Apple Customer Service everyone, or The Repair That Will Take 9 Months

[shellsnail]

Ran into similar issue. Wife’s 2017MBP runs into issues 3 times in two months despite their “repairs”. Senior advisor promised a replacement upon heading down to retail. Headed down and rejected based on “policy”.

Now 2018 MBP running into kernel panics and freezes and called but just kept having to speak to different people and wasting time. Can’t see customer service helping out much either.

What’s the point of buying AppleCare even?

No more macs for me until they get their **** together.

 

[SDColorado]

That’s right. Crazy isn’t it? I hate this new policy of Apple. I had a hard time convincing the guy at the store to take my Apple Watch with a popped up display caused by a swollen battery. I said why do I need an appointment for an obvious problem which is also covered by Apple Care+ on top of it. He said come just before our closing hour at night and I’ll try to squeeze you in. I went back just before the store was closed and sure enough someone cancelled their appointment and they took my watch for service. Still, this is a nuisance and really an inconvenient way to deal with repairs.

Apple should find a way to alleviate this problem.

They have made it more difficult to make an appointment now than it used to be as well, with an online “gatekeeper” where you have to pick a category and elect to chat with them online or by phone. I get it in some instances, but if your issue is something like “my computer won’t power on,” I think most people are smart enough to make sure that they are doing the proper things to power it on without the help of support. Particularly if they have owned it awhile. One day they just woke up and forgot how to turn it on? Come on, get them in and get it fixed.

Years ago Apple used to have that one to one care for business or some such name that gave business users a priority repair. I used to pay that every year until they cancelled it. It was an annual fee, but if it’s a business machine you are willing to pay for the priority service.

 

[Webster's Mac]

I've decided to tell you a story of awesome Apple Customer Service I've had lately.

To start the story, let me just say that I have fully maxed out MBP 15" '16 - i7-6920HQ, Radeon Pro 460, 2TB SSD - purchased in the end of December 2016. With AppleCare no less. For those over the pond (I'm in the UK), this has been roughly 5372 USD back then (4378 GBP).

So naturally as one would expect its keyboard started mispressing the keys. In January 2018, a little after the warranty period ended. Fortunately(?) I had AppleCare as back then Apple didn't recognise the problem with the keyboard as it does now.

I contacted online support, they made me do all the regulars (SMC, NVRAM etc), unexpectedly it didn't help and they asked me to go to the Apple Store. The most convenient to me is the one on Regent St in London (for those unaware, flagship store on one of the most expensive streets in London and the world I believe). I go there, meet the genius, he behaves as if he has never seen such an issue before but agrees very fast this is not my fault and this should be fixed. And advises to just clean it with pressed air which he does. The issue becomes better and I have no way to make him actually repair the laptop even though I know well from the internet it won't help for long.

On the 3rd day in it starts mispressing again. I have to visit the store again and ask for the repair. They quote 21 days of waiting. 21. 3 weeks without 5372 USD worth of a laptop. 3 weeks with additional warranty bought from them no less. As this is my only computer I decline. Among others the phrase "What do you want? We're the second busiest Apple Store in the world" is said about the period straight to my face.

I phone support, escalate to AppleCare adviser, escalate to senior AppleCare adviser explaining every one of them the whole long situation over and over again. None of them is appalled by the period quoted or by the language used and all of them try to make me accept it. Eventually senior adviser understands I'm adamant and starts to solve the problem.

He finally suggests they'll be able to order the parts without having my machine and I will only need to give it up after that, for the repair itself. Which seems kinda reasonable. Or at least I thought so. He asks me to go to the store for them to examine again and order the right parts. I do, they examine etc... and while committing to the repair I accidentally ask how long it will take after the parts arrive (expecting to hear like 2 days max or something). 14 days. Hell yeah. That solves the problem. Yay.

I decline. Back home, email senior AppleCare adviser (he gave me both his direct phone and email - why this is significant would be explained further), explain the situation again, several emails, several calls, we agree they will order the parts without having my machine and then the repair would take no more than 1 full day (so I give up the machine Monday morning, it should be ready by Tuesday evening).

Back to the store, explain the situation all over again. They check everything. And do not honour the agreement saying among other things "we don't know what you've agreed about with AppleCare adviser, we're another division, what do you want from us?".

