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Experiences with Apple Repair on Macbooks? So far so bad

D

desol8tor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2010
28
0
So this Thanksgiving (last Thursday) my Macbook Pro (early 2008) died. When the power button was pressed, the DVD drive would spin, the sleep light would blink, and then everything would die after one second. I tried resetting SMU, PRAM, taking out battery, memory etc. and nothing. Had to take it to the store.

I dropped off my computer at the store on Saturday. They said they didn't know what was wrong and would have to order parts and just start replacing things. Fine.

It's now been five days (four business days) and no word from the store. Nothing regarding the status, how much it would cost, or how much longer it is going to take. I called them today and it turns out they had to order all the parts and it will take another three days to test it.

This is absurd. I was not quoted ANY cost for repair or given any clear answer on what was wrong. They had to order ALL the parts which is ridiculous - how can you properly handle repairs when you have NO replacement hardware to test against? Not to mention that three parts (hard drive, IO board, and logic board) in no way takes three days to test. At the age of 10 I was building computers on my own, I could have run those replacement tests in half a day.

update: Now they are citing over 700 dollars in repairs. This is terrible. Of course I had to ASK them for this information. I'm not shelling out 700 dollars to repair a computer that is possibly worth only 1000 dollars at this point in its lifespan. If it's gonna cost that much, just give me back my broken macbook pro so I can salvage whatever I can (memory, etc) and be done with it.

---

Thanks for nothing Apple. This is the last time I'm buying any notebook from them. Luckily my iPhone 4 has been a happier story.
 
wordoflife said:
And that is why I'm buying AppleCare
Click to expand...

Yeah, i feel like if you don't buy AppleCare you get treated like trash.

And it's not even a function of the money. Sure, if I bought AppleCare I wouldn't be spending as much, but my complaint is the sheer lack of professionalism throughout this week. The communication has been abysmal at best.
 
desol8tor said:
Yeah, i feel like if you don't buy AppleCare you get treated like trash.

And it's not even a function of the money. Sure, if I bought AppleCare I wouldn't be spending as much, but my complaint is the sheer lack of professionalism throughout this week. The communication has been abysmal at best.
Click to expand...

Thats unfortunate that this has happened to you. Personally, I have nothing bad to say about apple's customer service. Thanks to them, I have a brand new 15" MacBook Pro. They replaced my 2.4ghz Alu MacBook because I had a few issues with it, for no charge.
 
I had to take an iMac in for repair, and it took them nearly three weeks to replace the screen (under warranty).

If you need next-day service, you need to pay for it, warranty or not.

As for the parts situation, I'm fairly certain they'll only charge you for the parts they replaced.

Edit: This was an Apple Authorised Repair Centre in Sweden. No Apple Stores over here!
 
Last edited:
Wait, if you weren't called it is probably because they hadn't finished diagnosing it yet. To me it sounds like you were calling them every day or more to get information that they simply didn't have and that was not good enough for you. You also don't state if this was an Apple Store or an authorized reseller. Yes, there is a difference in the level of support that you get. Sheesh, you have to give folks a chance and you were not likely the only customer.

As for the cost, it is well known that a new logic board will cost you a good chunk of money. Just another reason to pay to get that Applecare.
 
wpotere said:
Wait, if you weren't called it is probably because they hadn't finished diagnosing it yet. To me it sounds like you were calling them every day or more to get information that they simply didn't have and that was not good enough for you. You also don't state if this was an Apple Store or an authorized reseller. Yes, there is a difference in the level of support that you get. Sheesh, you have to give folks a chance and you were not likely the only customer.

As for the cost, it is well known that a new logic board will cost you a good chunk of money. Just another reason to pay to get that Applecare.
Click to expand...

Apple store.

And I only called them twice. I'm not as angry about how long it takes them to fix it as much as I am angry about how poor the communication was. I do think it's unreasonable to wait a week for a quote. I'm not like most Apple customers who will just okay any repairs...I'm not made of money and I am fully willing to forgo the repairs if I deem them too expensive.

I understand it takes them awhile to fix it, but I was given no sense of even an approximation of a repair bill until I coerced the information out today.

aside: I really can't see how they haven't determined if it was the hard drive or not.
 
desol8tor said:
Apple store.

And I only called them twice. I'm not as angry about how long it takes them to fix it as much as I am angry about how poor the communication was. I do think it's unreasonable to wait a week for a quote. I'm not like most Apple customers who will just okay any repairs...I'm not made of money and I am fully willing to forgo the repairs if I deem them too expensive.

I understand it takes them awhile to fix it, but I was given no sense of even an approximation of a repair bill until I coerced the information out today.

aside: I really can't see how they haven't determined if it was the hard drive or not.
Click to expand...

Interesting, every time I have been there I have gotten a sheet that gave me an approximation on when they would get it repaired. Either way, it was still only a week. You would have likely gotten a call eventually. There is no conspiracy to keep your computer or take money from you.

Also, I'm not sure why you are generalizing about Mac users being made of money. I'm sure we all have to make decisions like this from time to time and every now and then you have to cut your losses. If, after my applecare is up, my logic board goes, I won't be replacing it either.
 
Should've gotten Applecare. They took my early 2008 MBP and hooked me up with a mid 2010 17" i7 and let me keep all the accessories from the old MBP (i.e. extra charger).

And I bet those tests could have taken a long time. Actually, no they don't :p. The Apple Hardware Tests that genii use, including the interactive tests, should only take about an hour or two to complete. But that's not to say that the queue couldn't have been extremely busy.
 
I have no complaints about Apple's CS either. Granted, their phone support people seem to know a bit more than the so-called "geniuses" of the Apple Bars. I've sent it in twice for replacement parts (keyboard, outer casing, etc) through mail-in order, was about a 4 day turnaround: 1 day for delivery of mail in box, one day to ship it back, one day to fix and one day to ship it back to me.

Another aside: the repair status on their website tracking could be improved, but other than that, I have no complaints about their communication. :)
 
Stvwndr219 said:
I have no complaints about Apple's CS either. Granted, their phone support people seem to know a bit more than the so-called "geniuses" of the Apple Bars. I've sent it in twice for replacement parts (keyboard, outer casing, etc) through mail-in order, was about a 4 day turnaround: 1 day for delivery of mail in box, one day to ship it back, one day to fix and one day to ship it back to me.

Another aside: the repair status on their website tracking could be improved, but other than that, I have no complaints about their communication. :)
Click to expand...

i may have to send mine in for mail in repair. how was it like?

im concerned repairing doesnt seem as good as a replacement.

are they careful with the machines? i dont want a single scratch
 
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