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bsmr

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 4, 2005
1,139
302
Germany
Hi,

my new M1 is defective. Of course I’m within the return period.
bought it at the Apple online store.

What’s the best way in getting a new one.
if I call Apple they will say that I can get my money back. But waiting another 1.5 months for getting a new one is kinda stupid.
Or will support say, that I can use the defective one until the new one will arrive?

Does anyone have experience with this?
 
...waiting another 1.5 months for getting a new one is kinda stupid...
Why so? There is currently a pandemic sweeping around the world. Very little is normal, especially when it comes to commerce.

You wouldn't be the only person who has to wait for a long time, so just accept that this is a new product - in demand - that is affected by the current situation.
 
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Did you talk to Apple? Are you sure they will make you wait 6 weeks for a replacement? That doesn't seem very reasonable to me.

Your post does not contain enough information for us to make meaningful suggestions. Are we talking here about a stocked configuration that they carry in their stores, or was it CTO? Apple Stores, at least in my area, seem to have stock of some of the popular 8GB configurations. Amazon also has stock of certain models right now (just checked), so one option if Apple won't do the right thing would be to buy from another merchant and get your money back from Apple.
 
Why so? There is currently a pandemic sweeping around the world. Very little is normal, especially when it comes to commerce.

You wouldn't be the only person who has to wait for a long time, so just accept that this is a new product - in demand - that is affected by the current situation.
Gotta agree. Some people forget that there's a global supply chain-busting pandemic going on. I think 3K Americans and 500 Brits will die today (excess deaths ((7-day rolling average)), which is the true estimate of deaths, is always higher than the official number.)
 
Did you talk to Apple? Are you sure they will make you wait 6 weeks for a replacement? That doesn't seem very reasonable to me.
It depends, I recalled going to the apple store with a friend right after iPhone 7 was released, he got apple care. Basically managed to break the screen the second day. We went back to the Apple store but they were unable to honor the repair nor will they able to give us a apple care iphone because well...there was nothing to give. Which to be honest I find it terrible because to me if you are going to sell apple care from day one you should have the supply ready. They also refused to provide a new phone to him.

But to OP, I personally think if this is not crazy important. Just return it and wait until the supply gets better. Unless you are ready to spend a lot of time with apple support, which I have find from experience from couple weeks ago is one of the worst experience I have had in dealing with supports.
 
Hi,

my new M1 is defective. Of course I’m within the return period.
bought it at the Apple online store.

What’s the best way in getting a new one.
if I call Apple they will say that I can get my money back. But waiting another 1.5 months for getting a new one is kinda stupid.
Or will support say, that I can use the defective one until the new one will arrive?

Does anyone have experience with this?

Have you got until the 8th Jan to return it? Just order a new one and return the faulty one when it arrives. Should be before 8th jan depending where you live
 
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I would suggest contacting Apple to find out. It is possible Apple has some service replacement units set aside. It’s also possible that they don’t
 
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Thx for your feedback.

And yes - I'm aware of the virus and it's impact to supply chains.

But I paid a lot of money for the new Notebook (needed a new one after 7 years).

But waiting 1.5 months for a new device is not feasible for me, because I have to work from home and depend on a notebook.
And buying a transition device in the meantime is not possible - not enough money.

That's why I ask.

It's a MBP M1 with 1TB and 16GB RAM (8GB and 256 or 512 is not enough in my case).

Issues:
- Display Light leakage around the bezels (left right)
- parts of the screen have bright spots /uniformity
- creaking lower case
 
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Why so? There is currently a pandemic sweeping around the world. Very little is normal, especially when it comes to commerce.

You wouldn't be the only person who has to wait for a long time, so just accept that this is a new product - in demand - that is affected by the current situation.
Stop linking covid to every issue that's going on.

@OP, just bring it in or chat with Apple.
They always have replacement units ready to replace defects and you won't have to wait 1.5months. If you bring it in chances are high you'll walk out with a replacement, if you chat with Apple they'll send you a return box and it'll take around 2-3 days for the new one to arrive after they have received your defective unit.
 
Thx for your feedback.

And yes - I'm aware of the virus and it's impact to supply chains.

But I paid a lot of money for the new Notebook (needed a new one after 7 years).

But waiting 1.5 months for a new device is not feasible for me, because I have to work from home and depend on a notebook.
And buying a transition device in the meantime is not possible - not enough money.

That's why I ask.

It's a MBP M1 with 1TB and 16GB RAM (8GB and 256 or 512 is not enough in my case).

