Screw Apple! A faulty screw that Apple refuses to cover under warranty.

[shinygalaxy]

I have been extremely frustrated and disappointed. Such a shame Apple is afraid of taking the responsibility for their faulty product.

Let me cut the long story short.

I found one damaged screw in my Unibody Macbook Pro when I was replacing the RAM. Then I went to apple asking for a replacement. Two Genius there examined it and concluded that it must be accidentally damaged, stating that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be a manufacturing fault. They told me the screw hole was also forced damaged and it won't be free to repair unless receiving the authorization of AppleCare.

I called AppleCare and submitted photos of the screw in an email (as showed below). Yesterday I received a call from them, telling me that they admitted it as a faulty product due to manufacturing. Glad as thought the problem solved, I went to the local apple store and asked for a free repair.

Guess what? The staffs at the store told me that the judgment of the genius in store is higher ranked than those at AppleCare. And they still insisted it was an accidental damage, and refused to repair it after consulting the manager.

I was so frustrated, but it seems there is nothing I can do about it. To repair it out of warranty is another offense against my pride and the fact that the screw is DOA. I have been an royal apple customer since 2003, but losing my trust bit by bit recently. The iMac I bought in 2007 has its screen flickering once the backlight turned down and they didn't fix it after I sent to repair. And later a suddenly dead wireless keyboard that would cost more to repair than to buy a new one. Now this screw. Unforgivable.






Here are some Photos and comments that I sent to AppleCare:

"DSC09981-DSC09983 are photos from different angels of the screw (DSC09985 shows the corresponding screw hole in the red circle). That's what is called "threaded" in the case report . They (the staff at Apple store cambridge) said they had never seen such a screw and presumed damages must take place after my purchase. I can't argue with such logic, but luckily I found some hard evidence."

DSC09981

DSC09982

DSC09983

DSC09985

"First of all, consumers have no incentive to deliberately damage something as a single screw and then ask for repair. So the only possible case is when the consumer does such stupid thing by accident, which I assume what the staff I saw today thought. Now I prove it can't be an accident."

"I examined the faulty screw very carefully. Take a look at DSC09986-DSC09990. The head of the screw was polished and rounded. "

DSC09986 (All screws from the back of the MBP. The faulty screw is the one to the right in the upper row.)

DSC09987

DSC09988

DSC09989

DSC09990

"Compared side by side to the other normal screw which has a cone shaped head (DSC09988 and DSC09988), the difference is obvious. Now do you think I will 'accidently flatten the head and polish, leaving a edge encircling it?' Honestly I don't know how to do it even if someone asks me to do it. It hence clearly shows the nature of this faulty screw."

 

[Feng Shui]

Impossible? I would've given the Genius a slap across the face for using a definite word.

The Genius is probably a little too egotistic to change his mind, but you can email Steve to scare him.

 

[Magick]

Definitly a manufacturing fault

(I'm a mechanical engineer)

 

[thibaulthalpern]

A couple of ways to remedy the situation:

1. Go to another Apple Store if there is another one nearby, or

2. Call up AppleCare again and tell them you don't have the ability to go to an AppleStore and ask them to you a box to ship it back to Apple for repair, or

3. Ask Apple support if there is another Mac authorised repair dealer

Sometimes Apple Stores are not the best places to get things remedied and sometimes they are.

 

[omegaphil6]

Everytime i have emailed steve@apple.com i get a phone call usually 24 hours later with a customer relations rep that will bend over backwards for me. I would give that a try. The retail staff operates on a different structure than support and tech so they dont always have the right answers but once a customer relations rep sets up a genius appointment for you and puts in their notes on the situation then the local store has to do exactly what the customer relations rep put in the notes, period!

 

[barkomatic]

I can't believe they are refusing to replace--a screw. It seems the retail stores are getting more strict about everything. I'm reading about these stories more frequently and have experience inflexibility myself on a few occasions.

If Applecare gave you the green light to mail it back in for repair I'd just do that even though its a big pain.

 

[damnyooneek]

i feel your frustration. i hate seeing the Mac geniuses. appointments are never served on time and if you need warranty service they will try to blame anything on you. they took my laptop in and damaged it then blamed it on me. the great store customer service is just a marketing illusion.

 

[AGSHender]

Does it screw in? Does it stay screwed in? If the answer to both of those is "Yes," then what are you complaining about?

 

[dukebound85]

Definitly a manufacturing fault

(I'm a mechanical engineer)

while i am inclined to agree with you what i bolded doesnt mean anything sorry

 

[shinygalaxy]

A couple of ways to remedy the situation:

1. Go to another Apple Store if there is another one nearby, or

2. Call up AppleCare again and tell them you don't have the ability to go to an AppleStore and ask them to you a box to ship it back to Apple for repair, or

3. Ask Apple support if there is another Mac authorised repair dealer

Sometimes Apple Stores are not the best places to get things remedied and sometimes they are.

