Apple wont perform battery replacement at out of warranty price

[SpotOnT]

If the user is paying for the repair themselves, out of warranty, it can't be dishonest right? No one here is talking about forcing Apple to repair something under Apple Care or anything. Where are you seeing the potential for dishonest abuse?

My mother had a 2011 MacBook Pro. Battery was at 81% right before the laptop got categorized as "obsolete" by Apple. For a few months before the laptop became "obsolete" she tried to get Apple to replace the battery. No luck. Now the depleted battery is causing performance issues. She has tried a few after market batteries and they have all had performance/safety issues (there are long threads on this forum about difficulties in obtaining functional batteries on the aftermarket). She ended up having to replace the laptop with a new one. If Apple had replaced the battery - that she wanted to pay for out of pocket herself - she could have kept the laptop for many more years.

I gave the example of needing my iPhone battery replaced at 82% before going on a year long international trip.

In short, Apple's policy is preventing owners from receiving service for their devices, which often prevents them from using their devices.

I think this is the perfect example for the right to repair movement.

 

[akash.nu]

If the user is paying for the repair themselves, out of warranty, it can't be dishonest right? No one here is talking about forcing Apple to repair something under Apple Care or anything. Where are you seeing the potential for dishonest abuse?

My mother had a 2011 MacBook Pro. Battery was at 81% right before the laptop got categorized as "obsolete" by Apple. For a few months before the laptop became "obsolete" she tried to get Apple to replace the battery. No luck. Now the depleted battery is causing performance issues. She has tried a few after market batteries and they have all had performance/safety issues (there are long threads on this forum about difficulties in obtaining functional batteries on the aftermarket). She ended up having to replace the laptop with a new one. If Apple had replaced the battery - that she wanted to pay for out of pocket herself - she could have kept the laptop for many more years.

I gave the example of needing my iPhone battery replaced at 82% before going on a year long international trip.

In short, Apple's policy is preventing owners from receiving service for their devices, which often prevents them from using their devices.

I think this is the perfect example for the right to repair movement.

I actually think your examples are better for the right to repair stuff.

 

[Sanpete]

If the user is paying for the repair themselves, out of warranty, it can't be dishonest right? No one here is talking about forcing Apple to repair something under Apple Care or anything. Where are you seeing the potential for dishonest abuse?

My mother had a 2011 MacBook Pro. Battery was at 81% right before the laptop got categorized as "obsolete" by Apple. For a few months before the laptop became "obsolete" she tried to get Apple to replace the battery. No luck. Now the depleted battery is causing performance issues. She has tried a few after market batteries and they have all had performance/safety issues (there are long threads on this forum about difficulties in obtaining functional batteries on the aftermarket). She ended up having to replace the laptop with a new one. If Apple had replaced the battery - that she wanted to pay for out of pocket herself - she could have kept the laptop for many more years.

I gave the example of needing my iPhone battery replaced at 82% before going on a year long international trip.

In short, Apple's policy is preventing owners from receiving service for their devices, which often prevents them from using their devices.

I think this is the perfect example for the right to repair movement.

It can be dishonest in the sense that the process in this case can be manipulated to get something repaired that wouldn't normally be covered by any right to repair law.

Your examples don't show that the repair process can't also be quite wasteful. Again, not a very straightforward case to base an argument for right to repair on.

 

[dukebound85]

It can be dishonest in the sense that the process in this case can be manipulated to get something repaired that wouldn't normally be covered by any right to repair law.

Your examples don't show that the repair process can't also be quite wasteful. Again, not a very straightforward case to base an argument for right to repair on.

Why shouldn’t I be able to replace the battery in MY own device WHENEVER I want? Why does apple get a say, at all, in what I want to do with MY device?

I am willing to pay for it Per their stated out of warranty prices.

 

[Sanpete]

Why does apple get a say, at all, in what I want to do with MY device?

They don't. You can do whatever you want with your property. Apple gets to say what it does with its property too, which includes the replacement parts.

 

[dukebound85]

They don't. You can do whatever you want with your property. Apple gets to say what it does with its property too, which includes the replacement parts.

