MacBook Air M4 failed after 1 week

[Enilv]

Hello everyone,Long‑time Apple customer here. I bought a MacBook Air M4 in October and put it into service at the end of October. The device failed mid‑November: it no longer charges and has been unusable since then. My Apple case number is 102746071360.

Timeline and actions taken

• Purchase: October; in service end of October.
• Failure: mid‑November — device will not charge.
• Initial proposal from Apple: logic board replacement.
• I requested a full unit replacement. A supervisor promised to send a direct contact link; I waited one week with no reply and followed up on Dec 5 and Dec 9 with no response.
• After ~4 weeks of the device being out of service, another advisor offered a replacement but refused any goodwill compensation. That advisor also told me that accepting the replacement by phone would be recorded as me renouncing any further compensation — which I consider unacceptable pressure.

Damages and impact

• Device unavailable for ~4 weeks, causing loss of productivity.
• All data on the device lost.
• Distress and loss of trust in the premium support experience.

What I want

• Immediate replacement with a new equivalent unit or full refund if replacement is not possible.
• A meaningful goodwill gesture (compensation or credit) to reflect the downtime, data loss, and poor handling of the case.
• Written explanation of the cause and corrective measures.
• Removal of any recorded statement that I renounced other compensation if I accept the replacement.

If anyone has successfully escalated a similar case to Apple management or obtained a goodwill payment, please share how you did it and what amount you requested/received. Any advice on wording or contacts that helped would be much appreciated. Thanks.

(I can provide more details in private message; I prefer not to post personal data publicly.)

 

[dmr727]

Heh...please let us know when you receive your 'goodwill compensation'.

 

[chabig]

Why didn't you just let Apple fix it? You'd have had it back in working condition in a few days.

 

[Bigwaff]

All data on the device lost.

Unfortunately, that's on you. Time Machine exists for a reason.

Distress and loss of trust in the premium support experience.

Why didn't you just let Apple fix it?

another advisor offered a replacement but refused any goodwill compensation. That advisor also told me that accepting the replacement by phone would be recorded as me renouncing any further compensation — which I consider unacceptable pressure.

Replacement seems a reasonable resolution.

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, your demands are unreasonable. Apple offered to make you whole and you rejected it. Trying to take advantage of Apple won’t end well fro you You will get what you deserve with your response as listed.

 

[Enilv]

Thank you for your answer, because this kind of problem could be follow by others problem after the mother board will be change. It’s the reason of why I ask to change the Mac.

This kind of quality issue is really rare when you hear apple so it seems to be reasonable to do something for the client.

 

[Happy_John]

Thank you for your answer, because this kind of problem could be follow by others problem after the mother board will be change. It’s the reason of why I ask to change the Mac.

This kind of quality issue is really rare when you hear apple so it seems to be reasonable to do something for the client.

They have offered to do something - to replace the defective part.

From your side you fully admit refusing the offer of a complete repair and/or replacement of any defective part. The four week time period (the "delay") came from your refusal to the terms of the initial warranty, which you agreed to at purchase.

Backup of data is the responsibility of the user.

It does sound like you are trying to get something for nothing rather than have the warranty on the device honoured.

 

[wonderings]

Thank you for your answer, because this kind of problem could be follow by others problem after the mother board will be change. It’s the reason of why I ask to change the Mac.

This kind of quality issue is really rare when you hear apple so it seems to be reasonable to do something for the client.

So you are irrationally worried about a "what if?". Because a logic board goes bad does not mean anything else is going to go bad. Each piece is independent till they are all connected. You got a bad logic board unfortunately, rare but it happens. Replacing it will fix your problem and have you up and running.

It sounds like what you do on the computer is not all the important as well. If my MacBook Pro went down I would be getting that thing fixed as quickly as possible so I can get back to work, not fighting for compensation. These things can happen, get it fixed and go on your way. The entitlement is literally keeping you from getting it fixed and actually using your computer.

As others have said lost data is on you. Super easy to have a Time Machine backup as well as offsite backups. Again this tells me what you are using the computer for is probably just casual web browsing.

 

[Howard2k]

Hello everyone,Long‑time Apple customer here. I bought a MacBook Air M4 in October and put it into service at the end of October. The device failed mid‑November: it no longer charges and has been unusable since then. My Apple case number is 102746071360.

Timeline and actions taken

• Purchase: October; in service end of October.
• Failure: mid‑November — device will not charge.
• Initial proposal from Apple: logic board replacement.
• I requested a full unit replacement. A supervisor promised to send a direct contact link; I waited one week with no reply and followed up on Dec 5 and Dec 9 with no response.
• After ~4 weeks of the device being out of service, another advisor offered a replacement but refused any goodwill compensation. That advisor also told me that accepting the replacement by phone would be recorded as me renouncing any further compensation — which I consider unacceptable pressure.

Damages and impact

• Device unavailable for ~4 weeks, causing loss of productivity.
• All data on the device lost.
• Distress and loss of trust in the premium support experience.

What I want

• Immediate replacement with a new equivalent unit or full refund if replacement is not possible.
• A meaningful goodwill gesture (compensation or credit) to reflect the downtime, data loss, and poor handling of the case.
• Written explanation of the cause and corrective measures.
• Removal of any recorded statement that I renounced other compensation if I accept the replacement.

If anyone has successfully escalated a similar case to Apple management or obtained a goodwill payment, please share how you did it and what amount you requested/received. Any advice on wording or contacts that helped would be much appreciated. Thanks.

(I can provide more details in private message; I prefer not to post personal data publicly.)

The data loss is 100% on you. You need to be backing up your stuff regularly. I'm astonished that you'd blame Apple for that.

Hopefully you get the rest sorted. Good luck with the "goodwill gesture" but I'd focus more on a backup strategy.

 

[wyliej]

You are not getting "goodwill compensation." No company will do that.

You are not getting anything because you failed to be a responsible computer user and back up your data.

You deserve a refund or replacement (possibly refurbished) machine. If you bought it by credit card, see if the credit card company can help. Threatening a chargeback can make companies remarkably willing to provide warranty service.

 

[chown33]

The usual escalated email address at Apple is:
tcook@apple.com

I have no personal experience with sending requests there, but you can search for it on this site, or across the web, and see what kind of responses others have gotten. Some are happy, others not.

 

[wonderings]

The usual escalated email address at Apple is:
tcook@apple.com

I have no personal experience with sending requests there, but you can search for it on this site, or across the web, and see what kind of responses others have gotten. Some are happy, others not.

I did that way back with my 5K iMac. It was the first model to be released and I ordered a maxed out one spec wise. Had horrible issues with performance. Had it replaced when talking to customer support. Same issues with the second. Customer support person was less than attentive and I got nowhere. In frustration I did email Tim Cook and the next morning I get a call at work saying Tim Cook got my email and forwarded it on to this person who dealt with it immediately and I had a new computer the next day. I also had a guarantee that if I was still not happy with performance in 6 months I could give him a call and he would sort things out. This was a long time ago so I can't remember all the nitty gritty details, but it was not just performance but also some screen issues.

 

[Fishrrman]

Hmmm....
Lemmmeeeeseee here...

They offered you a replacement -- and you didn't accept that?

In that case, the problem is ON YOU.

The data is probably not a factor here. It's up to the user to keep a backup.

"Goodwill gesture" ???
The replacement Mac WAS the "goodwill".

I suggest you call these people back up and accept the replacement.
That's all you're going to get -- even from Tim Cook himself.

Sorry if this sounds harsh.
But that's my post and I'm stickin' to it.