iFixit Lauds Apple's New Self Service Repair Program, Calls It a 'Remarkable Concession'

[Zmmmmmmm]

It seem like you still do not understand. The right solution should be learn from China and bring in their tools and parts. Collaborate with the manufacturers.

Or, bring in the repairs brand and running it into chain stores in America. Then the repairs issues solved.

Not Apple issue bro.

And I don’t think you understand apple has restricted sales of certain components that you need to get it to work, there are certain components that the only way to get is by recycling an old device.

 

[Zmmmmmmm]

"What you’re saying is I shouldn’t be allowed to get anything I purchased serviced by anyone other than the manufacturer. If there’s no one to compete at all with the service of repair and they are the only ones who can offer this service they have a monopoly on servicing their product."

This is not what I am saying.

I'm saying I have no problems with that.

I think it's reasonable to only get parts from Tesla and to only have Tesla service the vehicle, yes.

We don't live in 1967, when you could buy a big block Chevy and work on it yourself.

I also have a Jaguar. It requires 1 oil change a year and minimum service.

I can only get that service at Jaguar Land Rover because of their computers.

None of this bothers me.

What bothers me is the dubious sounding "right to repair." You have a right to repair anything you own---you don't have a right to deign WHO repairs it or how much it costs.

Likewise, I think many of the right to repair arguments are class warfare arguments---"Apple makes so much money and they want more to fix my device? Terrible! End of the world!"

I don't think that many people care in good faith and most proponents are just mad because Apple has what they feel to be "too much" and Apple won't give them enough goodies.

Right to this, right to that---tell me, where do rights come from? Do you have a God given right to demand a company make a product that you can have fixed wherever you want and for however much you want?

Why do you (or others) assume you have this "right?"

What if I told you working on electronics for lots of people comes more naturally.

I honestly don’t understand the need to bend over backwards for these companies

 

[Xiaojohn]

What are you talking about?????????? Just about any car today can be repaired by the user if so desired.

I don’t think so.

And I don’t think you understand apple has restricted sales of certain components that you need to get it to work, there are certain components that the only way to get is by recycling an old device.

so you want Apple to sell you the part? Am i correct?

 

[Xiaojohn]

And I don’t think you understand apple has restricted sales of certain components that you need to get it to work, there are certain components that the only way to get is by recycling an old device.

Tell me what components was that? To be exact

 

[PC_tech]

I don’t think so.

You’re wrong 🙄

 

[Xiaojohn]

You’re wrong 🙄

No. You didn’t accept the facts.

 

[kingtj1971]

I would love to see a citation for this. I have not done this; but it sounds like a great idea. I do have 4 tables in my office with stations where people can, when I schedule workshops, come by for free and try their hand at fixing their own stuff, with supervision and help if they mess up. These workshops are done in my office though, not on the street, since I have no method to plug a soldering iron into the pavement, and getting hit by a car in Manhattan traffic while looking into a microscope isn't my idea of a good time.

Let's go over what's making you mad though... Are you implying that teaching people who want to fix things how to fix things for free is... BAD? As in, if I did what I do in my office outside, that would be bad?

How? Why? What is wrong with teaching people how to fix something for free? In what world is this a bad thing? I love what I do - and I had to figure out most of it on my own. I want to share the fun of doing what I do with the world, because that's what it is. Fun. Seeing a fan spin. Seeing an Apple logo on something that was dead. Best feeling on Earth, and who wouldn't want to share that with as many people as possible?


The first video I did criticizing Apple's policies was in 2013 - I had about 20 subscribers and the video got 3 views. Done from an android phone, no script, no editing. Can you with a straight face say that this is a plan to get famous, vs. share one's ideas/rants on youtube? If your plan was to get famous, this is the first thing you'd do? Really?

You seem mad that people agree with my points - and I get that, but stop making things up.

Ok, so I might have inaccurately recalled that these workshops took place outside the front door of your office, vs inside the shop itself.... Obviously, you would know since it's your shop! I'm just going by old memories of some YouTube videos.

Doesn't really change my original point though. I wouldn't really expect any professional quality service or repair shop to conduct sessions to help the general public perform their own repairs. I'm not "mad" that you do. I'm saying it's certainly unusual, and I'm sure MOST places would never consider such a thing because it distracts the technicians from working on what they've been paid to service for customers. That environment sounds more like what I'd expect from one of these hobbyist "maker" workshops where people pay monthly memberships to go and work on projects using the available tools and equipment on site.

And sure .... absolutely -- building a reputation for being a critic of a very popular company's product or service is a tried and true way to become popular on social media! I doubt most people start with more than a few views or followers. It's something that builds over time as they realize they've got people's attention.

I'm not sure what else you feel I'm "making up"? The bulk of my original post was describing my experience shipping an expensive new laptop in for service with your shop.

 

[kingtj1971]

It's only worthwhile if their stuff is easy to repair, but it's not and so I just opt to buying a new one. I do not bother even selling stuff anymore as so many scammers on eBay have put me off that for life. I would never buy a used or repaired product as I've had nothing but bad experiences there too, people lie and do bad repair jobs.

I would find it far more compelling if Apple were just more friendly with their customer service. If I buy a £3000 MacBook, how about offering a 3 year warranty at the very least? How about making repairs through Apple being priced so it makes economic sense?

This doesn't solve a problem for me, and the other thing I want is the ability to send my products to Apple to get upgraded. I want to buy a 16GB MacBook now, and have the option to upgrade to 32GB if I need it.

As for repairs? If a new back to my iPhone is £500 or whatever it is, why would I bother? Why would I send it to a random repair guy who will do a bad job? Cause they always do.

