Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Product Repairing is a very large industry that makes up majority of the third party repairing revenue, whether they are official or not.

On one hand I understand why Apple wants to do this, to ensure quality. On the other hand Apple made it so the official parts sold by Apple are so expensive, repairing it barely makes any money compare to their "Official Repair price".

And before someone jumps in and said Apple "Stated " they dont make any money with their repair component. That is a "spin", or a blatant lie.

And to make the matter worst, Apple's Official repairing aren't that good either. They were no longer the Pre iPhone Apple, where their technicians really knows their stuff, and does it with extreme details and care. No adays they sent it off to "Official" Third Party Repair to help with "Increase" demand of Apple Repairing.
 
The Fruit Company does not unblock their devices at authorities' request, due to the consumer right to it's privacy.

Over the latest years, The Fruit Company has been working hard to improve the assurance of their users' (customers') privacy.

The Fruit Company
Even if a shop leaves the program, Apple can continue to inspect it for up to five years. Repair shops are required to share information about their customers with Apple, including names, phone numbers, and home addresses.
All right then…
Actually, is not all right at all!

Now, let us imagine that The Fruit Company was not a champion for customers' privacy… Wait!…
The Fruit Company is in a whole different championship.

DISCLAIMER: Any similarity between Apple Inc. and The Fruit Company is purely coincidental. Apple Inc. and The Fruit Company are not related in any way.
 
i have no idea why an independent shop would ever want to do this after reading the terms. the lure of factory parts isn't appealing enough to jump through some of these hoops. the third party suppliers are good enough these days that it isn't all that important to seek out official apple parts. just do your research and buy from a good source. these rules are far too strict and stifling. i'd be super interested to see what the price of these apple parts are, however. that's the only reason to think about doing this in my eyes. i'd like to know how much more expensive they are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NightFixer
If you are bringing your device to an independent repair shop it is most likely out of warranty and not "covered" by Apple anyways.
Most likely, but not ALWAYS. If it was always, then there would be no issue. And, if you’re taking your phone to a non-certified repair shop, no problem there either. However, if you take it to an “APPLE CERTIFIED” repair shop, then that’s kind of a red flag there that Apple is involved.

Just use non-certified shops and you’re ok!
 
This shop is not a dealership and is certified to work on Fords and other brands. Ford has a Ford Certified Collision Network. You don't have to be a dealer to participate.

Yes, but that is a bit misleading as they only doo body and fender work; not repaires in what most peopel think of when they think of repairs. Personally, i would not want to do warranty work for a manufacturer and get paid their predetermined rates.

One reason I think manufacturers went the independent collison shop route is for a long time dealers did not own a collison shop, but had a whole repair shop to handle warranty claims, maintenance, etc. which were huge money makers. As a result, manufacturers protected that work while offloading collision.
 
repairing it barely makes any money compare to their "Official Repair price".
Sooo, why do they even offer to do the work? If the only way you can get the work done profitably is to use unofficial parts, then just don’t do Apple device repair work! Seems more of a headache than it’d be worth. OR, do the work, just don’t go for Apple certification?
No adays they sent it off to "Official" Third Party Repair to help with "Increase" demand of Apple Repairing.
Yes, but if/when they mess up, since it was “Official” Apple has to deal with it. Even if they get it wrong three times, that’s a hit to Apple’s bottom line each time. In other words, it doesn’t matter where they send it, they’re still responsible for it in that case.
 
Customers who receive service from an independent repair shop have to sign an acknowledgement that they understand they're not receiving repairs from an Apple Authorized shop and that Apple won't warranty the repair.

For this reason alone is why I only go directly to my local Apple Store in the event any of my iDevices need repair. I definitely get it though -- if you don't get your device repaired directly by Apple, they won't warranty the repair.
 
I think it's all a control issue thing .

Apple is worried about competing firms - most of them tiny by comparison - actually doing a good repair job .

So they make their agreements so repulsive , poisonous and unfair they erase the competition from existence .

Here's what Apple's own customers think of their experience at my local Apple Store . 2.5 out of 5 stars - hardly a passing grade in anyone's book :

Screen Shot 2020-02-07 at 12.05.32 PM.png


Let's pass the right to repair law ASAP and give us the tools , parts and guidance on how to do the job properly . To do the job Apple clearly isn't .

When I was younger , Apple was a shining city on the hilltop . Today , it's like its straight out of Mordor .

What the hell went wrong ?

I nominate Tim Cook for the part of Saruman in the next LOTR movie .
 
