"micro fracture" on retina macbook

[kimoni]

Hey everyone. Argh. I went into the Apple store today to talk to a 'genius'. I have what I thought was a dead pixel cluster (small permanently white dot near the centre of my screen). It turns out that it's actually a 'micro fracture', and I have more than one.

Apparently this happens sometimes due to the screen being flush with the main body of the retina macbook when it is closed. Small particles might cause the fracture. Also, to my horror the 'genius' said it is considered 'accidental damage' and is not covered by the warranty – a new screen will cost me £530. Considering this is a quarter of the cost of the entire machine, I'm not very happy about this!

I'm wondering what to do here. I want to escalate this with Apple because I feel like the design of such an expensive piece of equipment should withstand practical every day use. I treat my macbook very carefully – I barely take it out of the house and have certainly not had an 'accident'. Very annoyed about this as I feel like I've done nothing wrong and now I have a damaged machine.

Has anyone else had this, and do you think I have a case to complain about it? Thanks.

 

[ValSalva]

Hey everyone. Argh. I went into the Apple store today to talk to a 'genius'. I have what I thought was a dead pixel cluster (small permanently white dot near the centre of my screen). It turns out that it's actually a 'micro fracture', and I have more than one.

Apparently this happens sometimes due to the screen being flush with the main body of the retina macbook when it is closed. Small particles might cause the fracture. Also, to my horror the 'genius' said it is considered 'accidental damage' and is not covered by the warranty – a new screen will cost me £530. Considering this is a quarter of the cost of the entire machine, I'm not very happy about this!

I'm wondering what to do here. I want to escalate this with Apple because I feel like the design of such an expensive piece of equipment should withstand practical every day use. I treat my macbook very carefully – I barely take it out of the house and have certainly not had an 'accident'. Very annoyed about this as I feel like I've done nothing wrong and now I have a damaged machine.

Has anyone else had this, and do you think I have a case to complain about it? Thanks.

I've never heard of this. It seems odd to me because there is glass covering the display. Can you see damage to the glass of the display when you look at it obliquely?

Is there another Apple store in your area? I'd either take it to a different Apple store or make another appointment at the same Apple store to try and get a 'second opinion'.

Also, you don't mention how old the rMBP is and if it's still under warranty or if you have AppleCare.

 

[nickandre21]

i had white lines or you can see a patch on my retinas display when i called apple care they said it is an accidental damage and you would need to pay. I said very well i will take it in store and have it checked the guy saw it fiddle with the brightness and noticed it had something to do with the back light. He shut of the mac looked closely at the display from all angles to see if there are any cracks or physical induced stress none found and display was replaced in warranty. A month post that i now have the same thing on this display and i also need a new logic board.

I would suggest you go to another store and see, tell them you never damage or apply stress to the screen for me the biggest plus point was the guys found finger prints on the bezel and not on the screen.

 

[kimoni]

Hey, sorry the macbook is about a year old, but I have 3-year warranty and it is still covered.

I can't find anything searching for it on the internet and it's really confusing me how I could have damaged it when it isn't even a very common problem.

If I take it to another store, will there not already be a record saying I have taken it to the genius bar previously?

 

[nickandre21]

they do record it but then again you can tell them whats the thing and tell them i have never abused it and as far as my memory goes i have always been caring abut my expensive laptop.
It happens one genius bar can be unhelpful and the other will be helpful and either warranty it or say well we will replace it just this one last time if it happens again you need to pay.

On my earlier days of a unibody while changing ram i accidentally damaged the keyboard connector and ruined the main board i took it to one service center and told them everything honestly, they did not warranty it and the engineer told me she could not do anything as her manager was around when i told her what happened, she told me to try going to another place and be honest and see . I did the same and they replaced it in warranty after telling me that mistakes happen even we can goof up like this.

 

[kimoni]

Ok, thanks Nick.

 

[BaggieBoy]

My 15" rMBP was also showing some bright pixels, the genius also suggested it was due to damage to the front of the screen and specifically asked if I placed anything on the keyboard (such as a cloth) when I close the case (the answer was no). They changed the screen anyway as I'd also complained earlier about IR (which did not fail the official test).

 

[*~Kim~*]

My 15" rMBP was also showing some bright pixels, the genius also suggested it was due to damage to the front of the screen and specifically asked if I placed anything on the keyboard (such as a cloth) when I close the case (the answer was no). They changed the screen anyway as I'd also complained earlier about IR (which did not fail the official test).

So if one got one of those keyboard covers, that would also be something that Apple view as responsible for such a problem? I'd be worried about getting marks from the keys on the screen after closing it repeatedly over a period of time.

 

[nickandre21]

you get some good screen cleaning liquids that can get rid of those marks. If you do not have those marks i would say it be best to not clean when giving for warranty they look if there's any marks that can hint at damage from external sources.