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Urgent: Very Confusing Conversation With Apple Rep. About AppleCare and SSD's.

Sankersizzle

Sankersizzle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 5, 2010
838
2
Canadadada
Hey guys, I was recently super psyched to get a Vertex 2 SSD to put in my 17" MBP. I am just about to buy the SSD from Canada Computers, pretty much in the car already. I've seen so, so many times that people have done this without voiding their warranty and AppleCare, because as you guys say, it's a user replaceable part.

Anyways, I just called the Yorkdale Apple store to make sure, and they said replacing the hard drive would void my warranty AND AppleCare. They said under no circumstances can I change anything in the computer even if it's an Apple product with the service done at an Apple retailer. I asked a genius at the Apple store one time I went in and he said it could be done, but now they seem to have changed their mind.

I've seen 100x on this forum that this wouldn't be the case, and I've also seen tonnes of people with aftermarket SSD's in their computers -do they all have their warranties voided? What gives? Does this mean I can't touch my computer for 3 years? I definitely wouldn't have got a Mac if I knew that it had to stay the same way (HDD and RAM) for the entire length of the AppleCare, especially if they don't even know the protocol themselves. What should I do? I leave for school in two days so I need to get this sorted out ASAP :(.
 
Apple even puts instructions on how to replace your HDD into the User Guide that comes with the MBP, thus it can be assumed, that this is a user replaceable part and will not void the warranty.

The person you talked to just doesn't know it or wants to sell man hours (which are more like minutes, ten or so) to replace it in the shop.
 
Thanks guys. That's what I though... So what do I do? Do it anyways and hope they have their understanding pants on if I ever need service?

This is pretty ridiculous, I spent 3-large on a laptop and they can't tell me what my warranty entails? Are we sure a hard drive is a user replaceable part or whatever?

Also, on page 37 of my owners manual it tells me how to replace my hard disk drive.
 
Sankersizzle said:
Thanks guys. That's what I though... So what do I do? Do it anyways and hope they have their understanding pants on if I ever need service?

This is pretty ridiculous, I spent 3-large on a laptop and they can't tell me what my warranty entails? Are we sure a hard drive is a user replaceable part or whatever?

Also, on page 37 of my owners manual it tells me how to replace my hard disk drive.
Click to expand...

Show them that link that GGJstudios posted and rub it in their face -- seriously.

I would call them out on it and make them feel dumb. :cool:
 
I appreciate being able to walk in there on my high horse and everything, but that's not going to help me in 2 years when my graphics card ***** the bed and I'm out of warranty because of my new HDD.

I'm thinking of going in there, doing what you guys said and asking for the confirmation in writing. That way they can't be dickbags about this in the future.
 
Sankersizzle said:
I appreciate being able to walk in there on my high horse and everything, but that's not going to help me in 2 years when my graphics card ***** the bed and I'm out of warranty because of my new HDD.

I'm thinking of going in there, doing what you guys said and asking for the confirmation in writing. That way they can't be dickbags about this in the future.
Click to expand...

If you are so concerned, just put the old HDD when you go back in... There is no way of knowing that you ever replaced the HDD.
 
tiwizard said:
If you are so concerned, just put the old HDD when you go back in... There is no way of knowing that you ever replaced the HDD.
Click to expand...

Pretty much.

Resist the urge to toss your OEM components up on ebay or hawk locally. I kept my original 250 Gb HD in a box with a fresh OS install and a copy of some utilities, so when I needed to bring it in for service, i'd swap it in and they wouldn't know the difference. From a security, warranty, and frustration standpoint, it's the best way to go.
 
Thanks guys. I've got a genius appointment tomorrow for my keyboard that has been fixed twice but never stops squeaking. I'll bring this up and get it in writing or something. I'll just have to drive an hour to the Apple Store, then an hour to get the SSD, then another hour back to the Apple Store if they make me install it there.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Pretty much.

Resist the urge to toss your OEM components up on ebay or hawk locally. I kept my original 250 Gb HD in a box with a fresh OS install and a copy of some utilities, so when I needed to bring it in for service, i'd swap it in and they wouldn't know the difference. From a security, warranty, and frustration standpoint, it's the best way to go.
Click to expand...

This is really a good point! If you don't want some 18 year old kid to have access to all your harddrive data, put the OEM HDD back in that's been wiped with little more than OSX on it.
 
Hey guys! Here's an update. I went to the Apple Store today and everyone agreed that it does indeed void your warranty (talked to two managers and the geniuses had a little pow wow about it). However, they said that if you just put the old one back when your sending it in for repairs and everything will be okay. I know some of you disagree with this, but this is what I heard.

Anyways, I promptly went in and put in a Vertex 2 and it's pretty awesome. Anything I should do? Do I update it or something? Am I supposed to avoid bittorrenting? That's what the genius said.