Apple is worried about competing firms - most of them tiny by comparison - actually doing a good repair job.
What’s the logic here? If someone else does a better job, then Apple doesn’t get those juicy repair profits? I think most of those small shops, JUST like Apple, are looking at making a profit. If they can buy bulk parts for cheap, even though they don’t match what Apple provides, they’ll do it. And that’s fine, Apple just doesn’t want those firms to proclaim “Our work is the same standards as Apple”, that’s all. If Apple’s not even a part of reviewing how they make repairs, then of COURSE they can’t say they’re the same standards as Apple.

Here’s an idea, though. What if they really WERE better than Apple. Better quality parts, better service, better results AND they also warranty their own work better than Apple does? Well, social media would spread the value of their excellent work far and wide and not a single person that visited them would care that they’re not “Apple Certified”, they just want the good service.

But, my suspicion is that a lot of these small shops that have a problem with this already have so much of their business built on non-Apple parts that if they change, they’ll no longer be able to rake in such large profits on repair.
 
Very simple. If you replaced the battery in 1,000 iPhones over a year, then you should have invoices showing those 1,000 customers paying for a battery replacement. You should also have ordered 1,000 genuine batteries from Apple. If you only ordered 800 batteries from Apple, then where did the other 200 come from?

This is the type of information that comes out during an audit.
whoosh...l think you missed my point
 
What’s the logic here? If someone else does a better job, then Apple doesn’t get those juicy repair profits? I think most of those small shops, JUST like Apple, are looking at making a profit. If they can buy bulk parts for cheap, even though they don’t match what Apple provides, they’ll do it. And that’s fine, Apple just doesn’t want those firms to proclaim “Our work is the same standards as Apple”, that’s all. If Apple’s not even a part of reviewing how they make repairs, then of COURSE they can’t say they’re the same standards as Apple.

Here’s an idea, though. What if they really WERE better than Apple. Better quality parts, better service, better results AND they also warranty their own work better than Apple does? Well, social media would spread the value of their excellent work far and wide and not a single person that visited them would care that they’re not “Apple Certified”, they just want the good service.

But, my suspicion is that a lot of these small shops that have a problem with this already have so much of their business built on non-Apple parts that if they change, they’ll no longer be able to rake in such large profits on repair.

The problem is illustrated easily .

Users buy an expensive Apple product . They want it to last as long as possible . Like a fine car or a building .

Some of their products are superbly designed and manufactured ( eg . most of Apple's workstations ) .

Then things become worn out , dirty or need upgrades to remain viable .

The workstations , properly maintained , can last many , many years . Twenty years is not uncommon .

And yes , they still can do a decent job and provide a wonderful return on investment for the user .

Apple's desire to repair these machines lasts for maybe 5 or 6 years after the last one produced .

So what is an user supposed to do ? Toss the item into a landfill ? How green !

There's where your independent repair shops really shine . And , no , they're not getting rich . So , don't worry please .

I have a rig in for service right now . A Mac Pro 5,1 ( 2010 ) that was unstable . It was packed full of dust and had two broken fasteners on it's CPU Tray's northbridge controller heatsink .

The fasteners are proprietary . They are not available anywhere new . And we need new since all the used fasteners suffer from thermal fatigue . They cost maybe 25 cents each new . Apple won't sell them . Nor would they have repaired the Tray at any time . But they once would have sold the user a brand new CPU Tray for four figures .

Right now I have to build replacement fasteners and my work is pretty good . These are surprisingly complex fasteners , as they are spring loaded with a certain pressure when installed for proper performance .

At the same time , all the chips in that System got re-thermal pasted and other components got re-thermal gapped with materials better than factory original . So , that Tray is mostly better than new in terms of durability .

The service bill is a lot cheaper than a new CPU Tray from Apple , which they won't sell now anyways .

If the client went to an Apple Store with his broken Mac , Apple's recommendation would have been to buy a brand new Mac Pro 7,1 for at least 6K . The client already determined his workflow wouldn't have benefitted enough , to justify the high price .

Right to repair laws would have given me the best , brand new parts from Apple so that my work would have been the best possible in the least amount of time .

These laws ultimately serve the needs of the consumer . They are actually consumer rights laws .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hardijs
How is a mom-and-pop shop supposed to determine whether or not "products or service parts infringe on Apple's intellectual property?" They could get burned by false information from a parts supplier, then burned again by Apple for violating their contract.
 
You are very confused. This whole article is about Apple's new program to have authorized independent repair shops for mobile devices. Start over and read the articles from the very beginning.


You also don't know anything about cars if you think there's authorized non-dealership car repair shops. That is fundamental to how dealers work: the bulk of profits come from non-warranty service, not on the cars they sell.

In Europe any car repair shop can service or repair a car that is still in manufacturer’s warranty without affecting the warranty. No one is forced to use a dealer for service or repairs; it’s the law.
 
In Europe any car repair shop can service or repair a car that is still in manufacturer’s warranty without affecting the warranty. No one is forced to use a dealer for service or repairs; it’s the law.

