Should I ask for a refund on my iMac that has been in the Apple store twice this year and still ins't working?

[Mac Write]

Background

In January I upgraded my 2019 iMac Core i9/Vega48/2TB/8GB+64GB) from 12.1 to 12.2 and basically is got bricked.

As I am autistic, I use my computer heavily due to my many disabilities.

So the iMac went to the Store after a night of talking to Apple support and trying to get the computer to work. They replaced the power supply and all was well until the evening of July 31 when I decided before my nap to update to 12.5. I ran the optimizsing your Mac and after 2 hours of it, gave up and rebooted. The optimization was using all 8-cores and pegging the CPU into the months of usage (?). touching the iMac is was roasting, yet no fans noise (later I discovered). I called Apple Support care for the win and tried through the night with support to get it to boot, it kept powering off. So off to the Apple store it went Monday afternoon and I was computer less (again). I was expecting my Mac Studio on Tuesday with expidited shipping so one evening I could survive with allot of sleep.

Tuesday comes and goes and the Mac Studio was held in customs until Thursday when I got it at 2:46PM/

The reason for the 3-year cycle was because the iMac was an eme *rgency purchase when my 2012 rMBP battery (99.99%plugged in) swelled and killed it. but that's another story.

I live in Canada so I don't know the consumer rights laws in this situation.

So Apple has replaced the power supply and it was going to be ready for pickup on Friday, but then the new power supply and logic board didn't work, so I got a voicemail this afternoon that they are waiting on another logic board and power supply.

Too make things much worse 2 weeks ago Time Machine for the first time in 3 years said that the backup was corrupted and would need to be done fresh. I use FreeNAS as my Time Machine.

At this point I don't trust the iMac, especially since the Care expires on August 18 and is supposed to be a backup computer to the Mac Studio if it has problems, and has to go into Apple.

Right now I am creating a checksum for the Time Machine image which at 1.6TB will take a day or so.

I got the iMac as it was the only option I had as Mac Pro too expensive, Mac mini had no GPU, so I got the iMac put the brigjtness to lowest, put black as the background and used my 55" 1080P TV as my primary display due to my vision.

I now wish in 2012 I had gotten the Mac Pro and not the MacBook Pro, which I knew I couldn't see but wanted to take it about (which never happened). and to the extremely casual work I did got charity and was trying to emulate my boss. big mistake.

 

[Fishrrman]

My advice (I'm a broken record, because I post this over and over again):
STOP USING time machine.

If you want a reliable backup that will be there when you need it, START USING either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Both will create a "cloned backup" that is an exact copy of the data on your internal drive.

Both are free to download and use for 30 days.

 

[Mac Write]

But they won't offer versioning. I don't want to have to pay more to backup my computer. Other then in drives to store the backups. Also with CCC I can only backup one computer to it and not 2.

 

[ADGrant]

Background



I live in Canada so I don't know the consumer rights laws in this situation.

So Apple has replaced the power supply and it was going to be ready for pickup on Friday, but then the new power supply and logic board didn't work, so I got a voicemail this afternoon that they are waiting on another logic board and power supply.

Too make things much worse 2 weeks ago Time Machine for the first time in 3 years said that the backup was corrupted and would need to be done fresh. I use FreeNAS as my Time Machine.

At this point I don't trust the iMac, especially since the Care expires on August 18 and is supposed to be a backup computer to the Mac Studio if it has problems, and has to go into Apple.

Right now I am creating a checksum for the Time Machine image which at 1.6TB will take a day or so.

I got the iMac as it was the only option I had as Mac Pro too expensive, Mac mini had no GPU, so I got the iMac put the brigjtness to lowest, put black as the background and used my 55" 1080P TV as my primary display due to my vision.

You are asking Apple to refund the purchase price of an iMac you have had three years? I can't see them doing that if they can either repair or replace the iMac. You can of course sell it when Apple returns it to you.

 

[ADGrant]

My advice (I'm a broken record, because I post this over and over again):
STOP USING time machine.

If you want a reliable backup that will be there when you need it, START USING either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

Both will create a "cloned backup" that is an exact copy of the data on your internal drive.

Both are free to download and use for 30 days.

All my important stuff is either in the cloud somewhere or on GitHub. I use TimeMachine for the recovery of individual files.

 

[Mac Write]

I was informed of the refund as part of the "Consumer Rights Law." I would of course prefer a replacement, but only 2 repairs doesn't qualify me yet. I need to have a backup Mac at all times. and am broke after getting the Studio

 

[ADGrant]

I was informed of the refund as part of the "Consumer Rights Law." I would of course prefer a replacement, but only 2 repairs doesn't qualify me yet. I need to have a backup Mac at all times. and am broke after getting the Studio

How many repairs would qualify you and for how many years after the purchase of a computer? If you are not covered by Apple care does that "Consumer Rights Law." still apply? I know the laws are different in Canada but I have never heard of getting a full refund for a 3 year old computer as a legal right.

 

[mciarlo]

But they won't offer versioning. I don't want to have to pay more to backup my computer. Other then in drives to store the backups. Also with CCC I can only backup one computer to it and not 2.

I recommend Backblaze for cloud backups. As for your hardware, I think your best bet is to let Apple repair it and then sell it. There's no chance they refund you for a machine you've had for years.

 

[Mac Write]

Got the iMac back today (need help to mount it on it's arm) $2,000 repair bill paid by Care. Now my Care expires on August 18. sigh. Even though this is a "backup" computer for the next 3 years, I still don't trust it. They replaced almost everything inside.

 

[macguru9999]

Got the iMac back today (need help to mount it on it's arm) $2,000 repair bill paid by Care. Now my Care expires on August 18. sigh. Even though this is a "backup" computer for the next 3 years, I still don't trust it. They replaced almost everything inside.

View attachment 2042785

You now have a newish imac. As its intel you wont get much for it even tho its an i9 (which may give you alot of your heat problems) so you may as well keep it and take your chances

 

[ADGrant]

Got the iMac back today (need help to mount it on it's arm) $2,000 repair bill paid by Care. Now my Care expires on August 18. sigh. Even though this is a "backup" computer for the next 3 years, I still don't trust it. They replaced almost everything inside.

View attachment 2042785

Its practically a new computer now. They replaced everything but the screen and case. Why wouldn't you trust it, what makes it less "trustworthy" than any other Mac?