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MacBook Owners With Faulty Butterfly Keyboards to Get Payouts Soon

Never has “too little, too late” been more apt.

It’s absolutely shameful that Apple and other corporations simply factor this in to the “cost of doing business.”
 
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lovehateapple said:
I wonder who at apple was ultimately responsible for the butterfly keyboards? And were there any repercussions?
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That requires a bunch of people in agreement to push forward.

Usually the head of the team is the one that takes the fall, but honestly it was a company wide issue at that point.

Dumb decisions over and over again starting with the 2013 trash can pro and ultimately ending with the 12” MacBook abomination and these keyboards across the stack.
 
My original butterfly keyboard on my 2016 MacBook Pro is still going strong today.
 
All good for Americans. Not so great for those who bought the laptop outside of America.

That said, I love how the butterfly keyboard feels and types. Nevertheless its reliability issue is real. Thankfully, I got mine replaced out-of-warranty on year two due to frequent mistypes on the "s" and "a" keys. But it's replaced with the same model which probably would develop similar snags.
 
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imagine waiting 2 years to receive compensation for a broken keyboard they sold you. I will never understand how the justice system work...
 
No idea why no one has reached out to me.

I am going to have to do some digging, I owned three of these bundles of joy.

I bought one at launch from MicroCenter and it was in the Genius Bar/depot more than I had it. At some point, they just gave me a brand new one. Silly me, I noticed around 1-2 months after getting my replacement that they had downgraded my storage from 256 to 128gb. Guess what? By that time, a key was sticking anyway. Back to the Apple Store. They made it right, gave me a third replacement. By this time, it was another generation of i5 in the machine, so they tried to make me feel better telling how it was an upgrade and the keyboard should have been fixed.

I transferred AppleCare from the first to second, they gave me AppleCare on the third. I should have credit for two devices. Nothing in my spam folder or mailbox. Edit to add - I received a bunch of calls early on when they were looking for representatives for this class action too.
 
Interesting hear that people find the M1-Pro reliable. I have a 2021 model that I move around three different desktop setups and for 95% of the time have external keyboard and display connected to. Still, the keyboard features keys that get stuck or fail to register at all, very annoying when actually using the machine as a laptop.
Been to the Apple Store twice, first time under warranty so they actually took some time off their busy schedule to teach me how to hold the machine while using compressed air to clean the keyboard. Sort of worked. Second time, out of warranty, they offered a keyboard replacement at a discount but still $500 (Apple Tax is very noticeable here in Sweden).
My last two machines (MBP 16" i7 2019 model) have been such disappointments and the high price - an M3 Pro 16" 36/512 is $4000 (41995 SEK) at todays exchange rate - I hope I can keep the M1 until I retire.

My first Apple laptop was the PowerBook 170 which I still hold as the best machine every - sturdy, compact and zero keyboard issues. Loved that rolling ball, so much better than the ridiculously large trackpad.
 
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Looks like I’m in the $300-$395 camp:
 
kjvmartin said:
No idea why no one has reached out to me.

I am going to have to do some digging, I owned three of these bundles of joy.

I bought one at launch from MicroCenter and it was in the Genius Bar/depot more than I had it. At some point, they just gave me a brand new one. Silly me, I noticed around 1-2 months after getting my replacement that they had downgraded my storage from 256 to 128gb. Guess what? By that time, a key was sticking anyway. Back to the Apple Store. They made it right, gave me a third replacement. By this time, it was another generation of i5 in the machine, so they tried to make me feel better telling how it was an upgrade and the keyboard should have been fixed.

I transferred AppleCare from the first to second, they gave me AppleCare on the third. I should have credit for two devices. Nothing in my spam folder or mailbox. Edit to add - I received a bunch of calls early on when they were looking for representatives for this class action too.
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My email came on 12/19/22.
 
I'll believe it when I see it. Had a 2017 MacBook, and a 2017 MacBook Pro. Both had keyboard issues and went in for replacement. I know I filled the claim for one of them. Good to hear a check may be coming...
 
lovehateapple said:
I wonder who at apple was ultimately responsible for the butterfly keyboards? And were there any repercussions?
Click to expand...
Whomever it might have been originally, at the end of the day it was Jony Ive who signed off on it and Tim Cook who kept it in the lineup, even after the issues were known.

As fun as it might seem to go after the “source,” we really ought to be holding the power players accountable. When rich executives ignore problems that hurt their customers (whatever the industry) they abrogate their responsibilities and should be fired.
 
CausticSoda said:
What annoyed me most were the constant lies I was told... "Very unusual, just a stubborn bit of dust in there etc." They even suggested once I had spilled a drink on it.
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I recall that as well. Up to that point, Apple had a policy of not only being understanding and helpful, then (and continuing that trend until today), it seems they are trying to shame their customers into getting/having Apple Care.
I definitely see them differently now and their success (in terms of quantity) has really messed with the experience.
 
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The worst 4 years of products in Apple's history! YUCK! I had the second year 2016 12" MacBook. Even before the keyboard became defective it was horrible to type on. I still shake my head that Apple let this garbage out the door, and kept to their guns for 4 years.
 
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Had the keyboard replaced once on my 2017 MBP. Hammering the key that acts up usually helps for me.
 
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Nick_P said:
The worst 4 years of products in Apple's history! YUCK! I had the second year 2016 12" MacBook. Even before the keyboard became defective it was horrible to type on. I still shake my head that Apple let this garbage out the door, and kept to their guns for 4 years.
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TBH i liked the 12“ quite a lot. Had to use compressed air on the keybord 3 times in 5 years of use. Sold it to a friend which still used it.
8 years are more than i expected for such a miniature design.
 
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