You realize that is asinine right?

one can’t own a device if they can’t make choices about a device

if this were a car, it would be like them saying “sorry you can’t get new tires because your current ones aren’t bald yet”

 

[akash.nu]

You realize that is asinine right?

one can’t own a device if they can’t make choices about a device

if this were a car, it would be like them saying “sorry you can’t get new tires because your current ones aren’t bald yet”

I have no idea why people compare completely unrelated industries. Is it a car?! No!

 

[Sanpete]

You realize that is asinine right?

one can’t own a device if they can’t make choices about a device

if this were a car, it would be like them saying “sorry you can’t get new tires because your current ones aren’t bald yet”

I realize that you think it's asinine, but Apple has probably given it more thought than you have.

 

[dukebound85]

I have no idea why people compare completely unrelated industries. Is it a car?! No!

To drive a point

I have no idea why you apologize for apple however

 

[nikhsub1]

I had my less than 1 year old iphone 12 pro max battery replaced by apple no issue. It had 84% capacity so i had to pay but they did it no questions asked.

 

[akash.nu]

To drive a point

I have no idea why you apologize for apple however

Not apologising. I’m simply stating out what it is in real life.

There’s no driving a point with pointless comparisons between industries that have nothing in common starting from the market, to audience, to legal requirements, to technical challenges, to profit graph etc etc.

 

[matram]

Until the battery health under 80%. This is what i was told at the apple store today

Is this everyone else’s experience? Why should it matter when i want an out of warranty battery replacement?

Apple discount this replacement heavily, I think you are only paying a quarter of the actual cost. Hence it makes sense that they have rules to avoid abuse.

 

[nikhsub1]

Until the battery health under 80%. This is what i was told at the apple store today

Is this everyone else’s experience? Why should it matter when i want an out of warranty battery replacement?

The 80% replacement is when they will replace under warranty - if within the warranty period. They should replace it whenever you want if you pay out of pocket though.

 

[dukebound85]

The 80% replacement is when they will replace under warranty - if within the warranty period. They should replace it whenever you want if you pay out of pocket though.

That is what i am saying. They wont replace it at all until under 80%, under warranty or not

 

[dukebound85]

Apple discount this replacement heavily, I think you are only paying a quarter of the actual cost. Hence it makes sense that they have rules to avoid abuse.

What is the abuse? They have an out of warranty price.

I just want my battery replaced.

 

[nikhsub1]

That is what i am saying. They wont replace it at all until under 80%, under warranty or not

Go to a different store?

 

[SpotOnT]

I just want my battery replaced.

Post #3 gave you a solution.
I really wish I had thought of that when my mother needed a new battery in her MacBook.

 

[Natzoo]

That is what i am saying. They wont replace it at all until under 80%, under warranty or not

Big tech companies run things which is really bad for us consumers who don't replace a device when a battery needs a change. I'm optimistic that the new MBP's are better since the battery is easy to replace but yea I want an OEM battery. Charge me $300 for it fine but I want a new one when it goes near 80%.

I wonder if there are any apple algorithms that will display a higher number than it actually is so that they don't have to replace it. I'm hoping that isn't the case.

The only good thing about my old 2018 15", was that it got a new battery every year for free because of defective keyboard.

 

[f54da]

Tried and got the same thing. Capacity was 83% @ 800 cycles, said they would not do $199 battery replacement unless capacity was below 80%. No amount of explaining that a 3% difference in capacity is basically trivial and that the machine would be obsolete in 6months would convince the hard-assed guy. They finally said they could do an entire top case replacement for $500, but at that price I may as well buy and test 10 shenzhen mystery batteries and install it myself, or buy a used M1 mac. Also too borderline of a case to try intentionally running it down since that might take 1 or 2 months and no guarantees parts will still be available then.

I never got the chance to ask, but I'm also curious that if they were willing to do the repair, what would be the warranty on it. Given that parts are scarce and battery replacements have a 1yr warranty, what happens if it fails but no parts are available? Or if they end up accidentally damaging something in the process?

