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Apple Still Offering Free Delayed Battery Repairs for Some 2012 and Early 2013 MacBook Pros

mattv99 said:
Especially when I expect 2012 MBPr to be obsolete in less than 3 months.
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Congrats on your deal. Do you have a reference for this or is there a way to accurately predict when Apple makes a model obsolete?

My 2012 rMBP is already on its second battery, which is already 2.5 years old and has 512 cycles. The "Battery Health" app I downloaded from app store claims the battery has 77-79% battery health. I'm hoping this laptop will last another year of full-time use (with reasonable battery life) and then a few more years as a device to keep around the house for occasional use.

I'm thinking my laptop will *probably* be OK on the current battery, but if I could get one for free, that might be worth being without my laptop for a few days.
 
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

It's my guess as I haven't seen any article confirming it. MBPr 2012 was discontinued in January 2013. A few days ago on MR there was a post about Apple moving iPad 3 to the list of obsolete devices. As it was discontinued in October 2012, the 5 year window would be correct.

Having the short supply of batteries for MBPr the last couple of months (with some first post circulating around March / April) my guess they will stop servicing this model sooner than later.

In my case the laptop was going to sleep usually around 30-40% when on battery, especially with external USB hard drive plugged in, so getting the deal right now for free was no brainer.

If you have easy access to Apple Store I would say it's worth taking an appointment and checking what are the option. If you can get it for free - why not?
 
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mattv99 said:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

It's my guess as I haven't seen any article confirming it. MBPr 2012 was discontinued in January 2013. A few days ago on MR there was a post about Apple moving iPad 3 to the list of obsolete devices. As it was discontinued in October 2012, the 5 year window would be correct.

Having the short supply of batteries for MBPr the last couple of months (with some first post circulating around March / April) my guess they will stop servicing this model sooner than later.

In my case the laptop was going to sleep usually around 30-40% when on battery, especially with external USB hard drive plugged in, so getting the deal right now for free was no brainer.

If you have easy access to Apple Store I would say it's worth taking an appointment and checking what are the option. If you can get it for free - why not?
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Thanks, January is a good guess for obsolete status.

Aside from the hassle of going into the Apple store for an uncertain benefit, a couple of things are holding me back:
1) I'm not sure if my battery would qualify (its health is still reported as "Good" by my battery app), but more importantly,
2) I would apparently have to go fairly deep into the process of requesting the battery replacement (after confirming and agreeing to pay the price, etc.) before finding out whether I would qualify for the free battery.

Presumably, after agreeing to pay the $199 fee I could still walk away once I find out that batteries are back in stock and that I don't qualify for a free battery, but that would be a bit awkward to "suddenly" change my mind like that after the Apple Genius has spent 20 minutes testing my battery and entering all the information into the order.
 
Hmm.. Just took my 2012 15” retina mbp into the Covent Garden store in London, and they quoted over £300 for a battery replacement - £199 + service charge. Seems excessive? Also, no mention of a free replacement if I wait until mid-November....
 
Fr2 said:
Hmm.. Just took my 2012 15” retina mbp into the Covent Garden store in London, and they quoted over £300 for a battery replacement - £199 + service charge. Seems excessive? Also, no mention of a free replacement if I wait until mid-November....
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Did you go all the way through the ordering process? The notification to the Genius doesn't pop up until they are close to finalizing your order for a new battery.
 
Ener Ji said:
Did you go all the way through the ordering process? The notification to the Genius doesn't pop up until they are close to finalizing your order for a new battery.
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That was my plan, but I worried about the price - I had expected the price to be a total of £199 in case the free service option wasn't available, based on the pricing on the Apple website here. I wouldn't want to pay over £300....
 
I scheduled an appointment on October 13th here in San Diego and at first they said it would run me a couple hundred dollars, but after I mentioned what I heard here on this forum they double checked things and found the deal. So I've scheduled an appointment for this Friday to get my 2012 MacBook battery free of charge. :)
 
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Fr2 said:
That was my plan, but I worried about the price - I had expected the price to be a total of £199 in case the free service option wasn't available, based on the pricing on the Apple website here. I wouldn't want to pay over £300....
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That's strange about the price - did they explain why the price was different than what the website says?
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Cheesehole said:
I scheduled an appointment on October 13th here in San Diego and at first they said it would run me a couple hundred dollars, but after I mentioned what I heard here on this forum they double checked things and found the deal. So I've scheduled an appointment for this Friday to get my 2012 MacBook battery free of charge. :)
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Interesting. I wonder if this means that there is more stock and that it's too late to try and take advantage of this opportunity?
 