I think there's definitely some truth to this.... As electronics get more complex, we reach a point where it requires a lot of precision machinery to assemble them and it's exceedingly difficult for individuals to work on them, just due to the minute size.

If you owned a mechanical Swiss watch and it stopped keeping time well -- would you tear into it and try to repair it yourself, even if you had pretty good general knowledge of how they worked? I think the VAST majority of people would never even consider it. You might send it to a qualified watch repair shop, because it's something that retains a lot of value as a piece of jewelry and because the concept of timekeeping doesn't get outdated like computer tech does. But the repair would be tedious and require steady hands, more like performing surgery than anything else.

With computers, they ALL only have a limited lifespan before they're too obsolete to be worth the effort to try to use them anymore. (I've worked in I.T. at shops where the older servers literally used too much electricity to justify keeping them, even when they had nothing broken or "wrong" with them. It simply became a situation where the tasks they could perform could be thrown into a virtual machine on a far more capable box so they stopped making any sense to run.)

I look at modern Macs, iPhones, etc. as devices you spend the money on to get the use out of them during a 3 year or so lifespan. If you want to upgrade to the "latest thing" more quickly? That's fine. What you've got will still fetch a good price on the used market to put towards the replacement. But if you buy a new Mac and you can't get enough value out of things you do with it for a couple years to fully justify its initial cost? Then you really should question if you even needed it at all. I agree that Apple should just offer the 3 year warranty as standard and forget about the AppleCare thing. Even if they just built it into the price of the machine and "hid" it -- it would probably improve overall customer satisfaction to know they'd handle all issues with any of the products for 3 years.

 

[PC_tech]

No. You didn’t accept the facts.

I don’t know what facts you think I ignored not that still makes you right 🙄

 

[Maximara]

I look at modern Macs, iPhones, etc. as devices you spend the money on to get the use out of them during a 3 year or so lifespan. If you want to upgrade to the "latest thing" more quickly? That's fine. What you've got will still fetch a good price on the used market to put towards the replacement. But if you buy a new Mac and you can't get enough value out of things you do with it for a couple years to fully justify its initial cost? Then you really should question if you even needed it at all. I agree that Apple should just offer the 3 year warranty as standard and forget about the AppleCare thing. Even if they just built it into the price of the machine and "hid" it -- it would probably improve overall customer satisfaction to know they'd handle all issues with any of the products for 3 years.

Based on the fact Apple offers refurbs that, from release year, are 4 years old and have "AppleCare product can be purchased" 3 years is likely short changing a Mac. From personal experience if you take good care of your Mac and aren't doing cutting edge stuff 7 years is a good lifespan. Heck, my brother is perfectly happy using a 2007 Mac (it is starting to have screen issues - a long green line but otherwise it's functional)

The problem with extended warranties is, by the odds, they simply are not worth it especially with anything electronic. If it is going to fail due to design defects it is generally going to fail within the warranty period

"Here's the big secret: it typically doesn't cost that much to repair most items. The cost of a single repair is usually less than the cost of an extended warranty. Consumer Reports once put the median cost at $136 for a service plan for electronics, but only 16 bucks more for the repair. The difference is negligible. Just save the money."

"Your credit card may offer all the extended warranty you need. As long as a product—even a refurbished product—has some kind of manufacturer warranty to start, most major credit cards will offer an extended warranty. The caveat being, you have to use that card to purchase the product, of course." - Here's Why an Extended Warranty on Electronics Is a Waste of Money

This varies wildly depending on the bank the credit card is connected to - some exclude computers while others offer "an extra two years on any original warranty of up to five years."

 

[kingtj1971]

Based on the fact Apple offers refurbs that, from release year, are 4 years old and have "AppleCare product can be purchased" 3 years is likely short changing a Mac. From personal experience if you take good care of your Mac and aren't doing cutting edge stuff 7 years is a good lifespan. Heck, my brother is perfectly happy using a 2007 Mac (it is starting to have screen issues - a long green line but otherwise it's functional)

The problem with extended warranties is, by the odds, they simply are not worth it especially with anything electronic. If it is going to fail due to design defects it is generally going to fail within the warranty period

"Here's the big secret: it typically doesn't cost that much to repair most items. The cost of a single repair is usually less than the cost of an extended warranty. Consumer Reports once put the median cost at $136 for a service plan for electronics, but only 16 bucks more for the repair. The difference is negligible. Just save the money."

"Your credit card may offer all the extended warranty you need. As long as a product—even a refurbished product—has some kind of manufacturer warranty to start, most major credit cards will offer an extended warranty. The caveat being, you have to use that card to purchase the product, of course." - Here's Why an Extended Warranty on Electronics Is a Waste of Money

This varies wildly depending on the bank the credit card is connected to - some exclude computers while others offer "an extra two years on any original warranty of up to five years."

Well, regarding those credit card warranty extensions? I've tried to use those a couple of times before and had no luck. I can't speak for others, obviously. But my experience was, they ask for a LOT of documentation and there's "back and forth" with someone in their department in charge of handling those situations. They can't really make a manufacturer "lengthen a warranty period" - so all they do is have you get a quote for the out of warranty repair cost and then decide if they'll compensate you for it or not.

I used to skip AppleCare on most Apple purchases for just the reason you say. But again, as they get more complex, I'm not as comfortable doing that anymore on some items. (EG. New Macbook Pro M1 Max? The RAM, the GPU and the CPU are all on one chip. Video problem or bad memory? It's going to need that whole CPU swapped, or more likely - a whole new main board, since desoldering that many pins would be a real challenge. That's gonna cost you if you don't have warranty coverage!)