If someone really wants to throw the middle finger at apple, the software that they use to check battery health almost certainly just reads the values directly from the smc (B0FC). People have figured out how to write the smc firmware on pre-t1 macs (lookup ionescu's talk) so you could modify the smc firmware to allow you to set arbitrary values.

 

[akash.nu]

I never got the chance to ask, but I'm also curious that if they were willing to do the repair, what would be the warranty on it. Given that parts are scarce and battery replacements have a 1yr warranty, what happens if it fails but no parts are available? Or if they end up accidentally damaging something in the process?

They do a like to like swap in most cases and if that’s not possible then they replace with a newer model.

 

[BigMcGuire]

So, during the 6s battery debacle, my wife had an iPhone 6s+ that dropped within a handful hours from 100% to 0% while my 6s+ lasted days. Her phone would randomly shut off and start up with different %s. Coconut Battery showed the battery capacity wildly varying from 40%, 60%, 80%, and sometimes 90% depending on when we checked it.

We took it to Apple begging them to replace the battery. (This was before Apple acknowledged battery problems in the 6 iPhones). They plugged the phone into their device and despite the device saying there were problems, they said the battery was "green" and refused to replace it.

So we pushed - took out $90 and asked them to do it. They refused. We showed the % dropping like a brick and eventually shutting off (within 10 mins). They still refused. We asked super nicely and they said ok.

2 hours later they handed us back the iPhone with half the screen not working. They had broken the phone in an attempt to replace the battery. We handed it back to them and they gave it back to us with the phone restarting over and over and over (every 5-10 seconds).

So we said thank you, went to a different Apple store, and got a free replacement with AppleCare+.


Sorry for long story but - I think one reason why they refuse to replace batteries is because it's hard and risky. I know several friends/relatives that had the batteries in their devices replaced by 3rd parties and their devices were damaged in the process.

 

[SpotOnT]

So, during the 6s battery debacle, my wife had an iPhone 6s+ that dropped within a handful hours from 100% to 0% while my 6s+ lasted days. Her phone would randomly shut off and start up with different %s. Coconut Battery showed the battery capacity wildly varying from 40%, 60%, 80%, and sometimes 90% depending on when we checked it.

We took it to Apple begging them to replace the battery. (This was before Apple acknowledged battery problems in the 6 iPhones). They plugged the phone into their device and despite the device saying there were problems, they said the battery was "green" and refused to replace it.

So we pushed - took out $90 and asked them to do it. They refused. We showed the % dropping like a brick and eventually shutting off (within 10 mins). They still refused. We asked super nicely and they said ok.

2 hours later they handed us back the iPhone with half the screen not working. They had broken the phone in an attempt to replace the battery. We handed it back to them and they gave it back to us with the phone restarting over and over and over (every 5-10 seconds).

So we said thank you, went to a different Apple store, and got a free replacement with AppleCare+.


Sorry for long story but - I think one reason why they refuse to replace batteries is because it's hard and risky. I know several friends/relatives that had the batteries in their devices replaced by 3rd parties and their devices were damaged in the process.

The fact that it is hard to replace the battery is no ones fault but their own. Batteries are consumables that wear out. You choose to glue that unto an aluminum top cover….well that is your design decision….

Can’t say I have any sympathy for Apple when it comes to batteries.

 

[JPack]

Ask the same question to Apple support via online chat. Be very specific in your question. They will let you know there is no such 80% requirement.

Print out the chat log. Bring it to the Apple Store. Ask for the store manager if the front line staff refuses.

I’ve had a similar experience dealing with some iPhone battery replacements. Once you show them the chat log, they should back down.

 

[UBS28]

Until the battery health under 80%. This is what i was told at the apple store today

Is this everyone else’s experience? Why should it matter when i want an out of warranty battery replacement?

Because they want to you to buy a new computer. They earn more money this way than a battery replacement.

 

[Fishrrman]

If your battery is at 83%, and they won't offer you the $199 battery replacement until it's below 80%... well... just "wait a little longer"...until it's at 79%.

Works for me.