Popular YouTuber Says Apple Won't Fix His iMac Pro Damaged While Disassembled

[munakib]

I am sure he will find a way to fix it - but my spidey sense is telling me that his secondary goal is to funnel as many new users as possible on his forum (to reply on that stupid thread) before their grand launch of floatplane. Just watch!

 

[DaveOP]

It seems that nobody actually watched the video and understands what the story is...

The main point is that Apple refused to ship the replacement parts to an authorized third-party reseller because working on the iMac Pro requires a special certification that doesn't even exist yet, and it sounds like no repair instructions have been written either. Assuming this is actually true, that's quite unimpressive of Apple to release a product that they themselves don't even know how to fix.

There is no cert for third party repair shops yet, but Apple depot can certainly work on them. The depot declined repair because it was third-party modified (in this case, Linus' group), and this is all spelled out in the T&C. Same with iPhones, the apple store will not perform paid repairs on devices that have third party modification. (Before I get a bunch of replies, YES, I know that they have made some concessions for third party displays.)

 

[neoelectronaut]

He purposely destroyed practically every component of the computer. Even if Apple repaired it the repair bill would likely be practically the same cost of a new unit, if not more, considering the iMac Pro has been on sale multiple times.

 

[RickInHouston]

What is it with everyone failing to understand that he is not expecting to get this repaired under warranty and fully upfront with his asking to pay for the repair himself?

Reading comprehension?

 

[shplock]

They are willing to repair it themselves but they can't get Apple or an authorized 3rd party to sell them the required parts

In my view if he and his team were as good as they think they are then they would have not messed it up in the first place. He seems to be the sort of person who has an ego the size of a mountain and therefore THINKS he can do things like fix/disassemble computers when in truth he can barely talk correctly.

I was trained to fix computers by my cousin who ran his own business and was professionally certified.
I therefore can do what i say i can, he just seems to think he can.
I say it is his own fault, talk about making a basic error! I say to him shut up and put up.

 

[nikhsub1]

Anyone siding with Apple here are just being obtuse. It would be one thing if the guy wanted warranty work, which he does not - he is quite willing to pay for repairs. The fact that Apple refuses to fix it is just beyond idiotic as is anyone siding with their position.

Imagine you have to move your iMac and you drop it. Should that mean you need to buy a new one? Of course not. It's like a car company refusing to fix your car because you modified it and to buy a new car. Absurd.

 

[HiVolt]

Moral of this story is, that Apple should be publicly shamed and ridiculed for building UNNECESSARILY thin desktop machines, that are incredibly hard to take apart without damage, and as this story shows, they can outright refuse to fix (even for money) a machine that a customer attempted to repair or take apart. They are even refusing to sell parts for it.

You're not leasing a computer from them, you are buying it. It's yours. For them to refuse repair should be made illegal. Apple is always touting its environmentalism, renewable energy this, recyclable that... Yet their devices are so difficult or impossible to repair, or being refused repair, that they are just worthless pieces of crap throw into the garbage.

If anyone remembers the iMac G5 (first two revisions), it was a fully user upgradeable and repairable system, with modular parts that took apart like a dream. I took an iMac G5 apart to fix a bulged capacitor issue a decade ago, it was a dream to work on. Even the ones after that, that you had to remove the screen to get inside were not too difficult to get inside without any complex tools or procedures to glue the f****ng screen back onr, the screen was held by magnets.

There's no reason for the iMac or the iMac Pro to have these ridiculously thin edges, it still takes up the same amount of space on a desk or if you hang it from a VESA mount, if it was thicker at the edges and you could actually fill the insides with better components, better cooling for better CPU & GPU performance, have large spinning disk storage in addition to fast SSD storage for OS & Apps. I have an iMac 5k at the office, and a customer recently said "oh wow that's thin", referring to the edge, then he came closer to take a look, and noticed the bulge in the back and disappointingly said "well that's stupid". He's not an Apple guy and he immediately noticed how silly the design is.

