Apple REVOKED my AppleCare because I swapped Hard Drives on my MacBook Pro

[Queen6]

Just another reason why not to purchase a MBP such restrictions are simply draconian. Personal & privellged data is exactly that back up or no back up.

I back up all my systems systematically, equally I would not be willing and in some instances not be in a position to hand over the same date to a third party such as Apple. This is one of bigger issues with Apple and it's newer hardware being considered remotely fit for professional use.

All Apple needed to do was effect repair with a test drive and return to the user with a caution note of the same. What Apple has achieved is to alienate yet another customer.

Personally I don't purchase such extended warranty plans as they are generally designed to benefit the OEM not the customer.

If Apple thinks it's products are so much better engineered Apple should put it's money where it's mouth is with a 3 year warranty by default, it doesn't...

Q-6

 

[Stephen.R]

I would not be willing and in some instances not be in a position to hand over the same date to a third party such as Apple

Using an external storage device solves this pretty handily. And you get to keep working on a different machine while the original is repaired.

 

[vemac575]

Admittedly, all I read was the title. If this is an accurate summary and it's as cur and dry as you changing your drive and therefore they refuse warranty service, I have no problem with this. It sucks bad, and I feel bad for you, but those are the terms and it's understandable, in my opinion.

 

[iMacDragon]

Admittedly, all I read was the title. If this is an accurate summary and it's as cur and dry as you changing your drive and therefore they refuse warranty service, I have no problem with this. It sucks bad, and I feel bad for you, but those are the terms and it's understandable, in my opinion.

Not quite that cut and dry, the argument is that "ii) The Plan does not apply to damage caused by", I find it hard to imagine how changing a drive would cause a machine to not power up at all, especially if it's been running with the replacement drive for a while, thus, should not be voiding warranty.

 

[cram501]

I am not surprised at all. Read the AppleCare Terms and Condition. Here is the clause they may be using to void your coverage (my bolding)

ii) The Plan does not apply to damage caused by (a) a product that is not the Covered Equipment, (b) abuse, misuse, or reckless, willful or intentional conduct, (c) flood, fire, earthquake or other similar external causes, (d) operating the Covered Equipment outside the permitted or intended uses described by the manufacturer, or (e) service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”).

And this (bolded in Applecare agreement):

Important: Do not open the Covered Equipment, as damage caused as a result of opening the equipment is not covered by this Plan. Only Apple or an AASP should perform service on the Covered Equipment.

To some degree they are helping you out by changing out your logic board and covering the $1450 cost. As a trade off you are only losing a few weeks worth of Applecare coverage. This is like a cop letting you off with a warning instead of a ticket. I would take the machine and run.

The most important phrase in both of those bolded statements are "The Plan does not apply to damage caused by" and "as damage caused as a result of ".

It doesn't not remove the right to replace items. It says they won't repair your device if you do replace items and break something. Replacing a hard drive prior to handing in your device for repair should not be rejected unless they can show that the issue was caused by it.

 

[ilikewhey]

so let me get this straight, ur mbp went bad, you swap out the harddrive with another from air? and they said you voided warranty because of that?

 

[BigMcGuire]

Hasn't Apple always been this way? I mean, no offense meant to the OP or other posters here, but... I remember my sister replacing her screen at the mall and then having her home button go bad on her 5 or 6? I can't remember... but I remember her going into Apple, they took one look at it and said they couldn't do anything because it had a 3rd party part that had nothing to do with the other part that went bad.

I think they've changed a little since then, but this is very Apple like.

If your data was so important to you... I can't imagine why you wouldn't have an off-site backup. I've got CCC to three hard drives, 70+ miles apart, I've got time machine to a disk 24/7 at home. I've got my data copied to 4 different cloud services (BackBlaze B2 is one). If my MBP was stolen or blew up, I would lose 0 data.