Thanks for your advice!

1. Going to another apple store won't work: they have kept the case in the database.

2. I will try this one.

3. I've tried. They said they don't have stocks of screw and suggested me to go to the apple store.

 

[Eidorian]

On a related note.

 

[shinygalaxy]

Definitly a manufacturing fault

(I'm a mechanical engineer)

Thanks! I wish the genius could see this...

 

[shinygalaxy]

Does it screw in? Does it stay screwed in? If the answer to both of those is "Yes," then what are you complaining about?

No it doesn't. The screw hole had been damaged as the screw was forced in in the first place.

 

[shinygalaxy]

Everytime i have emailed steve@apple.com i get a phone call usually 24 hours later with a customer relations rep that will bend over backwards for me. I would give that a try. The retail staff operates on a different structure than support and tech so they dont always have the right answers but once a customer relations rep sets up a genius appointment for you and puts in their notes on the situation then the local store has to do exactly what the customer relations rep put in the notes, period!

I am glad to hear that. Does the CR rep also call to the UK?

 

[HLdan]

i feel your frustration. i hate seeing the Mac geniuses. appointments are never served on time and if you need warranty service they will try to blame anything on you. they took my laptop in and damaged it then blamed it on me. the great store customer service is just a marketing illusion.

Okay, so you took your machine in for repair, when it came back it was damaged and they said you did it?? Doesn't sound like you're telling the whole story.

Honestly I've never had an issue with the genius bar the way this forum depicts them and I've been to 6 different stores since I live in the SF Bay Area where most of the Apple stores are. Since it's just a screw I think Apple should go ahead and replace it out of good customer service whether it's the OP's fault or not. Also I'm not sure why he was removing any screws when all he was doing was changing out ram? If he was tinkering around on the machine's insides other than doing ram upgrades I can see why Apple might be a bit on the defensive side of this.

Flame me all you want fellas but sometimes when I hear these stories about how horrible the geniuses are I have to wonder how some of you guys are approaching the geniuses in the first place.
This forum is so demanding and rude at times in their posts, I have to wonder how mean spirited some of you are when you first approach the genius bar. If you go in the store calm and not blame Apple upfront it will take them off the defense and they generally will bend over backwards.
Take a look at some of the threads here where the Apple geniuses have done free repairs past the warranty period as a courtesy to the customer.

 

[shinygalaxy]

Okay, so you took your machine in for repair, when it came back it was damaged and they said you did it?? Doesn't sound like you're telling the whole story.

Honestly I've never had an issue with the genius bar the way this forum depicts them and I've been to 6 different stores since I live in the SF Bay Area where most of the Apple stores are. Since it's just a screw I think Apple should go ahead and replace it out of good customer service whether it's the OP's fault or not. Also I'm not sure why he was removing any screws when all he was doing was changing out ram? If he was tinkering around on the machine's insides other than doing ram upgrades I can see why Apple might be a bit on the defensive side of this.

Flame me all you want fellas but sometimes when I hear these stories about how horrible the geniuses are I have to wonder how some of you guys are approaching the geniuses in the first place.
This forum is so demanding and rude at times in their posts, I have to wonder how mean spirited some of you are when you first approach the genius bar. If you go in the store calm and not blame Apple upfront it will take them off the defense and they generally will bend over backwards.
Take a look at some of the threads here where the Apple geniuses have done free repairs past the warranty period as a courtesy to the customer.

Hey calm down mate. You need to understand that only people who have got problems will come here and post to get advice. Those who are served well won't. And you can't deny that these things happen. Some guys get luck and some not.

Back to your questions:

1. Since it's just a screw I think Apple should go ahead and replace it out of good customer service whether it's the OP's fault or not.

No. The alu screw hole is also damaged as I explained.


2. Also I'm not sure why he was removing any screws when all he was doing was changing out ram?

Do you know the structure of the Unibody MBP? You need to remove the screw for changing the RAM

 

[harcosparky]

No it doesn't. The screw hole had been damaged as the screw was forced in in the first place.

How difficult was it to be removed???

If it was forced in, chances are it had to be forced out.

If I felt that much resistance in a case cover screw, I probably would have stopped realizing something was not right.

The shape of the tip of the screw is fairly irrelevant. The threads look damaged as if someone attempted to insert the screw and cross threaded it.

The head of the screw might tell more, like excessive tool wear caused from applying to much force to insert/remove that one screw.

I know that Apple says when removing the covers to make note of the exact position of each screw, that they me be slightly different lengths. It does matter as I know someone who took an Apple notebook apart and just put the screws back where he wanted. When he was done it would not turn on, he shorted out the system.