Back home, emails, calls with senior AppleCare adviser... he seems so eager to help. He assures me to go to the store again and this time they'll help me as we agreed - order parts before giving up my machine and for the repair to take no more than 1 full day.

I go and indeed they know about the agreement. We reiterate all the conditions, they explain thoroughly how my machine will be repaired first thing the next morning after I give it up, how they will assign the best specialist to do it, how fast it'll be, yada, yada, yada, all in all - quite long marketing speech - and in the end they add "just in case something goes wrong you should know it might take 14 days to repair". I'm like WTF?! Isn't it the cornerstone of the problem? I cannot be without laptop for 14 days even if it's just a possibility. I decided I've had enough and ask to call the manager. Considering how bad they've behaved previously I understand that "might take 14 days" means "if we choose to it will take 14 days and you will be able to do nothing about it as you've signed the documents".

Explain everything that has already happened to the manager, she agrees this is not right, thoroughly apologises, asks for a moment to speak with her subordinate, they go to the backroom. Several minutes after, she returns, apologises, says she understands all the frustration and that there is such an agreement. Starts explaining it will be honoured, the same long marketing speech how my laptop will be repaired first thing next day I give it up, yada, yada, yada... and in the end of the long speech adds it might take 14 days. I still have my temper, I tell this will not work as explained numerous times before and we need a contingency plan in case such an issue happens like providing me a temporary replacement laptop or something for these 14 days.

She asks to take a leave to the backroom with her subordinate again, returns in 5 minutes... and the whole long speech happens again with "it might take 10 days" in the end. For the third time. At this point I understand I've had enough and say that I want the laptop to be replaced as per Consumer Rights Act 2015 which allows the customer to request either repair or replacement if the product is defective. For those over the pond, this is consumer law, retailers must honour it and must do it on the spot (not as in give the replacement instantly but they must know the law and start the replacement process).

The answer is appalling and as rude and lawless as it can get - "ok, talk with the legal team" (as in the real Apple legal department which has better things to do like appeal EU order to pay 15 billion in taxes - find their number and call them). I ask to present the legal team in front of me - I'll gladly talk with them at which point she understands she's wrong and asks to take a leave to the backroom again.

In several minutes she returns and says the law does not give me this right and repeats her marketing tirade about how my laptop will be repaired fast adding the piece about 10 days in the end of course.

I decline, we read the law together from my laptop, she understands she's wrong, back to backroom, some more wait, she returns, reiterates the same speech and... unfortunately it's time for the store to close. As if she did it intentionally.

To put this all into perspective - it's already middle February by that time as visiting the store instead of work is not always possible and senior Apple Care adviser does not answer the phone 2/3rds of the time and responds to emails on second or third day. I have two long business trips coming up.

I relay all what happened to the adviser, he answers in several days how bad it is, I say to him that I'm going to quite a long business trip soon, maybe he could arrange a repair or replacement there, he says he actually can, every next message taking 1 to 3 days. He asks me what dates, what cities in the destination country, what part of the city I will be in. As if he's really interested to help. But during 4 weeks away nothing except those questions happen.

I return to London, try to reach him, he's not answering calls and does no respond to emails. In 5 days he finally does but I have to leave for another 2-week business trip by that time. We agree to solve the problem after I return. Funny thing happens over these 2 weeks - I get a call from Apple, apparently my adviser went on vacation and his colleague was checking his cases - starting the call with "how good you laptop is now? the repair went well?" and not understanding it did not for roughly 5 minutes.

When I return I try to reach him by the phone several times but no luck and drop him an email which he ignores. It's the beginning of April already btw. I try the same again in May but no luck again.

The summer was quite busy and I had no time to resolve it further. Fortunately the main problem was with the Cmd key which there are two and I could use the laptop with some inconvenience. By the end of summer it became worse, also TB3 ports became so loose that slightly moving the laptop could stop the charging and display started to show slight reflective cover wear off. As I've finally had some free time I decided to fix it eventually.

Contacted Apple, among other things asked to check what's the status of the January-May case IDs. The resolution was they've tried to contact me by phone both in April and in May and could not. Even though we communicated via email quite a lot they did not respond to emails? And I didn't have any missed calls from Apple (and they're quite specific - they come from 00353***) so I think it was ********.

