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1TB iMac replacement story

A

AlligatorBloodz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 13, 2010
107
0
So a 2-3 months ago my HDD on my late 2009 27in iMac was going bad. My iMac kept warning me that it was failing and I should back up my data immediately. I did exactly that and then searched Apple to see if it was covered or if there was any replacement plan. Surprisingly there was, but my particular model was not one that was covered.

I eventually realized I would have to pay to have the HDD replaced. Instead of paying $200 or more (service+hardware) to have it replaced I decided to upgrade to a SSD and do the work myself. It took me about 20 mins and only cost $160 for a 240GB SSD. iMac works great!

Recently I saw on MacRumors that they expanded their coverage to other iMac's and as it turned out, mine was now covered. I also got an email from Apple stating that mine was now covered and if I feel I paid for some repairs, to contact them.

I called Apple and told them my situation. They said I was covered but when they heard I did the work myself that I may be SOL. So the phone rep transferred me to my local store, because that is where these replacements are taking place, and I spoke with someone there who told me what I didn't want to hear.

Because I did an upgrade not intended for a user, I voided my warranty. I asked him how does one void a warranty that doesn't exist? My warranty expired almost 2 years ago, there is no warranty to void. The iMac is my property and I should be allowed to do what I want with it. I repeated over and over again I am not looking for them to pay me $160 for my SSD, I am looking for something comparable to what it would have cost for the 1TB HDD hardware! I said Apple admitted they had faulty hardware and that they are willing to compensate people. I just wanted the compensation for the faulty hardware. I started to get irritated.

I asked to speak with a manager and explained that I am not looking for $160. I am looking for compensation (looks like the 1TB Seagate HDD is about $100 on OWC). And she said they have no system put in place to just give me cash. This is the one time I raised my voice and said I never asked for cash, I asked for compensation. Her response was "Oh, one second, I have found this new internal document. Would you mind holding while I read it."

I was put on hold on and off for about 1 hour, she was very patient and extremely understanding. Now they have submitted an escalation form and I should hear back within 3 days.

Has anyone else taken this route? Repaired their iMac's themselves and now are seeking some kind of compensation for the faulty hardware? I get why they are concerned about opening it myself, but all I am looking for is for them to say "Hey, we screwed up on the HDD, here is compensation for what comparable working hardware would have cost." Is that too much to ask?
 
At the very least they could have just given you the replacement HDD to do whatever you wanted with it. I think it's borderline fraudulent that Apple refuses to cover it just because you replaced the hard drive. Apple specifically has warranty voided if removed stickers inside the iMac, and they aren't covering the HDD. Morever, one could have just put back in their original hard-drive prior to going to an Apple store, and they wouldn't have known any different, so I think it's ridiculous that they'd get worked up over someone replacing an easily accessible part. Which is probably a point you might've brought up to them, that if one put the original drive back before they took it in, how would apple know any difference?

My 09 iMac's 1tb seagate hard drive has been slowly dying on me for the past year and a half, nowhere to the point of the machine warning me, but there's been random cases where it's locked up for a minute or two while you could hear the hard drive screaming at a high pitch, sometimes it'd be so bad that I'd have to manually shut the computer down. I was debating getting an SSD for the longest, but after hearing Apple extended the program, I got my HDD replaced yesterday, and it's working again today with another Seagate Hard Drive that's dead silent in normal operation compared to my last.
 
If you had paid for the repair in the first place - they would have refunded you.

It's common knowledge that when you open up the computer for something, you are voiding the warranty on it - including any replacement programs (which are a warranty extension). You were happy with the SSD at the time, so what do you actually want from them (if you don't want pure cash). If you had paid for a replacement HDD then sure, I'd probably agree with you that they should cover the cost, but what you want from them is unreasonable. You also could have gone down other routes at the time, such as the BBB, but chose not to.