Issues:
- Display Light leakage around the bezels (left right)
- parts of the screen have bright spots /uniformity
- creaking lower case
here even 0 stock and cannot order at all. Like you , mine broken imac 2017 after 3 days news , askin store when available no news then force to buy windows laptop to continue job then after a week repair back imac 2017. Please do hope what 8th apple annoucement can bring up.
 
I've actually had this happen on several occasions; not with laptops, but with both iPads and iPhones.

I called Apple. Make sure you call the Apple Online Store, not tech support. Their system is quite automated so just say you want to talk about a recent online order (or something to that effect). When a human answers, verify you're speaking with the Apple Online Store and explain that you want to send this unit back and want a new in box unit sent to you. They may suggest you speak with tech support about a replacement (that happened only once to me). Be polite, etc. but persistent.

What will happen is that you'll send this unit back. Once they see the unit is in transit to them they'll begin the process of ordering you a new model (they do all the work, but in your account you'll actually see a new order). You'll be moved to the front of the order queue. It doesn't mean you'll get your (second) new model next day, but it does mean you won't be waiting the full delivery time stated on their site.

Like I said, it's happened quite a few times to me with iPads and as long as I'm speaking to the proper department it's never been an issue.
 
@buddyspencer Call Apple they will look after you, your configuration is one that they normally stock in Store, they will allow you to keep it until a replacement is available. They do prioritise and keep a few units for warranty returns, so very unlikely that you will need to wait 1.5 months.
 
Hi,

my new M1 is defective. Of course I’m within the return period.
bought it at the Apple online store.

What’s the best way in getting a new one.
if I call Apple they will say that I can get my money back. But waiting another 1.5 months for getting a new one is kinda stupid.
Or will support say, that I can use the defective one until the new one will arrive?

Does anyone have experience with this?
I did that with my iPhone 12 pro, came with a scratch. They said to send it back and I would receive the new one in two weeks. I simply said no. I asked if I was supposed to call from the old fashioned phones at the street corners for two weeks and they immediately agreed for me to use it until I received the new one. They also gave me a week overlap so I used the defective one for 23 days in total.
 
Have I been linking COVID to every issue going on?...

And regardless, this is a very relevant topic for it.
You linked it to the waiting times of ordering a new M1 Macbook which isn't relevant in the OP his case. Ofcourse he's going to have to wait if he returns it, gets his money back and orders a new one. He's not going to have to wait if he contacts Apple and requests a replacement.
There's a difference between
[1] returning a product, getting your money back and ordering a new one.
and
[2] replacing a defective unit.

[1] might be affected due to COVID, but [2] is certainly not. If you have a defective device then you will get a replacement unit and you're going to skip the waiting time as they have white-box Macbooks ready to go for defective unit replacements and even in the case that they don't then he's going to skip the waiting line.
Someone doesn't understand JIT supply chains.

I was hoping we'd see a full-blown conspiracy theorist as we get almost zero of them around these parts.
I'm just stating facts and actually answering the OP's question, JIT supply chains and the ongoing pandemic have nothing to do with having replacement units on-hand.

OP's question is what the best course of action is. I advised him to not return it but to ask for a replacement unit instead so that he does not need to wait 6 weeks for a new unit. He didn't ask why ordering a new unit would take 6 weeks, he asked if it's possible to skip the 6 weeks.
 
I'm just stating facts and actually answering the OP's question, JIT supply chains and the ongoing pandemic have nothing to do with having replacement units on-hand.
As aforementioned, this user has no idea of JIT supply chains and the global pandemic. This has been self-certified above.
 
As evidence that the global pandemic is causing extreme issues, at least in the UK, and likely on the rest of the planet, the government is pushing 11K extra shipping containers of PPE through Felixstowe and that is causing passing delays at the port. So massive, that container ships are leaving cargo in Rotterdam instead and letting the receiver sort out the rest of the trip.

Big article in the Guardian today about it driving up supplies costs and a prelude to a no-deal Brexit.

Literally tons of M1 machines could be at the port waiting if Apple elected to use Shipping rather than the air transport, however, that remains unlikely as Apple would likely ship everything via Air but this should serve as a reminder to how JIT/global shipping networks function and delicate equilibria are out of balance due to the pandemic.

 
Issues:
- Display Light leakage around the bezels (left right)
- parts of the screen have bright spots /uniformity
- creaking lower case
The issues you describe are certainly annoying, but they do not render your laptop unusable, so you can continue to use it until a replacement is available. As myself and many others have already advised, you need to talk to Apple to arrange an exchange of the machine. I am sure they can find a way to accommodate your request without creating excessive downtime for you.
 
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