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iMac sent for repairs... they say it's going to cost £450 to repair.

I

iMacBoy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 24, 2009
363
0
Bought an iMac over 15 months ago (i think), it's the late 09' model anyway.

I have sent it away once before for a faulty screen and they repaired that under warrenty (the years warrenty you get). Now i'm 15 month's on obviously my warrety has ran out.

A few weeks ago my iMac had a bad crash and the hard drive failed. I took it to PC World (where i origianlly bought it from)(there is no apple stores or retail stores near to where i live) and they said they could not do anything with it, but they did say that they could send it off for us, so we did that.

A few weeks on we got a phone call saying it would cost £450 to fix my iMac, i mean are they joking?!? That is half the price i paid for it!

So sorry for the life story but does anyone have any ideas how i can get around this?

Would buying a Hard Drive and changing it my self be an option?

Thanks.
 
(Former Apple Specialist at PC World) Hey ;) when you send any product off even Apple through PC World (Dixons) it will be sent to the newark repair centre. They are now authorised to repair Apple machines at this centre, but the prices may be more expensive than Apple directly. Id suggest you give Apple Care a phone call and see what they suggest/quote. Installing a hard drive into the iMac itself isn't the easiest of things, you may have an authorised Apple service store nearby?

Which PC World Store is it? if you don't mind me asking
 
Did they say what work needed to be done? Is it just to replace the HDD, or something more serious?
 
Sorry for late reply.

The nearest official apple store is Liverpool and the nearest reseller store is Chester.
Also the PCworld that i am dealing with is in 'Llandudno - North Wales' but another close by is in 'Bangor'

Thanks.
 
If its just the hard drive, you could just buy an external hard drive and use that?

Can you boot up from the cd supplied with your iMac?
 
Kissaragi said:
If its just the hard drive, you could just buy an external hard drive and use that?

Can you boot up from the cd supplied with your iMac?
Click to expand...

See the thing is they will not directly tell us the problem because they probably know we can get it done cheape elsewhere, so i'm not 100% sure if it is the harddrive but no, it gets stuck on white screen at start up and does not move from there, i put the snow leopard disc in and the disc sounded like it was spinning but still on the white screen it wasn't going anywhere.
 
I don't mean to be patronising at all, but just to be sure, you were holding C down while you tried to boot with the DVD in?
 
Yes, we were on the phone to Apple Support for ages trying all these different button commands.

Nothing though.
 
There is someone here that sAys you don't need to buy apple care because the laws protect you for the same amount of time. Maybe they apply in your neck of the woods? I live in the US without such consumer protection laws. Search the forum and see if you find the info.

I'd not pay a dime without an actual written estimate of what they were going to do.... So no mystery charges, tell me what it is so I can decide.

Good luck!
 
As far as I am concerned regarding PC World and Mac service, the OP has my sympathy! A few years ago I had trouble with my old G5 iMac. PC World were not in the least interested in Macs and they put me in touch with an independent company who gave me an exorbitant quote.

Fortunately, I checked the apple site for the address of my nearest Apple Approved Service Provider (I think that's what they're called!) who carried out the work at a vastly cheaper price and I received an Apple Limited Warranty for the parts and work carried out.
 
iMacBoy said:
See the thing is they will not directly tell us the problem because they probably know we can get it done cheape elsewhere, so i'm not 100% sure if it is the harddrive but no, it gets stuck on white screen at start up and does not move from there, i put the snow leopard disc in and the disc sounded like it was spinning but still on the white screen it wasn't going anywhere.
Click to expand...

Might not be the HDD. You should be able to boot to the SL DVD even if the HDD had failed.
 
iMacBoy said:
Bought an iMac over 15 months ago (i think), it's the late 09' model anyway.

I have sent it away once before for a faulty screen and they repaired that under warrenty (the years warrenty you get). Now i'm 15 month's on obviously my warrety has ran out.
Click to expand...

Your warranty has run out, but your statutory rights haven't. At least not in a country where you pay with £££s. A desktop computer of good quality, like an iMac, should last about 3-5 years. If it breaks down after 15 months, then you can conclude that something was wrong with the computer from the start, and PC World has to fix it.

They won't like to hear that. So google for "statutory rights", or ask Citizens Advice Bureau, so you know what to tell them. Asking someone who can argue a case with confidence to come with you might be helpful.
 
A friend of mine got an $1000 repair bill for a 13 month old $1100 Macbook (his fault, he spilled tea). He sent to bill to AmEx and they covered the whole thing.
If you bought it with a CC, check to see if they offer any perks to help.
 
gnasher729 said:
Your warranty has run out, but your statutory rights haven't. At least not in a country where you pay with £££s. A desktop computer of good quality, like an iMac, should last about 3-5 years. If it breaks down after 15 months, then you can conclude that something was wrong with the computer from the start, and PC World has to fix it.

They won't like to hear that. So google for "statutory rights", or ask Citizens Advice Bureau, so you know what to tell them. Asking someone who can argue a case with confidence to come with you might be helpful.
Click to expand...

With Apple maybe, but PC World and the other DSG owned shops, Currys and Dixons have the worst customer service I have ever seen, anywhere. I refuse to buy anything from any of them now.

To the op: If you ring apple, they should be able to tell you where your nearest authorised repair centre is. It will probably be cheaper and youll get better service.
 
gnasher729 said:
Your warranty has run out, but your statutory rights haven't. At least not in a country where you pay with £££s. A desktop computer of good quality, like an iMac, should last about 3-5 years. If it breaks down after 15 months, then you can conclude that something was wrong with the computer from the start, and PC World has to fix it.

They won't like to hear that. So google for "statutory rights", or ask Citizens Advice Bureau, so you know what to tell them. Asking someone who can argue a case with confidence to come with you might be helpful.
Click to expand...

Complete rubbish I'm afraid. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but posts like this give false hope to people.

The whole point of the much misquoted laws is that after the first 12 months it becomes increasingly difficult to say if a component has failed due to a manufacturing defect which was present at the time of purchase or simply failed due to fair wear and tear. This, and no official law, gives rise to the standard 12 months warranty which most retailers provide.

In the case given there is nothing to suggest that the fault was present at time of purchase, at best the OP might get a partial remedy by contacting Apple and complaining that the length of time before failure was not long as expected for a premium product.

I would back up the poster suggesting taking the iMac to their local Apple Authorised Service Provider, unfortunately you are on the wrong side of the country for us :)
 
for that price it should be the HDD I have had mine replaced and it was close to $400 but i'm under extended apple care but it is pretty sad they charge so much. $200 should be more than plenty.

My point is that if it was something more serious it would be way way way more than that.

If you don't want to change your own HDD have a friend do it for you, if you still don't want to please give it to me and i'll pay shipping to the U.S. :D

Of course there may be a chance that i'm wrong, maybe is one of your memory cards but for the price they're charging is not the logic board that's for sure.
 
I will let you know what happens, I am waiting for them to send it back to me.

I will find out from them what exactly is wrong and tell you all, then i guess if i can get it fixed round here that's what i will do. If not then i don't know. :(

Cheers.
 
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