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Faulty MagSafe Apple Refuse To Replace

standingquiet

standingquiet

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 13, 2010
348
0
Birmingham, AL
So my MagSafe packed up for no apparent reason so booked a genius bar appointment and took it in. They tested it and my MacBook and confirmed it was the adapter and the the MacBook that was at fault.

The member of staff says right as your MacBook is out of warranty a new one is £49.99. I said that it says on there website that " You may be eligible for a replacement adapter free of charge provided there are no signs of accidental damage. "

Here's the full page - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1713

He said it says "MAY" meaning its up to them and he said my model is not covered.

So i kick up a fuss and he checks my battery, " ooooo whats this " he says. " This is not an official MacBook Battery " I said yeah because it lasts longer then yours at half the price. He plugs it into his system and says the battery needs replacing and is what most likely caused the MagSafe to fail! I said you must be joking that battery is fine and your using it as an excuse, i asked for the manager and he said he had to agree with his staff.

I said your system is only saying that because it's not an official battery.

As you can see from CoconutBattery there's nothing wrong with the battery and is is far better condition than any Official Battery is after 30 cycles

Screenshot2010-07-17at233915.png


But they wouldn't budge and with me stuck in the position that i need to charge my MacBook i had to buy one. He did give me 10% discount but that's still £45 when in my eyes it should have been free.

What do you guys think? Was the Store wrong? What should i do now?

Cheers

Matt
 
The Battery hasn't screwed up the system, it works fine they are simply using it as an excuse. The battery makes no difference its the same spec as an official one its like saying Oh you used Duracell instead of Energizer Batterys.

It even says on the troubleshooting page that i didnt even have to bring my macbook so he would have been non the wiser if i hadn't.

As you can see from my coconutbattery its great, I've seen Apple ones with less then 10 cycles down in the low 90%'s even high 80%'s.

Matt
 
my apple battery has had 490 cycles and isn't even at 90% yet. i doubt one with 10 cycles could hit 80% unless it was faulty.

20100717-g68uy1fdpsanyp9433xcn6axbs.png
 
From your post it sounds like first you were out of warranty. Secondly your computer/adaptor are not covered by any extended warranty. Third, yes a non-Apple battery could mess up the charge, if it draws more current, or anything else. It shouldn't, but it is something that can happen. Finally, throwing a "Fuss" never really gets you anywhere, besides a 10% discount so you'll leave the guy alone.

Don't get me wrong I am all about holding companies responsible when it comes to fulfilling their warranty obligations. However this is a case where sadly they are in the right.
 
synth3tik said:
From your post it sounds like first you were out of warranty. Secondly your computer/adaptor are not covered by any extended warranty. Third, yes a non-Apple battery could mess up the charge, if it draws more current, or anything else. It shouldn't, but it is something that can happen. Finally, throwing a "Fuss" never really gets you anywhere, besides a 10% discount so you'll leave the guy alone.

Don't get me wrong I am all about holding companies responsible when it comes to fulfilling their warranty obligations. However this is a case where sadly they are in the right.
Click to expand...

Its says on Apple's Website as in the link i posted it doesn't matter if in warranty or not.

My fuss was civilized and was regarding the statement on their website.

Nick. said:
my apple battery has had 490 cycles and isn't even at 90% yet. i doubt one with 10 cycles could hit 80% unless it was faulty.

20100717-g68uy1fdpsanyp9433xcn6axbs.png
Click to expand...


thats good check this one out

mr2zoi.png



thats bad
 
miles01110 said:
It also says you "may" be eligible for a replacement. Also, warranty or not- damage caused by third-party batteries will almost never get you a replacement part.
Click to expand...

They didn't prove it was the battery, it was a guess. Everyone i know uses third party batteries without issue.

Its just a lame excuse. Is it in writing anywhere saying i cannot use another battery?
 
...its too bad you brought the mac with you... now that's in your case notes... every electronics company I'm familiar with uses the "third party" accessories to void repairs for free.

Nintendo for example has many well documented cases on their "Fit" balance board and there's tons of companies that make these items...

You don't see and OEM Nintendo accessories of the same type as they haven't figured out how to make them work well so they don't mess with them and risk warranty repair issues...
 
standingquiet said:
Everyone i know uses third party batteries without issue.
Click to expand...

Everyone, huh?

Its just a lame excuse. Is it in writing anywhere saying i cannot use another battery?
Click to expand...

It doesn't say you can't use another battery, it just says that you can't use another battery, have it cause another problem, and then get that problem fixed by Apple.

http://images.apple.com/legal/applecare/docs/NA_APP_English_v5.2.pdf
Section 1 (b) (iv): Problems caused by a device that is not the Covered Equipment, including equipment that is not Apple-branded, whether or not purchased at the same time as the Covered Equipment;
Click to expand...

You say it's not the battery, but you don't really know either now, do you?
 
standingquiet said:
They didn't prove it was the battery, it was a guess. Everyone i know uses third party batteries without issue.

Its just a lame excuse. Is it in writing anywhere saying i cannot use another battery?
Click to expand...

You didn't prove that the battery couldn't cause a problem either. :rolleyes: If you were using an Official Apple battery and this happened, I might agree with you. ButApple does say to use THEIR batteries and do other computer manufactures. Your 3rd party battery could have over stressed the Apple power adapter.
 
Isnt the solution clear? Put the battery the laptop came with back in, then make another genius appointment.
 
ARF900 said:
Isnt the solution clear? Put the battery the laptop came with back in, then make another genius appointment.
Click to expand...

If the Genius who looked at OP's computer was doing their job, then this was surely documented something like: "reviewed TS1414, customer used third party battery, denied customer MagSafe replacement".

At this point, OP will have to purchase a new MagSafe (looks like they did based on posting) or continue to e-mail/call Apple trying to get a free replacement.
 
I say it's craptalk from the Genius.

Either you pop in the original battery and return and talk to another genius or take it to another store or 3rd party dealer. Or you phone apple directly and get an take it that way.

And why is you folks so hard on him, blaming a 3rd party battery is wrong. Then you are smoked if you install 3rd party ram or harddrive on your computer to? :eek: If they can't prove the 3rd party accessory is at fault then the should exchange the magsafe in this case.

EDIT: Edit out all the **** from the censor
 
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