Fr2 said:
Hmm.. Just took my 2012 15” retina mbp into the Covent Garden store in London, and they quoted over £300 for a battery replacement - £199 + service charge. Seems excessive? Also, no mention of a free replacement if I wait until mid-November....
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That’s very strange. I went in there two weeks ago and asked the genius to go ahead with a battery replacement and that’s when a pop up in his iPad stated that the top case is constrained(out of stock). He then printed out a paper that says I am eligible for a free battery replacement in November.
 
I just took my mid 2012 retina MBP into the Town Square Apple store in Las Vegas last night because of this. I have the service battery warning, and the tech guy even said the battery is no good, but that I would still have to pay the $199 to replace it. I really don't understand how people are getting this done for free. There was zero mention of free replacements or anything because of the known issues with these batteries or constrained supplies. Oh well.
 
treimche said:
I just took my mid 2012 retina MBP into the Town Square Apple store in Las Vegas last night because of this. I have the service battery warning, and the tech guy even said the battery is no good, but that I would still have to pay the $199 to replace it. I really don't understand how people are getting this done for free. There was zero mention of free replacements or anything because of the known issues with these batteries or constrained supplies. Oh well.
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As has been mentioned many times, the techs don't volunteer this information and it's only after they get all the way through the battery ordering process and are getting ready to complete the order that they receive a popup notifying them whether this program is still available, and if it is, they will then offer you a free replacement in exchange for waiting a couple of weeks.

That said, we are now in November, so it's possible that the program was only in effect through the end of October. I'm not sure I've seen anyone confirm that it works as of this month.
 
Ener Ji said:
As has been mentioned many times, the techs don't volunteer this information and it's only after they get all the way through the battery ordering process and are getting ready to complete the order that they receive a popup notifying them whether this program is still available, and if it is, they will then offer you a free replacement in exchange for waiting a couple of weeks.

That said, we are now in November, so it's possible that the program was only in effect through the end of October. I'm not sure I've seen anyone confirm that it works as of this month.
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Exactly. Most geniuses won’t know anything about the free battery replacement let alone constrained top case until they try to complete the order on their iPad. Until they have done that, all they can tell you is that a replacement is $199.
 
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Asking once again, Anyone get this to work on a late 2013 rMBP? My battery is shot want to know what people said to make this happen.
 
Brought my mid-2012 rMBP with 'service battery' error in to the Apple Store last night. They told me they'd have to send it out for repair and the turnaround time would be 3-5 days + cost me $299 (not $199...he showed me the $299 price on his iPad to confirm). At that price, I think I'm better off upgrading to new MBP but I don't know why I was quoted $100 more than everyone else here. :/
 
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GotOne said:
I have an appointment tomorrow, will update after.
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Ok, I went last night to one of he UK apple stores with my 2012 macbook pro 15". After some tests the guy suggested a need for a new battery (the current is around 70% of the original capacity) I said yes and went with the process. Just before he was going to ask me for confirmation on the £200 price he was prompted with a message about severe constrains on the stock and I was offered a FREE battery if I wait till January 2018!!! Unfortunately for me my mac also crashes randomly (now on daily bases) and after some further tests I was presented with an option of replacing the logic board that was around £600. I had to say no to it as that is too big investment into a 5 years old machine. If anyone knows how (or where) to fix a logic board but at more sensible expense please give me a shout.
 
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Macalicious2011 said:
Happy 15th of November! Batteries and top cases should be in stock today. Has anyone dropped off their Macbook for repair today?
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In October I had brought in my 15" MBP retina (early-2013) after seeing this article on MacRumors. My MBP showed "service battery" and would power off at about 20%. Coconut battery (http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/) would regularly show the 'design capacity' at 60-70%. The apple tech ran their diagnostics and noted the bad battery. I told him I wanted it replaced. I was quoted $199. After agreeing to the price and the tech entering all my info he informed me the part was constrained and that if I was willing to wait until Nov 16th I could have the replacement done for free. Sounded good to me!