 

[opeter]

MacRumors contacted a reliable source who confirmed that Apple Authorized Service Providers are permitted to deny service for any product that has been opened or modified by a customer, regardless of warranty, both for safety reasons and to avoid responsibility if the machine cannot be fixed.

That is, why the Apple computer I am using right now is my last one.

 

[VSMacOne]

So replace anything else that is broken. A blank check should fix that.

Easier said than done. Plus you have to look at future warranty coverage and the problems it poses.

 

[Xavier]

He looks like the kind of person that would break a perfectly good computer, try to get it fixed for free, and then complain when the company doesn't fix it.

Oh wait.

 

[opeter]

He purposely destroyed practically every component of the computer. Even if Apple repaired it the repair bill would likely be practically the same cost of a new unit, if not more, considering the iMac Pro has been on sale multiple times.

It doesn't matter. He stated, that he wants and will pay for repair. But Apple rejects.

 

[Ankou_Sabat]

What ever happened to this?

FTC Staff Warns Companies that It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty Coverage on the Use of Specified Parts or Services

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pre...panies-it-illegal-condition-warranty-coverage

Does this not apply?

 

[dirt_farmer]

Apple Marketing will be losing their minds.

This is supposed to be sold to enterprise....all of whom are now aware that they can be told "can't fix won't fix" on a brand new $6,000 computer.

Bye bye any chance they ever had of selling an iMac Pro. To anyone. Ever.

 

[zchrykng]

In the US at least those "warranty void if opened" stickers and policies are illegal. In this case he broke it himself so it is moot, but the company has to actually prove that you opening the machine and tinkering is what caused the damage to get out of warranty repairs in normal cases.

 

[jerryk]

The bottom line is don't crack open a sealed system unless you are full capable of fixing it.

Or have the number of a 3rd party repair place handy.

 

[BigDO]

Given that, am I surprised that Apple doesn't want to serve an iMac Pro that was already opened up? No. What if they were to fix one problem, but then another problem that was unaddressed because of the broken-state of the iMac Pro shows up? Or Linus and his team does an experiment where they splash water onto the iMac Pro and then bring it in again?

That's all good and acceptable. However it seems that the problem is that he can not buy parts at all, even to carry out the repair himself.

If that's the case, it's incredibly consumer hostile and frankly the kind of behaviour I'd expect to be regulated.

 

[zchrykng]

What ever happened to this?

FTC Staff Warns Companies that It Is Illegal to Condition Warranty Coverage on the Use of Specified Parts or Services

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pre...panies-it-illegal-condition-warranty-coverage

Does this not apply?

Yeah, that is what I was wondering at first, but he admitted to breaking it, which means Apple doesn't have to honor the warranty.

 

[Maxx Power]

Easier said than done. Plus you have to look at future warranty coverage and the problems it poses.

Do you think Apple is afraid of a little hard work? There are only so many modules inside the computer, replace them all with a blank check and off Linus goes. I don't think he cares about any possible future warranties, but even if he or Apple does, any repairs that are made, are made to internal standards, unless somehow Apple does not trust their own workmanship or parts.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

People always called me an Apple Fanoby, but the level of defending Apple that is happening here is kinda sad.

What is sad is that we don’t yet have Apple’s official response that isn’t being channeled through the person with a grievance against them. For all we know, the Apple techs he has worked with are mistaken, uninformed, or maybe they are quoting policy perfectly. It’s the problem with a lot of journalism these days—the author of the story has a direct stake in the outcome, and is therefore not impartial. He may very well be getting mistreated by Apple, but how do we know until we get the story from someone other than the accuser?

 

[dirt_farmer]

They dropped the display and broke it (and perhaps something else). Apple doesn't want to service it for reasons they chose and I have to respect that.



I tried to watch one video a couple of years ago and immediately turned it off. Doesn't surprise me he's making a stink about something he and his team could have avoided if they did not tinker with the iMac Pro to begin with.

In this case, I side with Apple. Even if Linus isn't the personality he projects, I'd still side with Apple.

There is an implicit assumption that damage to a replaceable component can be remedied by replacing the component.