I've contacted AppleCare again, different adviser as mine could not be reached. They didn't see any problem in how the whole case was handled and only apologised after I stressed the worst points of their employees behaviour two or three times. They've assured me the only way to solve the issue is to get it repaired but also guaranteed it would take no more than 14 days. Being quite exhausted I thought **** it, let it be 14 days.

Went to the store the same day as I was told appointment is not necessary. In store I was told appointment is necessary and the nearest one is in ... ... ... ... 9 days! And then, after appointment, it will be 14 more days for the repair.

I asked to call a manager, explained everything to him, without any apologies, anything, without any second thought he went "yeah, just go to any other Authorised Service Provider, here are 4 nearby, they might have lesser wait time". We checked on the website - the least was in 5 days. As if it helps. Also he suggested to walk-in every morning and I will likely be seen without appointment after waiting for 2 or 3 hours (as if people have no better things to do than wait for hours at Apple Store - like work or something). Only after I explained him three times I as a consumer do not want to wander different places or wait hours in store and beg for my hugely expensive laptop to be fixed, I chose this store, I was advised it would take no more than 14 days and until this service is provided or documentally confirmed it will not be I will not leave him and he must resolve issue, he instantly found an employee which quickly examined my laptop, agreed with all the issues (keyboard, display, IO ports), ordered the parts, asked me to drop my laptop when the email about parts arrive and the whole process, she guaranteed, would take no more than 14 days.

Looking forward to what they will **** up next. Still waiting for the parts to arrive.


To summarise all of that. Reading all the stories about Apple Customer Service here on the website, be they positive or negative, I kind of laugh how miniscule they are.

Sorry for the long wall of text. Any advice welcome. Any critics of my expectations or behaviour is welcome as well. Thank you for reading.

I can see both arguments here. As someone who works on computers (including Macs...and I am not an authorized shop...just a hobbyist haha), I understand that there are delays, especially when you have to order parts. And the keyboards on these are riveted to the top case, meaning that in order to replace it, you have to take out *everything* to replace that part. Even for experienced techs, this takes a while if they want to do a good job of it.

But I also understand your point. If I spent that much on a laptop, I would NOT want to be without it for two weeks. I think they should just replace it. It isn't your fault that they screwed up the keyboards, and it isn't your fault that they made the keyboard so difficult to replace.

I would demand a replacement, and wouldn't stop nagging AppleCare or the Genius bar until you get one. Calmly, but firmly explain that this laptop is really, really expensive and that you cannot afford to be without it.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

Sorry but I think you came with unreasonable expectations.

I’m not familiar with the Apple Store network but there must be more than one store in London. Plus the UK is not that big, is it?

Apple is not the most socialist company in the world but they’re democratic in that for Genius Bar support you must stand in line whether you spent $6,000 or $1,000 for your laptop. And it seems that you expected them to fix this computer on your terms, exclusively, and made a massive ****ing fuss when reality kicked in and they told you it was not possible.

It seems that you never even considered seeing a Genius at another store, or something like that.

Sorry to blame this on you but I wouldn’t expect the most personalized service on earth at the 5th Avenue or Beijing stores either. Your expectations were not reasonable for what surely must be one of the most packed stores in the world. Imagine if everyone wanted to skip the line jut Belfast they paid X amount for their laptop.

In an extreme case you could leave your laptop there, buy another one nd return it within the 14-day period.

 

[apiro]

Well, it depends what you mean by another store. Of course I didn't consider going to another city just for the sake of fixing my machine when it being broken is not my fault (and going there again to pick it up, and be under risk they will make a fuss about something and I will spend time for nothing). I have considered some other London stores though - same experience. See others' posts about it as well.

So yeah I'm entitled for expecting Apple to fix the machine without inconvenience to the customer in less than 21 days and without spending hours to get to the place where the fix will happen. BTW I offered them to hold money from my card for another machine, send it to me, get the broken one back and release the hold - for some reason they don't want to do it... Also remember my machine is a BTO one - buying a replacement for 14 days will take time. And for 21 days I will have to buy two and return two and transfer my data several times. If you really think this is OK, I'm not sure what to say.

