I’ll do my best to keep this brief. EDIT - fair warning, I failed 
I ordered a CTO M2 MacBook Air in late August 2022. Space Gray, 24GB RAM, 2TB storage, US Keyboard (American living in London).
Upon arrival I immediately gave my M1 Air to my wife and added the new M2 to my desk setup, which includes a TB3 Audio Interface - I’m an audio professional for 20 years — this is relevant later. First couple weeks everything was great. It wasn’t until the 2nd or 3rd time I used it as a mobile device that I noticed the issue: certain sounds, including (and especially) notification sounds — both stock MacOS and Teams/Outlook sounds were playing with a weird distortion when using the built-in speakers. “Weird” as in obviously not speaker distortion, but something inside the machine vibrating — an acoustic phenomenon known as sympathetic resonance. All physical matter has a resonant frequency, play that frequency near it and it will start to vibrate… sympathetically. To my trained ear, this was happening in my M2 Air. I tested this with various tone generators. The result was that I could consistently produce this rattling by playing test tones between 500-900 Hz at 60% volume and higher.
I called Apple Support. Sadly, I had missed the return grace period since I didn’t notice the fault until around the third week of receiving it. They booked me a visit to the Genius Bar. I explained all of the above to the Genius. He heard it, but didn’t hear me: it’s not the speakers. He kept the device to be shipped off for repair. I received the repair about 8 days later. A note inside indicated the speaker module was replaced. Unsurprisingly, the fault was still present.
Begin the next phase. Call Apple Support. Explain everything again, including the failed repair and gentle complaint that the Genius ignored my professionally-informed opinion and instead suggested the speaker replacement. This time they assured me the fault would be properly examined and repaired. I shipped it myself this time. About 10 days later I receive the repair. This time the note indicated “some screws were tightened”. And, you guessed it, still rattling. Even slightly worse. Back on the phone with support. I explained all of the above, again, and asked for a replacement. They said I could ship it back for 'engineering to assess' or take it back to the Genius bar and demonstrate the fault in person. I opted for the latter.
Super nice Genius listened attentively to the whole history. To expedite things, I created a Logic Pro session with a sine-wave generator loaded and demonstrated the fault. This approach ensured the sound source was sustained and loud enough to be audible in the noisy Central London Apple Store. He called over a colleauge 'who also does music stuff'. They both heard it. The other Genius suggested it's a bug in Logic. I insisted it wasn't, explained why I demo'ed it this way, and politely asked him to go downstairs, rebuild this exact (simple) Logic session on a display model and tell me if he gets the same results. A few minutes later he returned confirming what I suspected -- it did not. The original Genius took extensive notes, agreeing that a 3rd repair was pointless and recommended a replacement, but I'd have to get it approved by Apple Support. So I called, explained all of the above, again, and they agreed to replace it. I had to ship mine back, wait for confirmation that it was received, wait for the current support advisor to call and officially order the replacement. It arrived in about 2 weeks. And...
Same. Fault. Present.
It's early December. ~3 months after my initial order. Back on with yet another Support Advisor, explained it all again. I made a video of the problem and, thankfully, had made video of the first machine. I edited it all together into a nice split screen demo, ensuring I got the new Air's serial # in the clip, too bad I didn't get the first one, but Apple was in possession of that clip from one of my very first attempts to resolve this. Lots of calls back and forth up into the holidays, and then nothing but crickets. OK, it's the holidays.
Finally, by January 14th and a half-dozen emails to the advisor which grew increasingly irate, I caved and initiated a new call which, unfortunately, requires I start all over again with a new Advisor. Enter Ciara.
Ciara took on the case assuring me that she would do everything in her power to resolve this. After several calls and emails, her watching the same video, she said that 'engineering would like to examine it. And I'll initiate a 3rd replacement to be shipped.' I refused the replacement. I said I wanted a refund or a discounted upgrade after enduring all of this for what was, by then, 4.5 months of a ridiculous wild goose chase. Then came the 'collection' saga.