That said, AppleCare+ is damn expensive for these MBPs. So if I was in your shoes I'd be livid and upset. That said, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't have opened my laptop and have expected Apple to make it right because of my AppleCare+.

 

[weckart]

Apple replaced the logic board in my 2012 Retina Macbook Pro twice even though I have a Transcend SSD in it. It sounds to me like the Apple staff you got were just asshats.

The difference being that you are in the UK with decent consumer protection laws. If Apple had tried to pull such a trick as it seems to have in the US, it would have been hauled over the coals by the courts for its cheek.

 

[User_E]

The difference being that you are in the UK with decent consumer protection laws. If Apple had tried to pull such a trick as it seems to have in the US, it would have been hauled over the coals by the courts for its cheek.

Except that as a few of us have noted, Apple's conduct here violates US federal law (and could violate state law too, but without knowing the state and more information, it's impossible to say).

The law exists, but companies ignore it frequently because regulatory enforcement is poor and most consumers don't know or enforce their rights. I hope the OP will be one of the exceptions and force Apple to follow the law. I'm not aware of any Apple contract with an arbitration clause, so small claims court is an option here (and usually, consumer contracts with arbitration clauses permit small claims actions anyway).

 

[SDColorado]

I hope the OP will be one of the exceptions and force Apple to follow the law. I'm not aware of any Apple contract with an arbitration clause, so small claims court is an option here (and usually, consumer contracts with arbitration clauses permit small claims actions anyway).

I was wondering if maybe the OP already had reached a settlement with Apple and got the machine repaired or replaced since OP seems to have disappeared since the original post.

From my own experience with these types of claims, you sometimes have to sign one of those “While Company X admits no fault on their part, Company X is willing to do ________ as long as you agree to not disclose the terms of this agreement,” etc.

 

[cram501]

That said, AppleCare+ is damn expensive for these MBPs. So if I was in your shoes I'd be livid and upset. That said, if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't have opened my laptop and have expected Apple to make it right because of my AppleCare+.

Assuming you don't damage your laptop, you should be able to open it up and expect proper warranty work (not to mention if you paid for it). I think I've opened up every laptop I've ever owned. I opened up my Macbook Pro 2013 (early) and cleaned/replaced the TIM because it was put on so thickly, the laptop would heat up and throttle way down. It still throttles under heavy load but that is expected since they have focused on thin over heat dissipation. (Still works like a Champ almost 6 years later).

 

[Cashmonee]

To be honest, I am not 100% sure the OP passes the sniff test here. He is claiming Apple unilaterally canceled his AppleCare extended warranty without any sort of notice or prorated refund. I have never heard of that happening and it makes no sense. For one, Apple has a policy of prorated refunds after 30 days for AppleCare and AppleCare+ so presumably they would send you either the refund or a receipt that explains the coverage used exceeds the refund amount. Not to mention some sort of letter telling you that coverage has ceased. Further, I am not sure how or why they would cancel the plan even if with the user repair since presumably other areas of the machine like keyboard, battery, screen, etc would still have to be covered.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying Apple didn't deny the claim. However, I have a real hard time they just suddenly canceled the entire warning with no notification. As others have pointed out, it would be such a violation of federal and in some cases state law.

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

It is messed up that you can't protect your data as you see fit. There is simply no way in hell I could leave a hard drive that hasn't been wiped clean with anyone outside of my little organization, even with Apple. Many here in my area (Washington DC) are in the same boat.

 

[SDColorado]

It is messed up that you can't protect your data as you see fit. There is simply no way in hell I could leave a hard drive that hasn't been wiped clean with anyone outside of my little organization, even with Apple. Many here in my area (Washington DC) are in the same boat.

It is definitely a difference in philosophy that Apple has vs say Lenovo. Lenovo has a Keep Your Drive (KYD) program that you pay a small fee for, but when you send in your computer for service, you do have the option to keep that drive in your custody and send it in for service without a drive or if your drive fails, they will send a replacement without requiring you to return the failed drive. It is a good service if always maintaining custody of your drive is important to you.