So? That is irrelevant to this discussion. Dealers and factory-authorized garages are forced to use authentic parts and meet training standards, which is exactly the case here.

You probably need to go back and read the discussion on what an Apple Independent Repair Provider is.
 
So? That is irrelevant to this discussion. Dealers and factory-authorized garages are forced to use authentic parts and meet training standards, which is exactly the case here.

You probably need to go back and read the discussion on what an Apple Independent Repair Provider is.

the difference is, in Europe if the repair shop uses all the right parts, the manufacturer has to uphold the warranty...something Apple will not do.

When I was offered a wait of a month for an appointment at my local Apple shop for an in warranty iPad repair, they suggested I go to an Apple Independent Repair Provider if I wanted it done sooner, but as a consequence I might have to pay (depending on what they found) but I would have no warranty...that’s the difference
 
the difference is, in Europe if the repair shop uses all the right parts, the manufacturer has to uphold the warranty...something Apple will not do.

When I was offered a wait of a month for an appointment at my local Apple shop for an in warranty iPad repair, they suggested I go to an Apple Independent Repair Provider if I wanted it done sooner, but as a consequence I might have to pay (depending on what they found) but I would have no warranty...that’s the difference

You went to the wrong store. AASP in the US can perform in- and out-of-warranty repairs the same as first-party Apple service. An IRP is limited to out-of-warranty repairs.

It's probably the same as cars. The in-warranty labor reimbursement and allowable parts overhead is significantly lower than retail rates, so companies dislike doing warranty repairs.

Further, no carmaker will provide warranty reimbursement to non-authorized shops. There is no right for random garages to do warranty repairs.


When I was offered a wait of a month for an appointment

In the US, if it's not done in-store, the device gets overnighted to a central contractor for repairs. You can have it overnighted yourself, bypassing the store, by calling support.
 
Last edited:
Read: “repair shop” scum are upset Apple is holding them to standards so they can’t scam customers like they normally do with fake parts, stolen goods, shoddy work, all priced just slightly under MSRP making a killing on everything
 
The problem is illustrated easily .
—-
So what is an user supposed to do ? Toss the item into a landfill ? How green !
Anyone who cares about green can just drop it off at an Apple Store. They’ll recycle it responsibly.

And , no , they're not getting rich
But, they’re not a non-profit entity, are they? So, they’re making a profit and, as such, pressures exist whereby they want to make it MORE profitable.

Apple won't sell them
They won’t sell them or they don’t have any TO sell. There’s a difference.

Right now I have to build replacement fasteners and my work is pretty good . These are surprisingly complex fasteners
Fasteners, which are surprisingly complex, you figure would cost .25 new? Is that how much you charge for the ones you make?
Right to repair laws would have given me the best , brand new parts from Appl
I doubt that right to repair laws would have given you parts that no one is making. And, for your entire use case, as long as you’re letting the customer know they’re not getting original parts AND you have a warranty for your work so they can come back to you if something fails, then there’s nothing in the material released that affects you. It would ONLY affect you if you were the kind of person that wants to claim that the machine was repaired with genuine Apple Parts and exactly the way Apple would have repaired it.
[automerge]1581114771[/automerge]
How is a mom-and-pop shop
Anyone operating a business without the right contracts and legal representation in place, will soon find themselves without a business.
 
Apple really just needs to bite the bullet and let 3rd party repairs happen. I can totally accept their concerns for a real brand tarnishing point of view and the headaches they will face from poor repairs by a 3rd party but that is happening today without RTR.

I could even see the sense in them making a customer sign a sheet that very clearly states, we are not Apple, we don't endorse this repair, we will laugh at you if it goes wrong and you try and complain to us directly. And they have the right to visit, inspect and remove businesses from the repair program if they do not comply with this simple requirement.

From then on, the customer pays their money and takes their chances.

But that is as far as they should/could be allowed to go with it.
 
if one has signed such ...
it may not pass the test at the court though, but damn - it will cost you a lot to get till that point.
And then you will be blacklisted at apple forever for everything.

I think it would contravene data protection and competition laws in Europe, it would be challenged before anyone can sign and agree to it.
 
I could even see the sense in them making a customer sign a sheet that very clearly states, we are not Apple, we don't endorse this repair, we will laugh at you if it goes wrong and you try and complain to us directly. And they have the right to visit, inspect and remove businesses from the repair program if they do not comply with this simple requirement.
It sounds like this is what they propose, but the repair guys apparently don’t want to let folks know they won’t be covered by Apple after they touch their device. Sure, it may drive work away, BUT anyone who’s got a warranty or is antsy about a warranty just shouldn’t be using those places in the first place.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.