 

[SDColorado]

buying a replacement for 14 days will take time. And for 21 days I will have to buy two and return two and transfer my data several times. If you really think this is OK, I'm not sure what to say.

I suppose in a worst case scenario that would be an option and for a short term “loaner” you could likely live without the CTO options. They do, for example, carry the i9/32GB/1TB models in store. At least they do near me.

Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the drive, buy a new one and if yours isn’t done in 14 days call Apple and ask for an extension of the 14 days or clone/rinse/repeat.

Yes it is a huge pain, but it beats being without a machine for business an absurdly long 21+ days.

Remember when Apple used to offer Pro Care, which gave members access to more booking days on the schedule than non-members and priority turnaround for repairs. I was sorry to see that program go. Well worth the $99/yr when you needed your machine back ASAP

 

[aristobrat]

Yup. And only after explaining three times I'm not going to do that and I won't leave that day unless the manager does something about it the slot was instantly found.

At the Apple Store I worked at, they’d pull one of the folks working in the back (doing the actual repair work) out to diffuse situations like this.

 

[apiro]

I suppose in a worst case scenario that would be an option and for a short term “loaner” you could likely live without the CTO options. They do, for example, carry the i9/32GB/1TB models in store. At least they do near me.

Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the drive, buy a new one and if yours isn’t done in 14 days call Apple and ask for an extension of the 14 days or clone/rinse/repeat.

Yes it is a huge pain, but it beats being without a machine for business an absurdly long 21+ days.

Remember when Apple used to offer Pro Care, which gave members access to more booking days on the schedule than non-members and priority turnaround for repairs. I was sorry to see that program go. Well worth the $99/yr when you needed your machine back ASAP

I have 2TB because I have more than 1TB of data. Not because I have 128GB and want to pay Apple some unnecessary money.

As for all of these "yes it is a huge pain, but..." - that's why we cannot have nice things. Eventually there will be a refurbished laptop Apple will spend money on, my time spent, Genius time spent, sales person time spent etc etc etc instead of just fixing the initial process.

 

[SDColorado]

I have 2TB because I have more than 1TB of data. Not because I have 128GB and want to pay Apple some unnecessary money.

As for all of these "yes it is a huge pain, but..." - that's why we cannot have nice things.

But do you actually have 2TB of data that you must access on a daily basis, where a “loaner” would not work? Or that you could not temporarily access from an external drive, NAS or other solution?

If not, then putting all your eggs in one basket with Apples “suicide array”, non-replaceable SSD’s, may not be the best option to begin with?

 

[apiro]

But do you actually have 2TB of data that you must access on a daily basis, where a “loaner” would not work? Or that you could not temporarily access from an external drive, NAS or other solution?

If not, then putting all your eggs in one basket with Apples “suicide array”, non-replaceable SSD’s, may not be the best option to begin with?

Do you happen to notice you add complexity to "yes it's a huge pain"?

Data is backed up if that's what you ask. If putting it on an external drive, NAS or other solution would make sense permanently I guess someone like me would have had this solution instead of maxed-out MBP. Creating such a solution temporarily requires time, money and inconvenience... and we're back to the initial problem.

 

[SDColorado]

Do you happen to notice you add complexity to "yes it's a huge pain"?

Data is backed up if that's what you ask. If putting it on an external drive, NAS or other solution would make sense permanently I guess someone like me would have had this solution instead of maxed-out MBP. Creating such a solution temporarily requires time, money and inconvenience... and we're back to the initial problem.

You are back to the original problem if you have to have it all one machine and you cannot live without that machine for any length of time. It is a flaw with how Apple configures their SSD's, because you are stuck with having to wait until Apple repairs your machine or else you need to clone the data to another machine with the same capacity or higher. Rather than the standard approach of business machines in using standard M.2 nvme SSD's, where you could simply move them to a new or "loaner" machine and carry on with business as usual.

Basically, you are at Apples mercy due to their choice in configurations with everything that matters being soldered to the logic board and leaving you with no viable options for a "loaner". You are put into a position where they get around to it when they get around to it and what are you going to do?

 

[Queen6]

Apple produces consumer grade notebooks, with consumer grade warranty period. Purchase a 512 and split the data on an external drive, then have Apple effect repair on your MBP, then return the 512 after repair. Right now your simply spinning in circles with no resolution, Apple been clear about it's timing for repair.