FedEx contacted me to arrange collection. I followed Ciara's meticulous packing and paperwork instructions. I booked the collection. No one showed. I contacted FedEx, they rescheduled collection after 3 or 4 useless emails directing me to re-book delivery. Nope, I need collection. Oh, use this link then -- 404 Error. Oh, Apple initiated the collection? You have to call them. Who at Apple? I don't know sorry. I email Ciara, quite frustrated, and miraculously a new collection has been initiated. I redo the entire paperwork and collection booking. Again -- no one showed. I now email Ciara quite enraged. Oh sorry, I'll do everything possible to resolve this. A week later... FedEx finally shows, and in no way did they demand to see the contents of the parcel, nor did they have any awareness of the 8 pages of documentation they had to sign, 6 of which they had to take with the parcel.
It arrives 3 days later. I keep Ciara informed of tracking status every step of the way. She's back in office 4 days after that... by mid-afternoon having not received an email or a call I email her. 24-hours later -- Thank you for the update, I can call you during these hours tomorrow. Fine, I'm available at this time. The time comes, no call. I email her: I'm available tomorrow at this time. Finally, Ciara calls...
The automated operator greets me. Nothing will happen until you say "Hello?", then it directs your call. Ciara greets me, asking to confirm my name, I say my name and hello... "Hello? Is anyone there?" She can't hear me. I fumble with my phone trying to see if I'm muted. Nope. She says she's going to hang up and call right back. I make absolutely sure my phone is working properly. She calls. I say "hello" to the automated operator, this time waiting several seconds to verify that it's waiting for an audible voice prompt to proceed. Ciara comes on the line, same thing, she "can't hear me". She disconnects. I email her saying I'm rebooting my phone, please call back in 5 minutes. 90 seconds later I get an automated, generic email from Apple Support saying 'thank you for contacting us, if you want to continue to pursue this case please click this link, we'll connect you with the first available advisor.'. The only logical explanation: through some freak chance her phone suddenly stopped receiving audio, just for my call in the middle of her shift. Or, more likely, she faked it to create 'legit criteria' to officially reassign the case to the next advisor, hence the automated email.
Now I'm quite in a rage, understandably. I initiate a new call and get Nupur. Poor Nupur, I really read him the riot act and demanded to be reconnected with Ciara, which he refused. He was my new advisor, period. I demanded a significantly discounted upgrade, I do not want a replacement, a simple refund is an insult after the 30+ hours I must have spent chasing this, all the while barely using the 2 machines for a total of 3 weeks, both of which I had sent back. He puts me on hold so he can 'look into this'. And... disconnected.
He sends me the standard follow up email, here's how to reach me, I'll respond the next time I'm in the office. I reply immediately demanding he call me back. He replies 2 minutes later asking for my number. I send it. I wait. He never calls after 15 minutes.
I initiate yet another support call. I get called immediately. As calmly but firmly as possible, I explain ALL OF THE ABOVE YET AGAIN. If you're reading this far, I'll do you a favor and really try to sum it up.
I'm only entitled to a refund (if it gets "approved", even though it's my right as a consumer in the UK), or a paid upgrade but it has to be within the same product family, and it's basically a maxed out M2 Air, so that leaves me with the final option: a 3rd replacement. I refused it and said I want a refund. OK, let me put you on hold...
"I just spoke with customer service who handles refunds and they said they need approval from engineering" Why? "They need to verify the fault exists, I'm terribly sorry but I'll have to get back to you next week." OK.
[proceeds to bang head against wall until rendered fully unconscious].
The probability that I received two machines with identical - yet anomalous - defects is infinitessimally small. What is far more probable is that my specific configuration contains a design defect that causes this rattling. I have found at least a dozen other reports of this exact issue both on reddit and on Apple's own support forums. Either way, after 23 years of intense loyalty to Apple, I must say this has been the absolute worst experience I've ever had with them. And I have no choice but to continue using their Macs, my livelihood depends on it -- without a sizable investment in a PC version of my entire studio, which I simply cannot afford nor do I have the time to create such a disruption.
Thank you for reading. I'm exhausted and just want to put this behind me, but if anyone in the UK reading this has advice on steps I could take to escalate this saga with Consumer Protection Agencies or other legal action, I'd gladly do it. Thanks in advance.
