouldn't blame Apple for a reseller's potentially bad choice. I'd say they still make enough money anyway. Obviously there continue to be resellers that continue to business this way for years. (they make their money off accessories, anyway)

 

[skeep5]

i hope those companies have some t-shirt designs ready cuz i think apple will sue them.

awesome

 

[heisetax]

Apple store repairs???

I should have had only 1 experience with Apple in-store repair, but as they replaced the wrong part, a part that was added after I purchased the Intel Mac Pro. This part was purchased used from another Intel Mac Pro User that did not want to wait for the ATI X1900 board to ship. I had video artifact problems & others that kept OS 10.5 from properly installing. After Apple replaced the noncovered fully functioning video card I still had a covered ATI X190 that was malfuncioning big time. Apple then overnighted the correct card to a third party repair company. That company then sent a repair person out to my home office.

So with this cind of repair work done by Apple, how can they tell what is necessary by them or by the many third party repair companies that cover for their errors plus do work of their own. This problem could even be bigger than they think it is, that is if it is really there.

 

[Rocketman]

Will Apple simply cut off their business or will normally secretive Apple work with law enforcement so the perpetrators can be prosecuted?

I wish they would work with police to find stolen serialized computers first and leave these dealers alone who entered into a SEPARATE contract with their customer from the one the customer has with Apple.

The computers report home to Apple all the time. Start with mine!

Rocketman

 

[jlauve]

Suggested public services by MacRumors:

1. List of third party repair and upgrade shops by authorized or not. Ability to comment on service experience.

2. List of third party warranty services, especially that cover customer damage. IIRC they are the same or lower cost than Applecare.

Rocketman has a great idea here.
How 'bout it MacRumors?

 

[Theclamshell]

Rocketman

Suggested public services by MacRumors

1. List of third party repair and upgrade shops by authorized or not. Ability to comment on service experience.

2. List of third party warranty services, especially that cover customer damage. IIRC they are the same or lower cost than Applecare.

This is a great idea. I think it would be very useful

 

[heisetax]

Seriously? You're angry because they didn't give you something they didn't promise? Upgrades, of any type, are never guaranteed. Deal with it.

jW

Apple doesn't support anything that they did not sell to you. So if the ATI 4870 did not come with your machine as my 2 3870s that I have in my 1st gen Intel Mac Pro then there is no support from Apple. Actually buy a new Mac without Apple Care & Apple will only supply 90 days of no prepaid charges for warranty work. This is with a 1 year warranty. So I have come not to expect any Apple support wven on products they they claim to support.

It took a year before Apple would replace an ATI x1900 video card that was shown to be bad before I tried talking to them. Then they replace the wrong card that was not covered by warranty. It took me a year before I felt safe that Apple would not charge me for the video card.

Support with Apple is a joke anyway so how could anyone ever expect them to do any help for something that did not come with your computer. If you want a decent choice of video cards in a reasonable time after the manufacturer ships them, then a Mac is not for you. If you want to run OS X then make yourself a Frankentosh & have the best of both worlds. Choice means non-Mac.

 

[Rocketman]

New thread started at moderator request to collect feedback.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/842348/

Rocketman

 

[BrotherCrack]

Huge surprise!!

Its a scam that a 5 year old could come up with. Practically every part inside these computers are serialized, why were they not cross checking the received defective part's serial against the one that left the factory?

Sometimes, when a machine has multiple repairs, technicians forget to put the sticker with the new serial number on the board, so many cases of this happen, even I have forgotten to put it on machines I worked. And not all parts have serial numbers, it will vary on the model. Also many times so many volumes of repairs received in GSX that it's very hard to track case by case even when technicians do put the serials correctly. Also, there are disc to change the serial number in the hardware. There are many ways to bypass this. These scams aren't anything new. I have seen them going on for years. I have quit from service centers that do this, for the exact reason that I won't put my certifications on the line for these scumbags to make more money.

Why don't Apple just do out of warranty service themselves?

I'd be happier going via them to be honest.

Some places apple just doesn't have service centers or apple stores. Like in Latin America they work exclusively with authorized service centers to bring better quality. The system is not even GSX in Latin America, it's ALAC and Im sure it varies in other regions as well.They realize that most people don't like the concept of shipping their computer. People still like to have someone in person to handle their machines. This is also why apple has high ratings in customer service vs. HP that tells you to ship the computer to some place to get fixed.

Care to tell me what other upgrade options Apple gave me? OK, I'll tell you: buy a new Mac Pro. The only reason why 4870 is not supported on my Mac Pro is because Apple would rather have me pay for a new machine. Makes perfect sense, for Apple.

You'd be surprised and how many times I told myself the exact same thing then find out through escalation why apple decided on XYZ not being supported or covered in a machine that by all logic is IDENTICAL and SHOULD accept that card/device/upgrade/amount of memory, you name it. I cannot give you a specific reason for your 4870 to not be supported, but I can tell you in my experience these things that I always see as stupid when I investigate end up having an incredibly GOOD reason to not be supported. Sometimes I have seen it's as simple as a specific board having a TINY change in a chipset, or in a power supply that is able to handle the voltage from one model to another. Making it unstable or simply causing the slight difference in design to completely fry your hardware.

 

[Rocketman]

Apple doesn't support anything that they did not sell to you.

Okay, but how about they also do not remove and dispose of it for you without consent. That happened to me on MacMall installed RAM, and they are authorized apple service techs.

Kensington RAM IIRC.

Rocketman

 

[MorphingDragon]

I'm still baffled that Apple only offers one year of free warranty! For a computer! Damn... Even the lamest laptop you can buy that has no known brand has 2 years of warranty at least.

In America maybe...

 

[ChrisA]

.... Hell, Apple should pick up the computer from my house via FedEx Next Day Air, fix it, and ship it back for some of these price premiums....!

When we buy computers from Sun and they fail, Sun sends the tech on-site to repair it. Even Dell can send out on-site techs.

Apple is right there with e-machines and arcer making you take the computer to them.

 

[Kar98]

Surprise! "Third party centers" are in it for the $$$ and they screw over both the consumer and the companies that outsource to them. And their employees. Oh, and the communities where they're located.

 

[sinsin07]

When we buy computers from Sun and they fail, Sun sends the tech on-site to repair it. Even Dell can send out on-site techs.

Apple is right there with e-machines and arcer making you take the computer to them.

That's good, but what's better is having in house on site 24/7 support like major corps do. We have in house Sun, HP and Dell.