Like it or loath it, it is what it is, unless you want to be stuck with a broken MBP indefinitely, deal with it and pass the thing to Apple to resolve. I'd be pissed off myself, equally I'd want the notebook repaired.

If your using a notebook for anything mission critical a backup system is mandatory, as they can and do fail without warning. If I'm working somewhere sensible I travel with a primary 17" and a thin & light (rMB, MateBook etc.), if the primary was to fail, I'd simply purchase another notebook with reasonable performance for my needs. If I'm way off the beaten path, I'll travel with two 17" or at least one 17" and a secondary that can hold it's own in a pinch...

Q-6
[doublepost=1538401418][/doublepost]

You are back to the original problem if you have to have it all one machine and you cannot live without that machine for any length of time. It is a flaw with how Apple configures their SSD's, because you are stuck with having to wait until Apple repairs your machine or else you need to clone the data to another machine with the same capacity or higher. Rather than the standard approach of business machines in using standard M.2 nvme SSD's, where you could simply move them to a new or "loaner" machine and carry on with business as usual.

Basically, you are at Apples mercy due to their choice in configurations with everything that matters being soldered to the logic board and leaving you with no viable options for a "loaner". You are put into a position where they get around to it when they get around to it and what are you going to do?

Exactly and that's one of the risks with Apple currently, even then if your backed up there should be no real issue. I backup to system images, online secure server and physical external even in the field with the ability to flip between W10 & OS X if needs be, even the more complex W10 notebooks I can have up and running in less than half a day.

Personally I plan for hardware/software failure, as not delivering to the client is simply not happening...

Q-6

 

[SDColorado]

Exactly and that's one of the risks with Apple currently, even then if your backed up there should be no real issue. I backup to system images, online secure server and physical external even in the field with the ability to flip between W10 & OS X if needs be, even the more complex W10 notebooks I can have up and running in less than half a day.

Personally I plan for hardware/software failure, as not delivering to the client is simply not happening...

Q-6

No issue with data loss obviously, if you are backed up properly. But it does put you into these predicaments where you can't simply get another machine or use whatever logic board they have because they need to have one with the 2TB SSD, soldered on in order to replace yours.

With the standard m.2 standard drives, you aren't in this predicament if any part of the logic board fails, and it isn't uncommon that at some time it will, since CPU/GPU/RAM/PSU/SSD/T2 and other components & controllers are all soldered to it. Some of the machines using the m.2 drives, even allow Raid 1 configurations for added redundancy. I called Apple's configuration above a "suicide" array. But what I mean more specifically is that it consists of soldered on chips and a proprietary controller. If anything happens it is for most intents and purposes unrecoverable and unrepairable, so you find yourself in this non-business friendly situation of waiting until they get a part and deem you worthy of repair.

In short, I am not sure I would personally trust Apple/MBP with 2TB or more of data

 

[Queen6]

No issue with data loss obviously, if you are backed up properly. But it does put you into these predicaments where you can't simply get another machine or use whatever logic board they have because they need to have one with the 2TB SSD, soldered on in order to replace yours.

With the standard m.2 standard drives, you aren't in this predicament if any part of the logic board fails, and it isn't uncommon that at some time it will, since CPU/GPU/RAM/PSU/SSD/T2 and other components & controllers are all soldered to it. Some of the machines using the m.2 drives, even allow Raid 1 configurations for added redundancy. I called Apple's configuration above a "suicide" array. But what I mean more specifically is that it consists of soldered on chips and a proprietary controller. If anything happens it is for most intents and purposes unrecoverable and unrepairable, so you find yourself in this non-business friendly situation of waiting until they get a part and deem you worthy of repair.

In short, I am not sure I would personally trust Apple/MBP with 2TB or more of data

Don't get me wrong I do agree, equally one is unlikely to have 2GB of contiguous data, unless it's high res video and then you'd have external solutions. OP needs send the MBP to Apple for repair or use it as a door stop...

Apple has steadfastly marched to it's own beat, and become ever more consumer hostile, hence why everything Apple produces is basically a near unrepairable appliance, that likely requires additional purchases just to attain basic connectivity that once was a given, and pushes the need ever more for AppleCare (conveniently) .

