Greetings Mac Denizens,
So I don't know if Apple's QC has really declined that much, or if I just got incredibly unlucky this time around, but I've had nothing but problems with my SR 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro, purchased about a year and a half ago.
The tale of woe began some 2-3 months after purchase. One day my video blacked out and wouldn't come back. This, coupled with the fact that the sleep indicator wasn't working correctly, made me pretty sure my logic board was malfunctioning, so I went down to the Apple store to have it looked at. Of course upon arriving at the bar the video spontaneously turned back on, and the genius I talked to told me nothing was wrong with my machine, despite my insistence that my logic board was failing. Several days later the video died again, so it was back to the store. I got a different genius who confirmed my logic board needed replacement, and my computer was shipped out for repairs.
So my computer comes back with a brand new logic board, but the lcd has either been damaged somehow during the repair process, or suddenly began to manifest some latent problem that had been present all along. There is now a faint white spot in the upper middle portion of the screen. I decide to live with it since it's purely cosmetic and I can't afford to be without my machine for another 1-2 weeks. Unfortunately over the next month the problem began to worsen (that is, the white spot grew in size and intensity). Since the problem now seemed to be degenerative I was worried enough to bring it back to the store. The genius told me they would replace the whole LCD, so off it went for another repair.
My newly repaired MBP came back to me without a white spot, but instead had some 4-5 dead pixels, some lint/dust in the upper right corner, and uneven backlighting. Once again I resolved to live with the defects (though they were driving me crazy) since they seemed only cosmetic and didn't appear to be getting worse over time like the white spot had.
This incarnation lasted me about 7 months or so and then my backlight began flickering. One day I tried to turn on the laptop and the backlight was completely off with no way to turn it back on (screen brightness adjustment had no effect). At this point my machine was just barely out of warranty. I was convinced it was a new logic board failure. I took it in to the apple store again and got a genius who told me it was to due to disk errors (!), repaired my permissions and then told me everything was fine. I knew he was full of **** but there was nothing I could do to argue so I went back home and sent a letter to sjobs@apple.com detailing my experience. About a week later I got a call from the manager of my local Apple store asking me to come back in so they could have another look.
Lo and behold my logic board was indeed failing again, in addition to several secondary boards (left and right i/o, a couple other things I don't recall). Off my computer went for a third repair (to Apple's credit here, they did the repair free of charge).
When I got it back all seemed to be well for about a week, and then my power went. The machine wouldn't turn on, at all, whether it was running on battery or AC. So Apple evaluates my machine again and tells me the left i/o is shot and needs to be replaced (this part was JUST REPLACED a week earlier). I negotiate a little bit and Apple agrees to replace my computer this time instead of repairing it, which I am incredibly happy about because it removes me from the endless repair/failure cycle.
The guy I spoke to told me it would take 2-3 weeks for me to get my new machine. It has been three weeks today and still no computer. My classes have already begun, as has the scheduled workflow for a project I received a grant to work on and need to start immediately. I called a Apple a week ago, at the two week mark, to ask about my status. No one at apple can tell me what the status of my machine is or give me even an approximate estimation of when it will arrive.
SO. MY question is: does anyone here know what actually happens when apple sends off for a replacement? How long does it actually take? Could the release of the new 17" be holding up my replacement (mine was also a 17")? It it worth calling them and playing the angry, obnoxious customer game?
So I don't know if Apple's QC has really declined that much, or if I just got incredibly unlucky this time around, but I've had nothing but problems with my SR 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro, purchased about a year and a half ago.
The tale of woe began some 2-3 months after purchase. One day my video blacked out and wouldn't come back. This, coupled with the fact that the sleep indicator wasn't working correctly, made me pretty sure my logic board was malfunctioning, so I went down to the Apple store to have it looked at. Of course upon arriving at the bar the video spontaneously turned back on, and the genius I talked to told me nothing was wrong with my machine, despite my insistence that my logic board was failing. Several days later the video died again, so it was back to the store. I got a different genius who confirmed my logic board needed replacement, and my computer was shipped out for repairs.
So my computer comes back with a brand new logic board, but the lcd has either been damaged somehow during the repair process, or suddenly began to manifest some latent problem that had been present all along. There is now a faint white spot in the upper middle portion of the screen. I decide to live with it since it's purely cosmetic and I can't afford to be without my machine for another 1-2 weeks. Unfortunately over the next month the problem began to worsen (that is, the white spot grew in size and intensity). Since the problem now seemed to be degenerative I was worried enough to bring it back to the store. The genius told me they would replace the whole LCD, so off it went for another repair.
My newly repaired MBP came back to me without a white spot, but instead had some 4-5 dead pixels, some lint/dust in the upper right corner, and uneven backlighting. Once again I resolved to live with the defects (though they were driving me crazy) since they seemed only cosmetic and didn't appear to be getting worse over time like the white spot had.
This incarnation lasted me about 7 months or so and then my backlight began flickering. One day I tried to turn on the laptop and the backlight was completely off with no way to turn it back on (screen brightness adjustment had no effect). At this point my machine was just barely out of warranty. I was convinced it was a new logic board failure. I took it in to the apple store again and got a genius who told me it was to due to disk errors (!), repaired my permissions and then told me everything was fine. I knew he was full of **** but there was nothing I could do to argue so I went back home and sent a letter to sjobs@apple.com detailing my experience. About a week later I got a call from the manager of my local Apple store asking me to come back in so they could have another look.
Lo and behold my logic board was indeed failing again, in addition to several secondary boards (left and right i/o, a couple other things I don't recall). Off my computer went for a third repair (to Apple's credit here, they did the repair free of charge).
When I got it back all seemed to be well for about a week, and then my power went. The machine wouldn't turn on, at all, whether it was running on battery or AC. So Apple evaluates my machine again and tells me the left i/o is shot and needs to be replaced (this part was JUST REPLACED a week earlier). I negotiate a little bit and Apple agrees to replace my computer this time instead of repairing it, which I am incredibly happy about because it removes me from the endless repair/failure cycle.
The guy I spoke to told me it would take 2-3 weeks for me to get my new machine. It has been three weeks today and still no computer. My classes have already begun, as has the scheduled workflow for a project I received a grant to work on and need to start immediately. I called a Apple a week ago, at the two week mark, to ask about my status. No one at apple can tell me what the status of my machine is or give me even an approximate estimation of when it will arrive.
SO. MY question is: does anyone here know what actually happens when apple sends off for a replacement? How long does it actually take? Could the release of the new 17" be holding up my replacement (mine was also a 17")? It it worth calling them and playing the angry, obnoxious customer game?
