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Apple Store Annoyance... Advice??

D

davidg4781

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 28, 2006
2,973
476
Alice, TX
Ok, about 3 weeks ago I took my MacBook into the Apple Store because my screen was flickering and cracked top case. They replaced the inverter cable, didn't charge me anything, and got it back to me a week later.

I picked it up on my way on vacation, got to my mom's, and my wifi wasn't working and battery was having issues charging. So a week later I took it back to the Apple Store so they could work on it. A week later (today) I picked it up.

I got home, started it up, and started updating Quicken, downloading emails, all that fun stuff. Then I noticed it was sluggish and warm. Checked out iStat, and sure enough. Fans - 0 rpms.

This is really getting annoying, especially since I live 2 hours away. So far, they haven't charged me for any repair, but, even so. Shouldn't they make sure fans are running and what not before releasing it to the customer? I have to take this back, and probably won't be able to until next week. I'm hoping they can fix it in store and I can take it back the same day.

Any advice on what to do? Other things to check for? Should I take some CDs with me to make sure the DVD drive works?
 
How long ago was this MacBook purchased?

If I were you, I would go ahead and book another Genius Bar appointment. Tell them what's been going on, and then politely ask to speak to a manager if they don't suggest it initially. Explain that there have been multiple trips to the GB, and that you also live far away and don't want to have to keep coming back.

If this MacBook is less than six months old, then I wouldn't be surprised if they gave you a new one. I've seen it happen.
 
Wirelessly posted (Palm Pre: Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.5; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)

The MacBook was purchased in 2006, so, it's out of Apple Care.
 
davidg4781 said:
Wirelessly posted (Palm Pre: Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.5; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)

The MacBook was purchased in 2006, so, it's out of Apple Care.
Click to expand...

Given that, you may just have multiple component failures, although that is quite a bit all at once. I don't think I'd expect a replacement, especially since they have been kind enough to repair it for free out of warranty. I'd just ask to see a manager and make sure that they thoroughly check it to ensure it is functioning properly after the repair.
 
Wirelessly posted (Palm Pre: Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.5; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)

I'm not expecting a replacement, although that would be nice.

I originally went in with the cracked top ase (covered under recall stuff) and the inverter board issue, which I was ready to pay for.

After that, it seems as if they're just not plugging stuff up when putting it back together. Airport wouldn't work, but said it was working. I'm guessing antennas weren't connected. Now fans aren't running at all.

I guess I'm just annoyed and need to vent, but everyone's asleep.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Yeah, a replacement is very unlikely on a 2006 model. But you can dream!

It seems unlikely that all this happened by chance, instead someone screwed up whilst repairing. If they did then you should get a repair and maybe a token gesture for your inconvenience.

(It's 8am for some of us, we are having breakfast etc. Not all of us live in the US of A!)
 
I called the store I had been dealing with. I asked to speak to the manager, and whoever answered the phone said they could try to help me. Should've pushed for manager, but I was on lunch and didn't want to waste too much time.

Basically. I was told they could not look at it same day in the store, not even open it to check to make sure fan was plugged in. If they did it in store, it would be 1-3 day turnaround time, but they want to send it to the Apple Service Center since that's where it came. Problem for me is that when they ship it to my house, I more than likely won't be there, and I'll end up having to drive a couple of hours to the nearest FedEx location. Might as well just pick it up at Apple, at least they're open till 9.

I called another store in the same town. They understood my frustration and said they'd try their best to get it done the same day if I brought it in early enough. I understand it may not be something simple and there may be others ahead of me, but I've basically been out of a computer for 3 weeks now. I can understand the 1st week, fine. But the rest is just because they were careless about reassembling it and didn't bother to test it to make sure everything was working.
 
davidg4781 said:
I called the store I had been dealing with. I asked to speak to the manager, and whoever answered the phone said they could try to help me. Should've pushed for manager, but I was on lunch and didn't want to waste too much time.

Basically. I was told they could not look at it same day in the store, not even open it to check to make sure fan was plugged in. If they did it in store, it would be 1-3 day turnaround time, but they want to send it to the Apple Service Center since that's where it came. Problem for me is that when they ship it to my house, I more than likely won't be there, and I'll end up having to drive a couple of hours to the nearest FedEx location. Might as well just pick it up at Apple, at least they're open till 9.

I called another store in the same town. They understood my frustration and said they'd try their best to get it done the same day if I brought it in early enough. I understand it may not be something simple and there may be others ahead of me, but I've basically been out of a computer for 3 weeks now. I can understand the 1st week, fine. But the rest is just because they were careless about reassembling it and didn't bother to test it to make sure everything was working.
Click to expand...

I would defiantly send it in for repair, you have to push a little to get things done. Tell them your NOT HAPPY with the recent repairs. All repairs come with an 90 day warranty just make sure you keep track off all repairs. If you do push hard enough you can get an replacement machine out of the since they are not fixing it right on the other repairs. Trust me I've got replacements for failed repairs. Apple's rule is three repairs and they don't fix it right you can request a replacement.
 
Grab a screw driver and gingerly open it up. You are out of warranty an other hands have already been in there. Just be very careful and check the connections, which most likely it is.

If you lose your confidence, put it back together, gingerly again but most likely you'll fix it yourself and you can give yourself a big pat on the back.
 
troutspinner said:
Grab a screw driver and gingerly open it up. You are out of warranty an other hands have already been in there. Just be very careful and check the connections, which most likely it is.

If you lose your confidence, put it back together, gingerly again but most likely you'll fix it yourself and you can give yourself a big pat on the back.
Click to expand...

I thought about doing that. The thing I'm concerned with is if the problem is more than the fan not being plugged in, such as a broken fan, or the logic board messed up, they'll be responsible for it. If I start messing around in there, they can say I did it.

I made an appointment for Tuesday. Hopefully, that'll be the last one.
 
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