Personally I'm more concerned with my data than the hardware and would never send in a system with any personal or business data loaded to any OEM. Certainly an aspect of my purchasing decisions, TBH what Apple has done by far serves Apple more than it's customers, likely being a factor of cost reduction, equally should a customer have an issue with a Mac out of warranty it's highly likely going to be expensive.

If Apple truly stood by it's product it wouldn't just present the legal minimum tenure for warranty. Some OEM's really stand by their product with 24-36 month international warranty, meanwhile Apple simply wants you to hand over your card for AppleCare, unfortunately it's now near mandatory...

Q-6

 

[SDColorado]

Don't get me wrong I do agree, equally one is unlikely to have 2GB of contiguous data, unless it's high res video and then you'd have external solutions. OP needs send the MBP to Apple for repair or use it as a door stop...

Apple has steadfastly marched to it's own beat, and become ever more consumer hostile, hence why everything Apple produces is basically a near unrepairable appliance, that likely requires additional purchases just to attain basic connectivity that once was a given, and pushes the need ever more for AppleCare (conveniently) .

Personally I'm more concerned with my data than the hardware and would never send in a system with any personal or business data loaded to any OEM. Certainly an aspect of my purchasing decisions, TBH what Apple has done by far serves Apple more than it's customers, likely being a factor of cost reduction, equally should a customer have an issue with a Mac out of warranty it's highly likely going to be expensive.

If Apple truly stood by it's product it wouldn't just present the legal minimum tenure for warranty. Some OEM's really stand by their product with 24-36 month international warranty, meanwhile Apple simply wants you to hand over your card for AppleCare, unfortunately it's now near mandatory...

Q-6

I couldn't imagine buying a MBP without AppleCare anymore. Apple policy of soldering everything in place wouldn't be so quite so unpalatable if they would offer an advanced exchange replacement so that you could clone your current machine to it and give a week to send the old one back. But they don't. They make you book an appointment and tell you that it will take however long it takes to get it back.

Edit: There was another post about some poor guy who was trying to book an appointment to have his looked at, but the 10-day calendar they give you in which to book is constantly full. You can't even get the machine repaired because they require an appointment that you can't book?

I agree with you on the sensitive data aspect. I am not turning a machine into them that has sensitive/confidential data if it is in any way avoidable. Otherwise, I am cloning and wiping before I let them have it. Otherwise, if they should decide they need to replace the logic board, you have no idea where the old one along with all your data goes once it leaves the shop.

 

[exogeneity]

Ran into similar issue. Wife’s 2017MBP runs into issues 3 times in two months despite their “repairs”. Senior advisor promised a replacement upon heading down to retail. Headed down and rejected based on “policy”.

Now 2018 MBP running into kernel panics and freezes and called but just kept having to speak to different people and wasting time. Can’t see customer service helping out much either.

What’s the point of buying AppleCare even?

No more macs for me until they get their **** together.

did they do a replacement for your 2017 in the end??

 

[Hater]

My car has been at a workshop for 10 months now having a gearbox and rear end replaced. I could have taken it to any old garage, but I chose the workshop I did as they're a expert transmission shop with a long history of dealing with classic cars.

The biggest issue has been parts, funnily enough sourcing parts for 45 year old gearboxes that were used in limited run sports cars (which have a tenancy to wear out the drive line after a while due to... sports cars being driven like... sports cars) can take a while.

Yeah, I could have taken it to any old workshop, but if you want a job done properly, well...

I guess the flip side of the argument is that you're comparing mechanics with 40+ years experience who used to work in F1 etc with fresh 18 year old "Geniuses".

 

[iPad Retina]

DO this, contact Apple Support and ask to speak to a senior customer relations advisor and explain the situation, due to your circumstance, they should replace the computer no problem, the store may disagree but Apple's customer relations should be able to swap the computer out no problem due to the long wait time, and limited parts available for the computer to be repaired.

 

[apiro]

DO this, contact Apple Support and ask to speak to a senior customer relations advisor and explain the situation, due to your circumstance, they should replace the computer no problem, the store may disagree but Apple's customer relations should be able to swap the computer out no problem due to the long wait time, and limited parts available for the computer to be repaired.

