alphaod
macrumors Core
so, i called the apple store today to try to book my machine in to get the repair carried out. i have bought a dell laptop to use whilst the MBP retina is getting fixed( i can always let one of my employees have this after).
so i phone up the store and ask if they have the part in. (they have already seen the machine previously and i have a genius bar work authorisation form in front of me for the screen issue.)
"sorry, we cant order the part until we read the serial number off the machine."
"you need to bring the machine in, we will order the part"
"then when the part arrives we will phone you and you can bring your laptop back into the store"
comedy......so to get one repair i have to drive 4 times to an apple store.
It's the same deal for everyone. You have to prove ownership, and valid warranty. Let's say your computer was water damaged, you call Apple to order a top case and then they find out it's water damaged, and you refused to pay for the part. They're stuck with an extra part. That doesn't sound bad with the amount volume at the store, but there are parts like SSD and fans that don't get replaced much. As inconvenient as it is, it's a valid requirement for service.
That said, if you have a business support contract with Apple, they can send a tech to your location; so perhaps if you have a lot of Macs, that's something to look into.