 

[jerryk]

I don't think they are covering the $1475 cost.

Read down a couple of paragraphs below the one you quoted. I bolder the part that makes me think the original problem was solved at no cost to the OP.

Fast forward to yesterday- my laptop arrived at the store. Awesome! Now instead of making 2 trips to the store to change the drive out I call the store to try to see if that can happen in store and ship out the Macbook on the same day. I talk to a manager at the store who tells me my warranty has been voided and any new repair will be at your cost.
[doublepost=1551062728][/doublepost]

It is messed up that you can't protect your data as you see fit. There is simply no way in hell I could leave a hard drive that hasn't been wiped clean with anyone outside of my little organization, even with Apple. Many here in my area (Washington DC) are in the same boat.

How you going to remove the drive on a 2016 or later MBP? The drive is a set of chips soldered to the logic board, just like the RAM, power, or other logic circuits. I guess you guys will just have to write off the machine if the drive fails.

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

Read down a couple of paragraphs below the one you quoted. I bolder the part that makes me think the original problem was solved at no cost to the OP.

Fast forward to yesterday- my laptop arrived at the store. Awesome! Now instead of making 2 trips to the store to change the drive out I call the store to try to see if that can happen in store and ship out the Macbook on the same day. I talk to a manager at the store who tells me my warranty has been voided and any new repair will be at your cost.
[doublepost=1551062728][/doublepost]

How you going to remove the drive on a 2016 or later MBP? ThThe drive is a set of chips soldered to the logic board, just like the RAM, power, or other logic circuits. I guess you guys will just have to write off the machine if the drive fails.

You can't. That's why I have a nearly $3,000.00 2017 15" mbp that I use as a doorstop, and a new iMac that replaced it. That sucks (but I do love the iMac).

My wife's 2018 13" mbp has been flawless..it's a great computer thus far.

*one could de-solder the ssd..it's not hard, but I haven't gone there yet.

 

[SDColorado]

Read down a couple of paragraphs below the one you quoted. I bolder the part that makes me think the original problem was solved at no cost to the OP.

Fast forward to yesterday- my laptop arrived at the store. Awesome! Now instead of making 2 trips to the store to change the drive out I call the store to try to see if that can happen in store and ship out the Macbook on the same day. I talk to a manager at the store who tells me my warranty has been voided and any new repair will be at your cost.
[doublepost=1551062728][/doublepost]

How you going to remove the drive on a 2016 or later MBP? The drive is a set of chips soldered to the logic board, just like the RAM, power, or other logic circuits. I guess you guys will just have to write off the machine if the drive fails.

Could be. I thought he was saying that it was sent back without a repair ("After about 10-15 min on hold the advisor gets back to me and says the repair cannot be completed due to the non-original hard drive.") and that he was now going to have to make 2 trips. One to pick it up and replace the original drive and one to drop it back off for service. But because they wouldn't work on it until he replaced the original drive, and they also voided the balance of his warranty, they wouldn't be doing any repair under warranty and he would have to pay full price.

I believe it may have been a sarcastic "Awesome!" But, since he appears to have disappeared, I am not sure we will ever know

 

[A7ibaba]

Dont mind these isheep comments which suggest apple is almighty and you should obey whatever they say. Just get a lawyer or contact market authority inspection. You have every right in this regard

 

[vemac575]

Not quite that cut and dry, the argument is that "ii) The Plan does not apply to damage caused by", I find it hard to imagine how changing a drive would cause a machine to not power up at all, especially if it's been running with the replacement drive for a while, thus, should not be voiding warranty.

Yea but Apple doesn't know that. For all they know, he shorted something when he tried to replace the drives. It's an unfortunate situation but those were the terms and the terms were broken. I'm all for him getting warranty service even after changing the drive Anant they don't know, but they found out and that's that.