I ordered a CTO M2 MacBook Air in late August 2022. Space Gray, 24GB RAM, 2TB storage, US Keyboard (American living in London).
Upon arrival I immediately gave my M1 Air to my wife and added the new M2 to my desk setup, which includes a TB3 Audio Interface - I’m an audio professional for 20 years — this is relevant later. First couple weeks everything was great. It wasn’t until the 2nd or 3rd time I used it as a mobile device that I noticed the issue: certain sounds, including (and especially) notification sounds — both stock MacOS and Teams/Outlook sounds were playing with a weird distortion when using the built-in speakers. “Weird” as in obviously not speaker distortion, but something inside the machine vibrating — an acoustic phenomenon known as sympathetic resonance. All physical matter has a resonant frequency, play that frequency near it and it will start to vibrate… sympathetically. To my trained ear, this was happening in my M2 Air. I tested this with various tone generators. The result was that I could consistently produce this rattling by playing test tones between 500-900 Hz at 60% volume and higher.
I called Apple Support. Sadly, I had missed the return grace period since I didn’t notice the fault until around the third week of receiving it. They booked me a visit to the Genius Bar. I explained all of the above to the Genius. He heard it, but didn’t hear me: it’s not the speakers. He kept the device to be shipped off for repair. I received the repair about 8 days later. A note inside indicated the speaker module was replaced. Unsurprisingly, the fault was still present.
Begin the next phase. Call Apple Support. Explain everything again, including the failed repair and gentle complaint that the Genius ignored my professionally-informed opinion and instead suggested the speaker replacement. This time they assured me the fault would be properly examined and repaired. I shipped it myself this time. About 10 days later I receive the repair. This time the note indicated “some screws were tightened”. And, you guessed it, still rattling. Even slightly worse. Back on the phone with support. I explained all of the above, again, and asked for a replacement. They said I could ship it back for 'engineering to assess' or take it back to the Genius bar and demonstrate the fault in person. I opted for the latter.
Super nice Genius listened attentively to the whole history. To expedite things, I created a Logic Pro session with a sine-wave generator loaded and demonstrated the fault. This approach ensured the sound source was sustained and loud enough to be audible in the noisy Central London Apple Store. He called over a colleauge 'who also does music stuff'. They both heard it. The other Genius suggested it's a bug in Logic. I insisted it wasn't, explained why I demo'ed it this way, and politely asked him to go downstairs, rebuild this exact (simple) Logic session on a display model and tell me if he gets the same results. A few minutes later he returned confirming what I suspected -- it did not. The original Genius took extensive notes, agreeing that a 3rd repair was pointless and recommended a replacement, but I'd have to get it approved by Apple Support. So I called, explained all of the above, again, and they agreed to replace it. I had to ship mine back, wait for confirmation that it was received, wait for the current support advisor to call and officially order the replacement. It arrived in about 2 weeks. And...
Same. Fault. Present.
It's early December. ~3 months after my initial order. Back on with yet another Support Advisor, explained it all again. I made a video of the problem and, thankfully, had made video of the first machine. I edited it all together into a nice split screen demo, ensuring I got the new Air's serial # in the clip, too bad I didn't get the first one, but Apple was in possession of that clip from one of my very first attempts to resolve this. Lots of calls back and forth up into the holidays, and then nothing but crickets. OK, it's the holidays.
Finally, by January 14th and a half-dozen emails to the advisor which grew increasingly irate, I caved and initiated a new call which, unfortunately, requires I start all over again with a new Advisor. Enter Ciara.
Ciara took on the case assuring me that she would do everything in her power to resolve this. After several calls and emails, her watching the same video, she said that 'engineering would like to examine it. And I'll initiate a 3rd replacement to be shipped.' I refused the replacement. I said I wanted a refund or a discounted upgrade after enduring all of this for what was, by then, 4.5 months of a ridiculous wild goose chase. Then came the 'collection' saga.