 

[damnyooneek]

Okay, so you took your machine in for repair, when it came back it was damaged and they said you did it?? Doesn't sound like you're telling the whole story.

yea thats what they did. everything was fine when i dropped it off to the first mac genius. he checked it out and he said they would repair the parts. when i came back another guy gave me back my laptop with a dent on it and said they couldnt repair it because of the dent. everything was in perfect condition when it was taken in and even the paperwork said it was in good condition. They're paid workers not holy saints.

 

[HLdan]

yea thats what they did. everything was fine when i dropped it off to the first mac genius. he checked it out and he said they would repair the parts. when i came back another guy gave me back my laptop with a dent on it and said they couldnt repair it because of the dent. everything was in perfect condition when it was taken in and even the paperwork said it was in good condition. They're paid workers not holy saints.

Yeah, I was afraid of that and I believe what you are saying because the repair center just looks at your computer as another number and they turn them upside down on hard surfaces and such and your machine comes back not in the same condition as it was sent out, that happened to me before.
After that any repairs that I have had done I make the genius put notes about the current condition of my Mac such as no dents, no scratches, no bad pixels and such so when it comes back if anything is different besides the repair then Apple will be responsible.

 

[iomatic]

1-800-SOS-APPL


In my ~15 years of experience with Macs, this is the quickest way to get things done (besides that one email address).

The Genius Bar, is not.

 

[HLdan]

Hey calm down mate. You need to understand that only people who have got problems will come here and post to get advice. Those who are served well won't. And you can't deny that these things happen. Some guys get luck and some not.

You got me wrong, I'm not annoyed by anyone here or trying to be accusatory, if you're on this forum enough you see a lot of rant posts on here with this emoticon mad:) and the poster will say, "I HATE THE APPLE GENIUSES".....If people come here with that type of rant especially when it's something they were doing on the insides of the machine and something got broken in the process and Apple won't help them you have to wonder how they went to the store and approached the situation.
If you're regular poster here you will notice that ranting posters spread FUD a lot and people tend to pick up on this and carry it right to the Apple store and put Apple on the defense.
It's all a game, if your nice the store will be nice.

If the screw had any resistance you should've not went any further, it would've been best to take it to Apple and let them see that and they would fix it.

 

[Eidorian]

1-800-SOS-APPL


In my ~15 years of experience with Macs, this is the quickest way to get things done (besides that one email address).

The Genius Bar, is not.

I have to agree. My experience's with Apple's in store Geniuses have been quite poor compared to phone support.

You got me wrong, I'm not annoyed by anyone here or trying to be accusatory, if you're on this forum enough you see a lot of rant posts on here with this emoticon mad:) and the poster will say, "I HATE THE APPLE GENIUSES".....If people come here with that type of rant especially when it's something they were doing on the insides of the machine and something got broken in the process and Apple won't help them you have to wonder how they went to the store and approached the situation.
If you're regular poster here you will notice that ranting posters spread FUD a lot and people tend to pick up on this and carry it right to the Apple store and put Apple on the defense.
It's all a game, if your nice the store will be nice.

If the screw had any resistance you should've not went any further, it would've been best to take it to Apple and let them see that and they would fix it.

You missed out on this one then.

 

[mac88]

Try calling the toll free number. At this point it is worth the shot. Good luck!

 

[shinygalaxy]

How difficult was it to be removed???

If it was forced in, chances are it had to be forced out.

If I felt that much resistance in a case cover screw, I probably would have stopped realizing something was not right.

The shape of the tip of the screw is fairly irrelevant. The threads look damaged as if someone attempted to insert the screw and cross threaded it.

The head of the screw might tell more, like excessive tool wear caused from applying to much force to insert/remove that one screw.

I know that Apple says when removing the covers to make note of the exact position of each screw, that they me be slightly different lengths. It does matter as I know someone who took an Apple notebook apart and just put the screws back where he wanted. When he was done it would not turn on, he shorted out the system.

1. If I felt that much resistance in a case cover screw, I probably would have stopped realizing something was not right.

Honestly I didn't feel any difference from the others when I unscrewed this one. Even if I forced it out, it shouldn't be me to blame given I didn't aware.


2. The shape of the tip of the screw is fairly irrelevant. The threads look damaged as if someone attempted to insert the screw and cross threaded it.

Could you be more specific and explain more? I am not an expert on this, but it seems to me the screw should be harder than the alu Thus if I inserted it by force, it is unlikely for the tip to be flattened like showed.

3. I know that Apple says when removing the covers to make note of the exact position of each screw, that they me be slightly different lengths.

I am not such a rookie. I matched exactly.

 

[shinygalaxy]

1-800-SOS-APPL


In my ~15 years of experience with Macs, this is the quickest way to get things done (besides that one email address).

The Genius Bar, is not.

Thanks! Any UK number?