Apple Fail.
So I got my Macbook back today and lo and behold the new replacement screen has the same exact defect! Booooooooooooooooo.
In fact the screen was worse because the bottom corners were noticeably darker than the one I got in the first place. Boooo.
This time I spoke with the technician at the Apple Store who replaced the screen. At first he seemed a little unwilling to help me further, and I was understandably a little bit frustrated and upset, he'd probably had a long day with customers too. But I pulled my good ol' histrionics. I demanded that Apple find some way to send me one of the good LG replacement screens. Then I waited while he went "to see". He said there was no way to know which one and that they'd probably just send him the same one based on the serial number. I said that I didn't care if this costs Apple $10,000 to fix but that I would keep sending it back over and over again until I got a good screen with no horizontal lines. He again went "to see". After I said this he probably got so sick of me that he put in the report that my system needed to be replaced. He then gave me number to call and a case number that would bump me up past the first level of customer service. So I called Apple from the Apple Store and after waiting on hold for 20-30 min talked to a guy who then sent me up a level to another guy and I explained what was going on with the screens and he agreed to send me a replacement since the technician advised it, but that he also had no way of knowing whether or not I would get one with a good screen. So now they're sending me the tags I need to send this one back and are going to send me a replacement. Next week some other people who handle replacements will call me and I will try to get them to make sure they send me a good one. But they'll probably tell me there is no way. I will do my best on behalf of all Apple customers.
I'm really worried that after all this I'm still just going to get another one with the bad screen, and I will be back where I started, or probably worse if this new one has dark corners too. And I can't help but feel that someone, somewhere at Apple can call somebody, somewhere else at Apple that can make sure they send me a good screen.
So here I am. Still $2000 poorer and without the Macbook I paid for. Who knows when I'll get the one I paid for. And since all the Macbooks I've seen on display with the Samsung screens had this horizontal line banding problem, there must also be many other customers who've been sold defective merchandise. When you think of all my time lost, all their time lost, and the hassle created for all of us, I just feel terrible all around for everybody.
P.S. Some other Apple Store associate mentioned that someone else was in the store the other day buying a Macbook and demanding that they give him one with a "certain serial number". I bet he was trying to avoid the W8 prefix that indicated the Shanghai factory that many of the defective ones seem to be coming from.
P.P.S. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the guy on the phone said he would put in a report about this problem and that they would "capture" my returned machine to investigate further. And also the technician said he would also make a report about it and he took some photographs of my screen with a digital camera.