Imagine if you got a rock chip in your windshield and your car maker told you "can't fix won't fix, won't sell parts to third parties, won't sell you the part. Car undriveable = not our problem; buy another car if this is important to you."

This (bad) computer is priced higher than the cars that I drove for half my life. It's not an unreasonable comparison.

 

[deanthedev]

Anyone siding with Apple here are just being obtuse. It would be one thing if the guy wanted warranty work, which he does not - he is quite willing to pay for repairs. The fact that Apple refuses to fix it is just beyond idiotic as is anyone siding with their position.

Imagine you have to move your iMac and you drop it. Should that mean you need to buy a new one? Of course not. It's like a car company refusing to fix your car because you modified it and to buy a new car. Absurd.

Ooooh, look. Calling anyone who doesn’t agree with them “idiots”. This is more than just dropping and cracking the screen. They basically destroyed it ripping it apart.

BTW, car companies refuse to fix cars for all sorts of reasons (including cancelling warranties) so it’s not exactly a good example to use. For example, a badly damaged vehicle that gets written off will be flagged by the manufacturer so the warranty gets terminated. For some manufacturers the VIN gets flagged and you won’t even be able to buy parts for it.

I consider this case of the damaged iMac Pro to be similar to a vehicle that’s been written off. It’s so badly damaged there’s no point in fixing it.

 

[TheIguana]

Yeah, that is what I was wondering at first, but he admitted to breaking it, which means Apple doesn't have to honor the warranty.

Please watch the video! This is not about warranty vs no warranty. This is about Apple refusing out-of-warranty repairs.

 

[tevion5]

if you think you're clever enough to open it up and modify it, you should be clever enough to fix it yourself

Did you even watch the video? He said he knows he violated warranty and was willing to pay whatever it cost to fix it. But the problem is Apple refuses to repair even in this case, and won't allow him, or any other apple authorised retailer, to get the parts either.

So is he supposed to fabricate an iMac Pro motherboard and monitor glass from scratch?

It seems like Apple rushed the product to sale before they could properly support it.

 

[MauiDad]

Would any company fix a sealed , non-user serviceable, component that some bozo has smashed? Probably not, think of the liability. after the repair it must continue to work for a specified time, but who knows what else is broken? Would GM or Ford be required to fix control modules after someone broke them open, would Intel fix a CPU after someone opened the package? NO, not even a question. The world is filled with stuff that is not user-serviceable and you break it - you own it.

Another way to look at it is the repair cost, including re-certifying the repair and components costs in excess of a replacement. Therefore, no one would repair it, its cheaper, and more reliable, to replace it with a factory-built unit.

If you want user-serviceable stuff, buy something that is user-serviceable. Stay away from the Microsoft Surface for example, which IFixit rated as worst for repair, probably in the history of repair. Why do I mention MS? Because someone is bound to relate this all to a single company, but it is not, it is an entire industry.

Lastly, take a look at the lifetime of the products and the incidence of repair. Sure some one will say, but I had a.....and therefore....., (you buy based on the expected repairability of the population, and individual products may be perfect/or need repair in a binary fashion. Even if your likelihood of getting the "bad" draw is extremely low - someone will get it). But the non-user serviceable products are lasting for a long time and requiring almost 0 maintenance. Knowing that the incidence of repair is highest during the first year, run the heck out of them, if they don't fail then- probably won't for their stated life. If you need insurance, buy it, but how many machines do you need to buy insurance on before you self-insure? pretty easy math, when the incidence of repair indicates 1 machine in 200 needs repair, and your insurance cost = 10% of a unit (i.e. 1 in 10). go the self-insurance route.

I personally buy extended warranties (insurance) on nothing. Add the cost of all the warranties I didn't buy together and use that to repair/replace the one TV/Dishwasher/Car/refrigerator/Air conditioner/....... that actually needs it. simple math indicates you come out ahead.

 

[Ankou_Sabat]

Yeah, that is what I was wondering at first, but he admitted to breaking it, which means Apple doesn't have to honor the warranty.

But he's not asking them to do it for free or cover the cost of it. He's asking them to fix it and they flat out will not do the work nor provide parts to replace those that are broken.