FedEx contacted me to arrange collection. I followed Ciara's meticulous packing and paperwork instructions. I booked the collection. No one showed. I contacted FedEx, they rescheduled collection after 3 or 4 useless emails directing me to re-book delivery. Nope, I need collection. Oh, use this link then -- 404 Error. Oh, Apple initiated the collection? You have to call them. Who at Apple? I don't know sorry. I email Ciara, quite frustrated, and miraculously a new collection has been initiated. I redo the entire paperwork and collection booking. Again -- no one showed. I now email Ciara quite enraged. Oh sorry, I'll do everything possible to resolve this. A week later... FedEx finally shows, and in no way did they demand to see the contents of the parcel, nor did they have any awareness of the 8 pages of documentation they had to sign, 6 of which they had to take with the parcel.
It arrives 3 days later. I keep Ciara informed of tracking status every step of the way. She's back in office 4 days after that... by mid-afternoon having not received an email or a call I email her. 24-hours later -- Thank you for the update, I can call you during these hours tomorrow. Fine, I'm available at this time. The time comes, no call. I email her: I'm available tomorrow at this time. Finally, Ciara calls...
The automated operator greets me. Nothing will happen until you say "Hello?", then it directs your call. Ciara greets me, asking to confirm my name, I say my name and hello... "Hello? Is anyone there?" She can't hear me. I fumble with my phone trying to see if I'm muted. Nope. She says she's going to hang up and call right back. I make absolutely sure my phone is working properly. She calls. I say "hello" to the automated operator, this time waiting several seconds to verify that it's waiting for an audible voice prompt to proceed. Ciara comes on the line, same thing, she "can't hear me". She disconnects. I email her saying I'm rebooting my phone, please call back in 5 minutes. 90 seconds later I get an automated, generic email from Apple Support saying 'thank you for contacting us, if you want to continue to pursue this case please click this link, we'll connect you with the first available advisor.'. The only logical explanation: through some freak chance her phone suddenly stopped receiving audio, just for my call in the middle of her shift. Or, more likely, she faked it to create 'legit criteria' to officially reassign the case to the next advisor, hence the automated email.
Now I'm quite in a rage, understandably. I initiate a new call and get Nupur. Poor Nupur, I really read him the riot act and demanded to be reconnected with Ciara, which he refused. He was my new advisor, period. I demanded a significantly discounted upgrade, I do not want a replacement, a simple refund is an insult after the 30+ hours I must have spent chasing this, all the while barely using the 2 machines for a total of 3 weeks, both of which I had sent back. He puts me on hold so he can 'look into this'. And... disconnected.
He sends me the standard follow up email, here's how to reach me, I'll respond the next time I'm in the office. I reply immediately demanding he call me back. He replies 2 minutes later asking for my number. I send it. I wait. He never calls after 15 minutes.
I initiate yet another support call. I get called immediately. As calmly but firmly as possible, I explain ALL OF THE ABOVE YET AGAIN. If you're reading this far, I'll do you a favor and really try to sum it up.
I'm only entitled to a refund (if it gets "approved", even though it's my right as a consumer in the UK), or a paid upgrade but it has to be within the same product family, and it's basically a maxed out M2 Air, so that leaves me with the final option: a 3rd replacement. I refused it and said I want a refund. OK, let me put you on hold...
"I just spoke with customer service who handles refunds and they said they need approval from engineering" Why? "They need to verify the fault exists, I'm terribly sorry but I'll have to get back to you next week." OK.
[proceeds to bang head against wall until rendered fully unconscious].
The probability that I received two machines with identical - yet anomalous - defects is infinitessimally small. What is far more probable is that my specific configuration contains a design defect that causes this rattling. I have found at least a dozen other reports of this exact issue both on reddit and on Apple's own support forums. Either way, after 23 years of intense loyalty to Apple, I must say this has been the absolute worst experience I've ever had with them. And I have no choice but to continue using their Macs, my livelihood depends on it -- without a sizable investment in a PC version of my entire studio, which I simply cannot afford nor do I have the time to create such a disruption.
Thank you for reading. I'm exhausted and just want to put this behind me, but if anyone in the UK reading this has advice on steps I could take to escalate this saga with Consumer Protection Agencies or other legal action, I'd gladly do it. Thanks in advance.
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