Is Applecare valid after repaired LCD crack?

[whatevs]

so, I recently acquired a slightly used, post-drop macbook 2.16 C2D. A friend's wife knocked it off the couch, cracking the LCD. The macbook seemed fine otherwise, so they gave it to me for free.

I had macservice repair the LCD and it seems to run just fine over the last two months. The only visible change is the lower left bezel of the LCD bows slightly, about 1mm over a 2cm range. Macservice said that the metal frame and hinge were slightly bent/misaligned so it is not possible to make the bezel a perfect fit... unless I replaced all those parts too.

anyway, my 1 yr warranty expires in a month. If I buy Applecare, what are the chances that I would be denied a future claim if they said my machine was abused? I have heard about people having these problems.

the case looks fine otherwise, no cracks or anything like that.

thanks for your advice!

 

[iToaster]

They would really only notice if there was a problem with the screen, but in that case, they would void your warranty and charge you ungodly sums of money for a repair (well, this is if they noticed regardless).

 

[ktbubster]

probably would be ok - however, they sorta pulled one on you i think. I had a misalignment problem on a macbook i got that had a drop and a broken screen - and when i replaced the lcd myself - i saw the hinge was bent/twisted, and t's strong metal, but with a pair of plyers i was able to bend it back and the frame into place - it was perfect after that, so you probably - if it is just a bend/misalignemnt issue - fix it but taking the screen apart.

SInce you had someone else do the screen repair though, i'm going to assume you aren't really up to taking it a part, but if you know someoen who is, it shouldn't be a hard fix.

 

[whatevs]

thanks for the advice.

Regarding bending the frame myself, I didn't exactly describe the whole story. About three weeks after Macservice replaced the the cracked LCD, the bottom bezel began to separate. I called for a warranty repair and sent it back to them. They then said that the frame and hinges were bent and needed to be replaced. They admitted that it was odd that the previous repair didn't mention the bent frame, so the service tech tried to reshape the frame the best he could. They only charged me a part fee for a new bezel, and provided the labor for free. It did come back better than it was, even if it wasn't perfect.

I have opened and fixed a few PC desktops and laptops before, but I felt the cost of a macservice LCD repair was not much more than I found the cost of the LCD alone. I didn't want to buy one on ebay from asia with no warranty.

This makes me wonder how valuable applecare is. Outside the LCD and logic board, how complicated are other repairs?

thanks again!

 

[bigandy]

While they're not complicated, they can be expensive. Parts suitable for MacBooks and MacBook Pros don't come cheap.

Is it just the LCD and the surround that sustained damage? If the rest of the machine is fine, there's potential that they could just say as long as you're not wanting the screen fixed, they'll cover it.

Why not take it down to your nearest Apple Store and confirm this?

 

[Macky-Mac]

...anyway, my 1 yr warranty expires in a month. If I buy Applecare, what are the chances that I would be denied a future claim if they said my machine was abused? I have heard about people having these problems....

indeed, there are plenty of stories about Apple telling people that their warranty is void because the case shows signs being dropped.