In the time you've spent moaning at Apple and posting here, you probably could have earned whatever $$$ value you want from Apple for something that hasn't really affected you (going from a 1TB HDD to a 512SSD is an upgrade that you probably would have done anyway - 1TB -> 1TB I can understand).
 
... good luck with getting some form of compensation.

Really not wanting to digress but it's because of situations like this that I am really questioning whether I want to ever buy another iMac.

My current iMac (2008 3.06 C2D) is at present in for repair (video card died) however my HD died within 8 months of owning it.

With a traditional tower you could replace a hard drive within minutes and be up and running again. With the iMac the entire machine has to go in for repairs because as you have pointed out, if you perform a HD replacement yourself (not exactly straight forward) you void any warranty should you have any!

I truly believe that Apple should make a machine with the iMac's power but as a "separate" which has accessible panels for user upgrades/repairs etc. But then again, Apple is so tight that they would worry too much about losing Apple Care sales ...
 
I actually had 1TB Western Digital in mine that went bad and was covered under AppleCare, which they replaced with one of these faulty Seagate ones. They sent me an email, updating me that I was covered for a replacement.

I might go in because my keyboard died as well, but I've been having terrible problems with AppleCare as of lately.

I say they should cover you and at least just give you a free 1TB HDD.
 
OK wait a minute Mac's alert you if your hard drive is failing? wow
 
Last edited:
As I discovered in a recent 2009 iMac 27" repair, swapping the HDD means all bets are off.

If you kept the old drive, put it back in and left no traces that you had mucked around inside they'd swap it as per the recall.
 
Good luck with the replacement they may ask u to provide the old broken HDD and replace it with a brand new one for YOU. :apple: :D
 
bma said:
If you had paid for the repair in the first place - they would have refunded you.

It's common knowledge that when you open up the computer for something, you are voiding the warranty on it - including any replacement programs (which are a warranty extension). You were happy with the SSD at the time, so what do you actually want from them (if you don't want pure cash). If you had paid for a replacement HDD then sure, I'd probably agree with you that they should cover the cost, but what you want from them is unreasonable. You also could have gone down other routes at the time, such as the BBB, but chose not to.

In the time you've spent moaning at Apple and posting here, you probably could have earned whatever $$$ value you want from Apple for something that hasn't really affected you (going from a 1TB HDD to a 512SSD is an upgrade that you probably would have done anyway - 1TB -> 1TB I can understand).
Click to expand...

Moaning? I paid $1700 for a computer that I expect to work as promised. I understand HDD fails, but Apple admitted to the faulty hardware. I would have never upgraded to the SSD if my HDD didn't fail. Did you not read my post? The cost of replacing it myself with the SAME 1TB HDD was about $100. The upgrade was $160. It was no-brainer for me. I am seeking either a new HDD to do with what I please (probably sell it) or GC of the HDD value. I don't think that is unreasonable.
 
Luck of luck, my HDD started to fail within the last week but didn't give up until the day after receiving the e-mail notifying me that my late 2009 iMac's Seagate HDD is faulty and covered through 2013 sometime. I brought it in Sunday at 12:45p, and they called me back at 3:37p saying it was fixed and ready to be picked up--saved me a 3-hour round trip coming back! I now have a new HDD that is *silent*.

The invoice put the replacement HDD at $226 and labor at $39--all free. I still have Apple Care, but it's nice knowing I would have been covered regardless.
 
If anyone cares, Apple did approve the refund amount for the SSD finally. Pretty happy about it. Took a while, but they understood where I was coming from.
 
AlligatorBloodz said:
If anyone cares, Apple did approve the refund amount for the SSD finally. Pretty happy about it. Took a while, but they understood where I was coming from.
Click to expand...

Wasn't following along earlier, but just read the thread. Nice to hear another story of great customer service from Apple!
 
Really no big loss. would you really have wanted another 1tb back in there.
I took mine out before my imac even got powered up and put SSD in there.

Can't think of anything worse than using a computer with a standard HDD in it.

so good work anyway on putting SSD in there.
 
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