Anyone heard about this insane warrenty policy?

[Teej guy]

I'm in Canada. My MacBook Pro has two issues. It is under one year old, and after these two issues, I'm considering purchasing extended Apple Care.

The DVD-Rom drive won't read blank DVD-Rs from any manufacturer in either Mac OS X or Windows. I'm buying a massive external drive soon so I was going to wait to back everything up before sending the computer in for repair.

I'm in Windows, I click restart in OS X. Chime, completely black screen. It did this once a few weeks ago while booting into Windows, I thought it was just a one-off **** up. Hold down the power button, start again, chime, black screen. Backlight isn't turning on, nothing is on the screen either, but the computer is still running and boots up.

I take it into an authorised repair centre that day, and I was informed that since these are two completely different issues, Apple will only send out the parts with a minimum month's delay between them, so once the black screen issue is fixed, I have to wait a month before I can burn DVDs again.

This policy is further confirmed by a friend on the other side of Canada who's Mighty Mouse broke. He took it to the Apple Store, got a replacement which itself broke after two weeks. He was told that he would not be able to get a replacement until a month's period had passed after his first issue. The work around was to buy another one, and return it as "faulty" after the remaining two weeks had passed.

Please excuse this long post, but what the hell? What kind of warranty policy is that? Certainly not a customer friendly one. I'm going to be sending an e-mail to the "official" Steve Jobs inbox and calling Apple because this is ridiculous. Anyone have any prior experience which would confirm this policy or work around it?

 

[rjflyn]

From your post you look like you have both Windows and OS X on your system. Are you sure your problems are not related to that? In that have you restored your system to factory original software and are still having the problem. The reason I say that is could be an issue with combination of the 2 OS's.

R

 

[mkrishnan]

I think rjflyn's advice is really good advice to try (since you made some significant modifications). However, I would not stand for that "policy." You're absolutely right. It's absurd, and (although I have only visited and never lived in Canada, and am a US citizen) I can't imagine it would apply in any other consumer situation. I would be pretty shocked if it's actually consistent with Canadian law.

What I would do is bypass the local Apple store and start calling Apple. Gentle, but firm and persistent. Escalate as much as you need to. Write Steve Jobs or a high-ranking Apple/Canada exec (better) if you can find an e-mail address.

You bought a premium notebook computer and you have a right to expect its basic functions to work properly. If you can't resolve these by reformatting the disk and single-installing OS X in the original way (in which case, somehow this may be the fault of the changes you made), then Apple should be held obliged to provide you with a working computer in a prompt fashion, in one way or another. If they can't fix the one you've got promptly, they should replace it.

 

[Teej guy]

Before I call Apple and send the Jobs address (and others, thanks Mohan) an e-mail, I'm going to wait for some further response from the store I took it to. If they're not able to rectify this in a satisfying way, I'll escalate the issue to Apple itself.

Regarding restoring the computer to factory default, this is impossible because the screen will not turn on. As I said, it's booting just fine, you can even wait and put in a wrong password and have the "boop" sound happen, it's a purely hardware issue, further comfirmed by the fact it has happened on booting into either Windows or OS X.

I also take issue with installing Windows as being a "serious modification". While it is quite a significant change to the original state of the laptop, Bootcamp and dual-booting is sold as a feature of the OS, and therefore should work flawlessly.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[mkrishnan]

I also take issue with installing Windows as being a "serious modification". While it is quite a significant change to the original state of the laptop, Bootcamp and dual-booting is sold as a feature of the OS, and therefore should work flawlessly.

It should work flawlessly, but I have no idea if you did it correctly.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[Teej guy]

I think I did do it correctly. I bought the laptop back in August '07 and one of the first things I did was set up the dual-boot with Windows XP. It has worked pretty much flawlessly up until last week when the screen wouldn't turn on. I also have Leopard and have upgraded to the latest 2.1 Bootcamp drivers.

If anyone else has had to deal with multiple warranty claims from Apple within a one month period, especially within Canada, I'd love to hear about your experiences. Thanks!

 

[MattZani]

Hook up an external monitor, Backup, Restore.

If not fixed, make hell until both problems are fixed at once, or you get a new machine.

 

[agentphish]

I can tell you this:

I had my powerbook sent in for a screen replacement. I got it back, and 1 week later had a hard disk failure and needed a replacement. Apple let me send it right back in without any questions or waiting period. Certainly not a months time. That's just absurd.

They should be able to fix any problems that the machine has all at once, whether or not they are related to one another or not. That's why the machines have warranties on them, to fix problems.

Applecare is a must have for laptops anyways, so I'd get it regardless.

I do agree that the problem could be OS related however. SO I would backup and restore to factory and see what happens, also try an external monitor.

 

[Teej guy]

Hook up an external monitor, Backup, Restore.

Since it happened to me in Windows once awhie ago and then happened persistently in OS X, I assumed it was a hardware issue. I just got off the phone with the (Apple certified) tech I took it to and it appears I was right. He hooked up an external monitor and got nothing, so it's graphics hardware related, not the LCD screen. (which I'm happy about since my screen has no dead pixels and looks great!)

If not fixed, make hell until both problems are fixed at once, or you get a new machine.

I certainly will make sure both problems are fixed in a timely manner or that I receive appropirate compensation, however I'll do it politely, the people on the other end of the phone are just doing their jobs

I can tell you this:

I had my powerbook sent in for a screen replacement. I got it back, and 1 week later had a hard disk failure and needed a replacement. Apple let me send it right back in without any questions or waiting period. Certainly not a months time. That's just absurd.

Phish, are you in Canada? It's possible this is a Canada only issue (although I have no idea why that would be.) As I stated in my original post, my friend on the other side of Canada was told the same thing at a different store.

Also, the thought just occured to me, maybe this is only if you're taking it to authorised repair centres? You said you sent yours into Apple, maybe the clause doesn't apply in that case. I'm certainly going to do some more digging and see what I come up with.