Thanks again for your help guys!
 
Sankersizzle said:
Hey guys! Here's an update. I went to the Apple Store today and everyone agreed that it does indeed void your warranty (talked to two managers and the geniuses had a little pow wow about it). However, they said that if you just put the old one back when your sending it in for repairs and everything will be okay. I know some of you disagree with this, but this is what I heard.
Click to expand...
What an individual Apple employee says doesn't carry more weight than Apple's official published statement, which I posted a link to. Apple has to live up to it's published policy.
Sankersizzle said:
Anyways, I promptly went in and put in a Vertex 2 and it's pretty awesome. Anything I should do? Do I update it or something? Am I supposed to avoid bittorrenting? That's what the genius said.
Click to expand...
Remember "genius" is simply the title Apple gives it's tech support reps. That doesn't really make them geniuses! There's nothing wrong with torrenting, from a technical perspective.
 
Sankersizzle said:
Hey guys! Here's an update. I went to the Apple Store today and everyone agreed that it does indeed void your warranty (talked to two managers and the geniuses had a little pow wow about it). However, they said that if you just put the old one back when your sending it in for repairs and everything will be okay. I know some of you disagree with this, but this is what I heard.

Anyways, I promptly went in and put in a Vertex 2 and it's pretty awesome. Anything I should do? Do I update it or something? Am I supposed to avoid bittorrenting? That's what the genius said.

Thanks again for your help guys!
Click to expand...

Sounds like the Apple store aren't exactly what I would call Geniuses. They say that putting an SSD voids the warranty, but that if you put the original HHD back in, you "magically" have your warranty back. It appears that they don't know what the word "void" means.

Anyway, not a big deal. It's a good idea to stick the original back in anyway, minus any data other than OSX, for security reasons.
 
Apple retail employees are typically morons. I know, I used to work with them. Good luck getting a consistent message about anything there.
 
GGJstudios said:
What an individual Apple employee says doesn't carry more weight than Apple's official published statement, which I posted a link to. Apple has to live up to it's published policy.

Remember "genius" is simply the title Apple gives it's tech support reps. That doesn't really make them geniuses! There's nothing wrong with torrenting, from a technical perspective.
Click to expand...

TZRaceR6 said:
Sounds like the Apple store aren't exactly what I would call Geniuses. They say that putting an SSD voids the warranty, but that if you put the original HHD back in, you "magically" have your warranty back. It appears that they don't know what the word "void" means.

Anyway, not a big deal. It's a good idea to stick the original back in anyway, minus any data other than OSX, for security reasons.
Click to expand...

Haha, you guys are so right. I heard so many things there I just could not believe. One genius was telling a customer that a 15" MBP can in theory surf the net faster than a 13". It was quite hilarious.

Anyways, I thought bit torrenting crapped up all the cells in the SSD, or something? I read that the whole wack of little files it creates harshes the SSD's mellow.
 
Sankersizzle said:
One genius was telling a customer that a 15" MBP can in theory surf the net faster than a 13". It was quite hilarious.
Click to expand...

In theory, it can. Throughput from the network interface, for all intents and purposes, may be unaffected, but the i5 or i7 can certainly edge out a C2D on rendering times.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
In theory, it can. Throughput from the network interface, for all intents and purposes, may be unaffected, but the i5 or i7 can certainly edge out a C2D on rendering times.
Click to expand...

He was talking about the airport though. She was asking which computer was best to send emails to her neice at university and he said a 15" MBP, which is pretty gnarly.

I can't get over how nice they were though, it was almost creepy. They were all really helpful, they even went poking around for a 17" hard case, but no where in Ontario has them in stock.
 
It doesn't void your warranty, period. Magnuson Moss warranty act, rub that in theirface.

The employees you spoke to are wrong.
 
snaky69 said:
It doesn't void your warranty, period. Magnuson Moss warranty act, rub that in theirface.

The employees you spoke to are wrong.
Click to expand...

I spoke to like 7 different geniuses and 2 managers. Since I get my computer serviced there, I'm going to take their word. Unless you can provide me with some documentation that explicitly states otherwise? I'd love to rub that in their face!
 
Sankersizzle said:
I spoke to like 7 different geniuses and 2 managers. Since I get my computer serviced there, I'm going to take their word. Unless you can provide me with some documentation that explicitly states otherwise? I'd love to rub that in their face!
Click to expand...
The Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. They cannot legally deny you warranty if you modified your computer unless they can prove the modification caused the defect you need your warranty for.

That, and the fact that Apple states the HD and the RAM are both user replaceable items on both their website and the booklet that comes with the computer.

I think Apple Inc. wouldn't include instructions on how to do it in the manual if it voided the warranty, that would be false publicity.
 
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