Anyone else have issues with refurbs?

[thesimplelogic]

I have a late 2013 refurbished 15" rMBP, which I bought in December of 2014. 2.3Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, discreet graphics, and 512GB flash. Approximate cost of the laptop was $2500.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a tiny chip in the display (obviously my own fault, but I did read that other members have had similar issues and that the Retinas are prone to this) so I took it to the Apple store and they said that they would replace the display under warranty. (Originally would have been $1100! Yikes!)

I then received a phone call once that repair was complete and was told that one of the fan (ducts?) wasn't functioning properly, and that it needed to be replaced as well. By the time this repair had been finished, my rMBP had been with the Apple store for about 9 days.

Yesterday, I received another phone call from the Genius Bar, which then informed me that the flash storage on my computer had bad blocks, and was also failing (luckily it was all backed up, but I'd never had any previous issues) and that they needed to replace that as well. (Does anyone know how much a replacement 512GB flash drive through Apple would usually be?)

Fortunately this has all been covered under warranty, but has anyone else had a refurb with several issues, or are they normally very good? I also had a hardware issue (Apple weren't able to find anything with the software, even after it had been reinstalled) at the beginning of the year with bluetooth, wifi and handoff, which then somehow magically resolved itself

As I said earlier, has anyone had similar issues with their refurbs? And is there a certain monetary amount of damage (or faults) Apple will cover under warranty? Because surely all the parts and labor must be approaching the original cost of my laptop? (well, display probably was my fault but...)

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Apple will fix it for the same problem usually up to 3 times before just giving you a new laptop. To be honest on here the general consensus is that refurbs are usually as good as or better than new because they are tested more rigourously.

 

[thesimplelogic]

Apple will fix it for the same problem usually up to 3 times before just giving you a new laptop. To be honest on here the general consensus is that refurbs are usually as good as or better than new because they are tested more rigourously.

Part of the reason I bought a refurb instead of just going brand new was because I did hear that almost everything on a refurb was replaced as part of the process (battery, screen, SSD, if I'm correct?) I've never had any issues with any of my previous computers, and it was my first refurb model too. Other than this, I've been really impressed with it.

 

[James.K.Polk]

I got a refurb 2015 base 15" rMBP and it had some weird ghosting / dirty screen effect "behind" the display - really noticeable when switching across web pages / doing anything horizontally. I brought it to the store and they replaced it with a brand new (non-refurbished) unit (was within 14 days) which is much nicer. But, overall people seem to have positive experiences with refurbs, so it was probably just bad luck.

 

[DFWHD]

I have the exact same system purchased in March of 2014 that I use for my main home system and have had no issues whatsoever. We have a 100% Mac household and of the 6 Macs, three are refurbs. We had issues with one of the refurbs, which Apple addressed and have had issues with two of the Macs purchased new, which Apple also addressed. IMO, refurbs are as good as new if not better.

 

[mrex]

Only thing what makes me scrolling my eyes is that why they didnt check it once but needed to call you twice about fan anf flash... Sounds quite amateurish and time spending...

 

[thesimplelogic]

Only thing what makes me scrolling my eyes is that why they didnt check it once but needed to call you twice about fan anf flash... Sounds quite amateurish and time spending...

It has definitely been time spending! I'm picking up my rMBP today and it's been exactly 2 weeks since I put it in for repair... I guess all I can presume is that they didn't run final diagnostics (the SSD) until the end, and since it was booting up fine they didn't suspect anything. Now that I think about it though, I was getting Kernel panics but they always happened in Parallels so I presumed it was to do with that, but obviously that's where part of the bad sector obviously was.

 

[deadoctopi]

I have had my refurb 13" rMBP for a couple weeks or so and I've loved it. I took it into the Genius bar to have them go over it with their diagnostics, checking fans, cpu temps, etc etc, they did every test that they had available to check for any issues. And they found none. Which is great, and I'm sure if they would have found anything worrisome I'd be seeing warranty maintenance and repairs.

I would say your situation isn't par for the course, as there's a few form members (with some digging you can find them) you've mentioned they always buy refurb and never has issues. I'd wager that's the norm.

I'd also probably be echoed by folks who've gone the refurb route already, that taking it in to the genius bar and having them go over everything, is a good thing to do. I mean, it's free, and could potentially save you headache down the road if there was anything immediate needing done to it.

 

[thesimplelogic]

I have had my refurb 13" rMBP for a couple weeks or so and I've loved it. I took it into the Genius bar to have them go over it with their diagnostics, checking fans, cpu temps, etc etc, they did every test that they had available to check for any issues. And they found none. Which is great, and I'm sure if they would have found anything worrisome I'd be seeing warranty maintenance and repairs.

I would say your situation isn't par for the course, as there's a few form members (with some digging you can find them) you've mentioned they always buy refurb and never has issues. I'd wager that's the norm.

I'd also probably be echoed by folks who've gone the refurb route already, that taking it in to the genius bar and having them go over everything, is a good thing to do. I mean, it's free, and could potentially save you headache down the road if there was anything immediate needing done to it.

Just got back from the Apple Store and I finally have my laptop back! Honestly very impressed with the warranty and service - the SSD did turn out to be a hardware thing, so they did have to replace that. But all in all, the total cost of the service ($2557 dollars) was $0 due to warranty! Definitely will be purchasing the AppleCare protection plan... Considering the fact that as a refurb my computer was only $2500, I'm very happy.