Yesterday (Nov 16th), I brought in my MBP to have the battery replaced for free. The apple tech noted that I would be getting it for free. After entering my info he laughed because he said the part was still constrained and the system was offering the battery replacement for free if I waited until January 2018. In the system he noted I was not willing to wait and that it should still be free because I waited already. I left my MBP and was informed it would be ready in 3-5 business days.

Based on what the system said about the part still being constrained I am guessing the deal is still happening for (new) people willing to wait until January 2018.
 
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GotOne said:
Ok, I went last night to one of he UK apple stores with my 2012 macbook pro 15". After some tests the guy suggested a need for a new battery (the current is around 70% of the original capacity) I said yes and went with the process. Just before he was going to ask me for confirmation on the £200 price he was prompted with a message about severe constrains on the stock and I was offered a FREE battery if I wait till January 2018!!! Unfortunately for me my mac also crashes randomly (now on daily bases) and after some further tests I was presented with an option of replacing the logic board that was around £600. I had to say no to it as that is too big investment into a 5 years old machine. If anyone knows how (or where) to fix a logic board but at more sensible expense please give me a shout.
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January? Haha that’s absurd. Did you get the offer in writing?

I have a follow up appointment in London next week to claim my free battery replacement. Hopefully top case and batteries will be in stock.
 
Norkusa said:
Brought my mid-2012 rMBP with 'service battery' error in to the Apple Store last night. They told me they'd have to send it out for repair and the turnaround time would be 3-5 days + cost me $299 (not $199...he showed me the $299 price on his iPad to confirm). At that price, I think I'm better off upgrading to new MBP but I don't know why I was quoted $100 more than everyone else here. :/
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Sounds like the tech was mistaken. Here is Apple's published price list for battery replacement:
https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service
 
GotOne said:
Ok, I went last night to one of he UK apple stores with my 2012 macbook pro 15". After some tests the guy suggested a need for a new battery (the current is around 70% of the original capacity) I said yes and went with the process. Just before he was going to ask me for confirmation on the £200 price he was prompted with a message about severe constrains on the stock and I was offered a FREE battery if I wait till January 2018!!! Unfortunately for me my mac also crashes randomly (now on daily bases) and after some further tests I was presented with an option of replacing the logic board that was around £600. I had to say no to it as that is too big investment into a 5 years old machine. If anyone knows how (or where) to fix a logic board but at more sensible expense please give me a shout.
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Was it your first visit for the issue with the battery or you were offered it for free before?

I got the logic board replaced around July, I told during the appointment that the laptop is turning often during watching videos etc. Together with Genius we have figured out that probably apple authorised service provider did something wrong during replacement of the screen (antireflective coating) and they replaced it for free.
I guess there are two options for you. You sell it and buy some newer machine (can be still under warranty, for example rMBP 2015) or you get used 2012 - either working or damaged (cracked screen, etc) and you swap logic board, hard drive if it's bigger and other parts if you need. Sure, can be a bit of a gamble, but maybe worth a shot.

I have mine appointment on Saturday evening, I've been offered to get free battery already so we will see.
 
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slogadget said:
Yesterday (Nov 16th), I brought in my MBP to have the battery replaced for free. The apple tech noted that I would be getting it for free. After entering my info he laughed because he said the part was still constrained and the system was offering the battery replacement for free if I waited until January 2018. In the system he noted I was not willing to wait and that it should still be free because I waited already. I left my MBP and was informed it would be ready in 3-5 business days.
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MBP is back from repair. Apple in addition to the battery apple replaced the heat sink and the display ... for free! Odd thing is that I did not note an issue with either the heat sink or the display. They said the display had a "anti-reflective coating delamination" issue and the heat sink had "mechanical damage".
 
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slogadget said:
MBP is back from repair. Apple in addition to the battery apple replaced the heat sink and the display ... for free! Odd thing is that I did not note an issue with either the heat sink or the display. They said the display had a "anti-reflective coating delamination" issue and the heat sink had "mechanical damage".
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That's great. Mine is going in on Wednesday.

Just a question to you and others. Do you wipe your computer before taking it in for repair?
 
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