Speed up Apple repair time / service ??

[Pierre Bali]

My Macbook Pro 2016 seems to be the one which has all the issues which Apple declares as rare cases. First the keyboard issue and not the problem with the flex cable. As the problem exists at my MacBook, yesterday I found the time to check with the local Apple partner. Being said, it's in Indonesia, things seem to work a little different here

The lady at the service counter offered me to leave the Macbook there and usually after one week so they can check it and get confirmation from Apple. After that they can order the spare part in Singapore and repair it. Estimated time for the whole process 1 week checking plus 4-6 weeks until the screen is fixed / changed.

I'm working with my Mac and can not afford to leave it at their service partner for 2month - thats insane.
last time 6 weeks were estimated but in total it was almost 8 weeks just for the repair / change of they keyboard.
Calling the local Apple service number doesnt help at all.

Any suggestions how to speed up the process / make them to order the part already so I can hand in the MacBook for repair once the part is available here? Cant believe that people are willing to leave their apple product for 2 month without any substitute at some service partner or is it just strategy to avoid customers with issues???

 

[Fishrrman]

"Any suggestions how to speed up the process / make them to order the part already so I can hand in the MacBook for repair once the part is available here?"

As I see it, you have 2 choices:
- Hand it over to the repair folks, and wait until it comes back.
- Buy something new. Then you can get the old one fixed, and either sell it or keep it as a backup.

 

[Pierre Bali]

"Any suggestions how to speed up the process / make them to order the part already so I can hand in the MacBook for repair once the part is available here?"

As I see it, you have 2 choices:
- Hand it over to the repair folks, and wait until it comes back.
- Buy something new. Then you can get the old one fixed, and either sell it or keep it as a backup.

Thanks Fishrrman. I'd like to compare Apple with an innovative, upmarket car brand.
If you bring your car to the customer service because of an issue caused by the manufacturers design and they tell you, you have two choices: buy a new car for these 2 month and sell it when your car is fixed or just simply walk for that time.

Somehow I think that would not work out well for the car company, how comes Apple gets away with things like that?

 

[hallux]

It seems your issue is related to how repairs are handled in your region. This is not purely an Apple problem. Is the local Apple partner that busy that it takes them a week to even get your system on the bench for evaluation? If they are your only option for repair you may just have to deal hand it over to them and let the process play out.

Why can't they have you bring it in at a scheduled time for evaluation, then bring it home and use it until the part arrives? Holding your computer hostage for a month while they are awaiting parts seems to be inconsiderate of them if the computer is functioning to some extent and they know it's going to take a considerable amount of time. The only argument for doing that is so that the system can be evaluated and the condition wouldn't change before it can be repaired (so the screen couldn't be cracked or other damage done).

In your case - availability of loaner computers is up to the Apple partner rather than Apple directly. If they are so busy that it takes them a week to evaluate your system, can you imagine how many Macs they would need to keep for loaners and what kind of overhead that means for them? I'll clue you in - the money they receive from Apple for the repairs completed under warranty (if they are completing the repairs locally) wouldn't begin to cover the cost of those systems, especially if each system is loaned out for 1-2 months for a repair that pays them probably less than $200 USD. Imagine how long that loaner would need to be used in order to recover the cost of the computer!

 

[Pierre Bali]

It seems your issue is related to how repairs are handled in your region. This is not purely an Apple problem. Is the local Apple partner that busy that it takes them a week to even get your system on the bench for evaluation? If they are your only option for repair you may just have to deal hand it over to them and let the process play out.

Why can't they have you bring it in at a scheduled time for evaluation, then bring it home and use it until the part arrives? Holding your computer hostage for a month while they are awaiting parts seems to be inconsiderate of them if the computer is functioning to some extent and they know it's going to take a considerable amount of time. The only argument for doing that is so that the system can be evaluated and the condition wouldn't change before it can be repaired (so the screen couldn't be cracked or other damage done).

In your case - availability of loaner computers is up to the Apple partner rather than Apple directly. If they are so busy that it takes them a week to evaluate your system, can you imagine how many Macs they would need to keep for loaners and what kind of overhead that means for them? I'll clue you in - the money they receive from Apple for the repairs completed under warranty (if they are completing the repairs locally) wouldn't begin to cover the cost of those systems, especially if each system is loaned out for 1-2 months for a repair that pays them probably less than $200 USD. Imagine how long that loaner would need to be used in order to recover the cost of the computer!

Regarding the evaluation process: Answer from the apple partner to my question why there is no bringing in at a scheduled time for evaluation 'its the apple regulation'
Regarding the repair and bringing it home and use it until the part arrives, then bring it in again for repair the answer is: 'its the apple regulation'

Contacting Apple Indonesia hotline directly gets you no further as well as they say it's the apple partners choice to handle things.

But: The issue is that the apple partner as soon as he orders the spare part, he has to pay for it and will get reimbursed later (info according to apple). Of course an apple partner doesn't want to risk someone wants to get his device repaired, they order the part and now the customer for some reason changes his mind and the apple partner sits on the spare part. This business practise might be ok in normal cases but as Apple is the one who produced a faulty product, I see them responsible to make the repair process as easy as possible for their partners and customers no matter where in the world, wouldn't you agree?