Sudden shutdown... latest in a history of problems. Grounds for a replacement?

[jshbckr]

Okay, so my girlfriend has the first revision MacBook. It's had quite the history with issues over the past few years. It's had the discolored plastic... but I'll excuse that one since it's purely cosmetic. However, aside from that, she's had two battery replacements, a melted magsafe, a SuperDrive that scratched rings into discs, a non-functioning ethernet port, a hard drive failure, and now what looks like a logic board issue causing random shutdowns.

We've sent her computer in for repair/visited the Apple store for battery replacements at least once every three months or so in the last two years. As an owner of an iMac G4, PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro, and a Mac Pro, I can say that I've never seen this many problems on a single mac.

Last time we called in, it was the hard drive failure (which I believe happened in April or May) and I asked the person on the phone what Apple's standard procedure for an outright replacement was. He said something along the lines of "We usually only offer one after a computer has had a certain number of qualifying repairs" (which I'm assuming means stuff like discolored plastic doesn't count--nor should it). Then he said "Are you asking for a new computer?" This may have been a situation where he couldn't offer me a new computer, but if I demanded one, they could give it to me. I didn't say I wanted a new computer, but I was simply asking what would make one eligible for a replacement system.

But now I'm at the point where I think this system need to be completely replaced. It's obviously not a functioning computer. When it can't be used for 3 months without something going wrong, this is not a computer that any work can be done on. If your computer can suddenly shut down in the middle of an online test, or your hard drive fails in the middle of writing a 15 page paper, you may as well not have a computer and just store everything on a flash drive.

Would this latest experience in the string of problems be enough to warrant a replacement system?

 

[techound1]

The question you have to ask is whether the issues were related to one another or whether they were bad coincidence. The HD doesn't seem related to batteries or a power adapter, but a melted adapter and kaput batteries could be correlated. And then the question is whether a power-system issue (if it exists) put undue stress on the logic board, which will in turn lead to other issues. I think if you can develop and argument for a systemic problem, replacing the whole thing will make sense to them.

 

[patrickmacrumor]

If you want to have it replaced, ask to speak to a product specialist right away. The latter is the one who will either say yes or no for a replacement. But, write down a list of the problems experienced as well as the dates. Then politely tell the Product specialist one by one. Politely, but firmly ask for replacement.

 

[khunsanook]

If you have any of the documents from the other repairs bring 'em as well. Nothing like a pile of repair receipts to influence their decision.

I too have a Rev A MacBook, and although lately it's been running great, I've had many things repaired/replaced over the past 2 years and once again it looks like I'll be needing a battery replacement.

 

[patrickmacrumor]

If you have any of the documents from the other repairs bring 'em as well. Nothing like a pile of repair receipts to influence their decision.

Good idea. Let the evidence speaks for itself (CSI?)

I too have a Rev A MacBook, and although lately it's been running great, I've had many things repaired/replaced over the past 2 years and once again it looks like I'll be needing a battery replacement.

I, too, bought the first generation MacBook, which was plagued with problems. It was replaced in May 2008. I hope this one will be better...time will tell.

 

[jshbckr]

UPDATE

So she decided to keep using it a little bit and see if it kept shutting down. And it did.

So yesterday I called up AppleCare. I was very nice and just said that we were experiencing random shut downs, even with the SMC update (which we had installed back when it was released). Then I said that this is the latest in a long string of problems and that I think the machine should be considered a lemon and if it were possible to speak to anyone about getting a replacement unit. The woman on the phone said "Absolutely" and got me in touch with the person who handles individual replacements.

This person agreed that we were overdue for replacement consideration and that we definitely needed to get a new computer. She said that she felt awful that we had to deal with so much down time and have made so many trips to the Apple Store (nearest is 2 hours away) or so many days without the computer (sending it in).

So now, they will be replacing the 2.0 GHz 1GB 80GB SuperDrive CoreDuo system with a 2.4 GHz 2GB 160GB SuperDrive Core2Duo!

I'm not sure if they were more than happy to help me out because I never yelled, never spoke up, never bad mouthed Apple. I simply mentioned that I own 4 other Macs and all of them combined haven't even had half this many problems.

Then (here is the icing on the cake), the representative said "Is there anything else I can get for you guys? If you want, I can also throw in an iPod. Would you like maybe an iPod nano?" Free iPod? Yes, please! We decided on the blue iPod nano.

So, free upgrade/replacement unit, free iPod nano. Not too shabby! Definitely reinforces my belief that Apple will take care of their customers. (Several years ago, Apple waved an iPod repair fee for me since I had just bought a $2500 PowerBook, and they actually upgraded the iPod for me!)

So I've got a quick question for anyone who's had a replacement MacBook. Do they give you a full retail box or simply the machine itself? If they give you a full retail box, do you have to send in your AC adapter or just the computer?

 

[lazydesi]

at the end of the day one more happy customer

welldone apple

i got similar issue with my rev 2 macbook , but a battery change fixed the issue

 

[patrickmacrumor]

Good for you !!!

I did not get an iPod, but like you, I received a model up the base MacBook model.

I guess anyone experiencing problems with their Mac should write down the details about each problem. And if the list grows too much, and it's time to ask for a replacement, the list will be a good proof.