They didn't.
[doublepost=1538520786][/doublepost]As for the resolution - parts were delivered to the store on the 12th day and the laptop was fixed in 1 day after I dropped it at the store. It took them 13 out of agreed 14 days to fix the laptop. It's like you're dealing with UK government organisation and not a commercial company hailed for its customer support...

One funny thing is that the store again tried to say it would take up to 14 days when I was dropping the laptop at the store and only after explaining the whole situation (incl. mentioning Executive Relations monitoring the situation - see below) they've agreed it will not take more than 2 days (agreed period of 14 days minus 12 days wait for the part).

Another funny thing is that the parts were delivered to the store one day after I got a reply from Executive Relations as a response to my email to tcook@apple.com. Not sure if coincidence or a magical push from top.

Not so funny thing is that the reply from Executive Relations took 6 days after I wrote to tcook@apple.com. I hope (I really hope) they were making the store do everything in time and were not responding until they ensured it. I hope 6 days is not their regular response time.

Another not so funny thing is that after I finally took back my repaired laptop and wrote to Executive Relations back and described the last negative bits and asked what they think about the whole situation, the reply was basically "we'll do an internal investigation, please contact us if you need anything else, bye-bye". I hope I misunderstood the reply and will check back in a week or so.

 

[SDColorado]

They didn't.
[doublepost=1538520786][/doublepost]As for the resolution - parts were delivered to the store on the 12th day and the laptop was fixed in 1 day after I dropped it at the store. It took them 13 out of agreed 14 days to fix the laptop. It's like you're dealing with UK government organisation and not a commercial company hailed for its customer support...

One funny thing is that the store again tried to say it would take up to 14 days when I was dropping the laptop at the store and only after explaining the whole situation (incl. mentioning Executive Relations monitoring the situation - see below) they've agreed it will not take more than 2 days (agreed period of 14 days minus 12 days wait for the part).

Another funny thing is that the parts were delivered to the store one day after I got a reply from Executive Relations as a response to my email to tcook@apple.com. Not sure if coincidence or a magical push from top.

Not so funny thing is that the reply from Executive Relations took 6 days after I wrote to tcook@apple.com. I hope (I really hope) they were making the store do everything in time and were not responding until they ensured it. I hope 6 days is not their regular response time.

Another not so funny thing is that after I finally took back my repaired laptop and wrote to Executive Relations back and described the last negative bits and asked what they think about the whole situation, the reply was basically "we'll do an internal investigation, please contact us if you need anything else, bye-bye".

The resolution definitely sounds like a mixed bag, but most importantly I am glad that you have it back and fixed. I hope it is trouble free from this point on for you.

 

[apiro]

The resolution definitely sounds like a mixed bag, but most importantly I am glad that you have it back and fixed. I hope it is trouble free from this point on for you.

Haha. You know the keyboard replacement is the same defective design, don't you? It will fail sooner or later. Let's hope for the "later".

 

[SDColorado]

Haha. You know the keyboard replacement is the same defective design, don't you? It will fail sooner or later. Let's hope for the "later".

Oh yes. Just like the logic card replacements for the failed 2011 graphics issues. They will replace a part that failed with a part that is exactly the same as the one that failed and you hope you hit the lottery this time. Otherwise you play again until warranty expires

Kind of like the display on my 2013 MBP that was replaced 2 times under stain-gate and I sold it before it could fail again

 

[apiro]

Oh yes. Just like the logic card replacements for the failed 2011 graphics issues. They will replace a part that failed with a part that is exactly the same as the one that failed and you hope you hit the lottery this time. Otherwise you play again until warranty expires

Kind of like the display on my 2013 MBP that was replaced 2 times under stain-gate and I sold it before it could fail again

LOL. Had both these laptops and used their replacement programmes.

 

[SDColorado]

LOL. Had both these laptops and used their replacement programmes.

it is the sad state of Apple these days unfortunately. The priority is on iDevices because that is where the money is at.

 

[apiro]

BTW another not so funny thing - they've installed "new" battery that was produced in January 2018 - 9 months ago. Of course it's still better than the used one I had but... 9 months old "new" battery? are you kidding me? It's quite sad their repair logistics is that bad they have such old equipment lying in numbers.

I hope it's not a refurbished 9 months old used battery they've reset cycle count for.