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Only somewhat related to the OP, but I was the target of an attempted railroading yesterday on Apple Support chat.

We have an Apple Watch Series 1 that stopped working. I went through the standard steps to troubleshoot. The Apple rep confirmed that it is a hardware issue.

The price I was quoted to have this watch mailed to Apple and repaired: $205.95 (service fee) plus $14.42 (tax). So $220.37 USD total to repair a watch that can't even run WatchOS 7! 😵

For only $60 more I can buy a brand new Apple Watch SE. Needless to say, I declined the support offer.

I hate to accuse Apple of ripping off customers, but it seems that they certainly do with repairs.
Go to the car dealership and see how much it would be to get a new engine and transmission installed in your 4 year old card.

Apple isn't doing anything wrong here. One option is to repair the other is to replace.
 
Ouch- that dude must have been a used car salesman before his current position.

Often I find the staff in stores are slippery in that they say one thing and attempt to do another (or have another team member try some sort of shifty maneuver when I've come to pickup a warranty repaired item).

My advice: do your own homework & trust no one. Make sure everything discussed is in writing and/or documented in an Apple support ticket before handing over, trading in or upgrading equipment.
 
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Over the years, I have seen Apple go from a cutting edge tech company to a rendition of BestBuy.

My house is full of Apple gear to include nine HomePods, Apple TV, AirPod Pros, iPhone, Apple Watch, and my old 'Airport Extreme router. Still like the hardware, although the newer stuff seems a bit anemic with less tech and more services.
 
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I don't know if that's a ripoff or not. The premium for fixing mobile devices is high. An Apple Watch S1 is probably disposable at this point.

It’s a ripoff for the consumer when you compare the value of fixing a nearly outdated item versus buying new.

Apparently Apple is well aware of this. They would prefer all of us to buy new. The hassle of repairs can’t be profitable for them unless the cost matches or exceeds the value of the labour.

So I see where they are coming from, but I’m surprised that Apple Support didn’t recommend the Apple Watch SE *immediately*, especially considering how old the Series 1 is, and its lack of support for WatchOS 7.
 
Only somewhat related to the OP, but I was the target of an attempted railroading yesterday on Apple Support chat.

We have an Apple Watch Series 1 that stopped working. I went through the standard steps to troubleshoot. The Apple rep confirmed that it is a hardware issue.

The price I was quoted to have this watch mailed to Apple and repaired: $205.95 (service fee) plus $14.42 (tax). So $220.37 USD total to repair a watch that can't even run WatchOS 7! 😵

For only $60 more I can buy a brand new Apple Watch SE. Needless to say, I declined the support offer.

I hate to accuse Apple of ripping off customers, but it seems that they certainly do with repairs.

The scenario you describe, many companies do that on purpose. They make sure the repair costs are just short of the cost of a brand new item in the hope that the small difference in price between repair and brand new will entice you to opt for brand new.
 
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Michigan Ave.

I just got off the phone with the manager, armed with the info that my concerns about the battery would have been addressed with the free keyboard repair, and that I wouldn’t really have been too concerned had the loan term been 24 months as described.

The manager was very nice and totally understanding. He agreed to return the new 16”, process the free repair, and let me keep the 16” as a loaner until the repair comes back.

As a freeelancer in a pandemic, a new computer was not my first choice when I went in yesterday. But a $700 repair wasn’t either. A 24 month $75 payment for a brand new computer was enticing. But a $150 monthly payment for a soon to be replaced model, vs a totally free repair makes no sense.

Howdy mcdj,

Steamrolling aside... There is no evidence that the 2019 16" MacBook Pro is about to be replaced by an Apple-Si based system. Apple is going to release a new Mac with Appli-Si this year, but have NOT announced what. It is currently expected that they will announce it next month. Even if they do release a 2019 16" MacBook Pro replacement this year, the one that you got would still work 100% supported till at least ~June 2022 (two years from announcement of Apple-Si) and most likely for several years after. It won't be until Apple released a version of macOS that did not support Intel-based Macs, that you would be left behind :). Plus, personally I am not convinced that the initial Apple-Si systems are going to be much better (performance-wise) than a 2019 16" MacBook Pro anytime soon. I do expect that they will run much cooler, and will get fantastic battery life. All of this is moot, if the payments are going to cause you problems. I agree wholeheartedly that getting a whole new Mac, when all you needed was what should be a free repair makes no sense. Your story serves as a cautionary tale for others... Good luck!

Rich S.
 
I think this how it went in real life.
OP came by an appointment and stated KB problems. Then he added battery problems either in support request or in-person to Genius.
Genius was nice enough to run his serial through another program of faulty batteries(not everyone knows, since it is not as famous as butterfly KB) for free repair. But OP's battery wasn't from faulty batch, so he wasn't granted free repair for battery.
They refused to proceed with free KB repair, because KB might be actually broken because of a swollen battery from underneath. With phones this happens: swollen battery(bad charging habits) will cause screen to crack.
==========================
Overall problem was that the OP is too honest by current standards. I don't see problem in it. He stated all the truth and got the true answer (because genius proceeding with free repair is also doing scam, since he knew about battery problems so he is scamming his employer). This reminds me of an interview about police officers and bottle of alcohol in a paper bag - everyone knows that you are consuming alcohol in that bag, so it is up to officer's mood to give you a ticket, but if you carry it unpacked then officer has no way to walk away, he has to write a ticket. The same happened to OP.
Sure thing, if he stated and insist only on KB problem, he would have free repair of KB and battery replacement. But this is how fine prints and power of word works in real life.
 
...To be fair, most computers (if not all still) are silicon-based.

And most deep cave dwellers in other planets...
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It’s a ripoff for the consumer when you compare the value of fixing a nearly outdated item versus buying new.

Apparently Apple is well aware of this. They would prefer all of us to buy new. The hassle of repairs can’t be profitable for them unless the cost matches or exceeds the value of the labour.

So I see where they are coming from, but I’m surprised that Apple Support didn’t recommend the Apple Watch SE *immediately*, especially considering how old the Series 1 is, and its lack of support for WatchOS 7.
Have you considered maybe the item is just really expensive to fix because it is so small
 
Have you considered maybe the item is just really expensive to fix because it is so small

That’s part of it, but the fading red Apple logo with the endless restart cycle is a known issue. The Apple Watch Series 1 was not quite as well engineered as we were led to believe.

Again, Apple Support should have suggested the Apple Watch SE after confirming the hardware failure instead of quoting a repair fee. It can’t be worth their time or mine to fix a watch this old.
 
Again, Apple Support should have suggested the Apple Watch SE after confirming the hardware failure instead of quoting a repair fee. It can’t be worth their time or mine to fix a watch this old.
Forum member asked for repair quote and he got it. Sometimes you get what you ask and nothing more.
I've been hanging on watchuseek forum, mainly about watches and we had another case. One topic starter went to rolex dealership and requested a quote for repair for his old rolex, but instead of giving a quote, they tried to sell a new rolex for him because price difference was so small. Problem was that it was a gift from his grandfather, who was imprisoned in WW2 in nazy prison. So that rolex was a special memory for him. If the person were to ask for advice, then he might get one as "just buy new watch SE".
 
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