I searched here, Reddit, and everywhere to see how long it would take for Apple to fix my laptop screen and couldn't find an answer so posting my experience this evening at the Apple Store.
TLDR:
NYC Upper West Side store - Not 5th ave big but a pretty high volume store
Was quoted 5-7 days for in store repair if they had the parts.
Same time frame if they send it out for depot repair
$99 with AC+ to repair screen
Had cosmetic damage to the lower case and was told $299 to repair screen and bottom case. That's $299 total. Not $299+$99 as has been quoted in elsewhere.
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Full story if you care.
I dropped my MacBook Air 15 M4 last week. Still works but the exterior corner is dented and there's a halo developing on the screen. I happen to be in NYC and down the street from the UWS Apple Store so set up a Genius Bar appt to have them check. They confirmed that the damage wasn't significant but the screen could fail unexpectedly. Since I had AC+, they recommended going ahead and having it repaired for the standard $99 deductible.
Most of that info is widely available online. What I couldn't find was how long it was going to take to repair. Online, I'd seen everything ranging from same day to 2 weeks. At this store, which is not the 5th Ave flagship store but is still a pretty big store, they said it was 5-7 days with the caveat they needed to have parts in stock. I asked why some people said same day and the response was they must have been referring to phones. Which they will try to do same day. For MacBooks, they said no way. I got the impression it could be 3 days but they quoted 5 to be safe.
If they had to send it out, it sounded like it would be 5 days but they quoted 7 for safety buffer.
They ran diagnostics to see if anything else was wrong and then confirmed it would be $99.
I had also dinged the corner and asked if they could repair that at the same time. They said the deductible then went up to $299 for a 'multiple incident' repair. Basically, to fix one thing, it's $99. To fix more than one thing, regardless of how many things, it's $299. For full clarification, I asked the guy, so I could fix the screen today for $99, then take it back in a few weeks later to fix the ding in the case and it would be $99. So that would only be $198 instead of $299. He wasn't absolutely sure but said, yeah, that would likely be the case. So save about $100 but the inconvenience of being without the MacBook for another week.
I saw some posts on reddit that said screen would be $99 and bottom case would be $299 for a total of $400 but that's not accurate. It's actually just the multiple things being broken. I was told the screen repair without AC+ would be around $500. The lower case repair is even more.
Finally, a note about AppleCare One. I've had this MacBook since March when it was released. I did not get AC+ for it because I usually only get AC+ for my phones. I recently got the new iPhone 17 Pro Max and opted for Applecare One because I wanted to get my Pro Display XDR on AC. I added this MBA last month as my 3rd device. So this MacBook has only had 1.5 months of AC+ and that was added after 6 months of ownership. Absolutely great and seamless experience at the Apple Store today. No questions asked. No concerns raised about. I expected this to be the case but I also had a slight doubt in the back of my mind that there might be some additional questions asked. Just adding this note for anyone that was wondering about AppleCare One and adding coverage for devices after they were no longer eligible.
TLDR:
NYC Upper West Side store - Not 5th ave big but a pretty high volume store
Was quoted 5-7 days for in store repair if they had the parts.
Same time frame if they send it out for depot repair
$99 with AC+ to repair screen
Had cosmetic damage to the lower case and was told $299 to repair screen and bottom case. That's $299 total. Not $299+$99 as has been quoted in elsewhere.
-----------------------
Full story if you care.
I dropped my MacBook Air 15 M4 last week. Still works but the exterior corner is dented and there's a halo developing on the screen. I happen to be in NYC and down the street from the UWS Apple Store so set up a Genius Bar appt to have them check. They confirmed that the damage wasn't significant but the screen could fail unexpectedly. Since I had AC+, they recommended going ahead and having it repaired for the standard $99 deductible.
Most of that info is widely available online. What I couldn't find was how long it was going to take to repair. Online, I'd seen everything ranging from same day to 2 weeks. At this store, which is not the 5th Ave flagship store but is still a pretty big store, they said it was 5-7 days with the caveat they needed to have parts in stock. I asked why some people said same day and the response was they must have been referring to phones. Which they will try to do same day. For MacBooks, they said no way. I got the impression it could be 3 days but they quoted 5 to be safe.
If they had to send it out, it sounded like it would be 5 days but they quoted 7 for safety buffer.
They ran diagnostics to see if anything else was wrong and then confirmed it would be $99.
I had also dinged the corner and asked if they could repair that at the same time. They said the deductible then went up to $299 for a 'multiple incident' repair. Basically, to fix one thing, it's $99. To fix more than one thing, regardless of how many things, it's $299. For full clarification, I asked the guy, so I could fix the screen today for $99, then take it back in a few weeks later to fix the ding in the case and it would be $99. So that would only be $198 instead of $299. He wasn't absolutely sure but said, yeah, that would likely be the case. So save about $100 but the inconvenience of being without the MacBook for another week.
I saw some posts on reddit that said screen would be $99 and bottom case would be $299 for a total of $400 but that's not accurate. It's actually just the multiple things being broken. I was told the screen repair without AC+ would be around $500. The lower case repair is even more.
Finally, a note about AppleCare One. I've had this MacBook since March when it was released. I did not get AC+ for it because I usually only get AC+ for my phones. I recently got the new iPhone 17 Pro Max and opted for Applecare One because I wanted to get my Pro Display XDR on AC. I added this MBA last month as my 3rd device. So this MacBook has only had 1.5 months of AC+ and that was added after 6 months of ownership. Absolutely great and seamless experience at the Apple Store today. No questions asked. No concerns raised about. I expected this to be the case but I also had a slight doubt in the back of my mind that there might be some additional questions asked. Just adding this note for anyone that was wondering about AppleCare One and adding coverage for devices after they were no longer eligible.
