Positive story: Pleased with Apple support on Macbook pro

[maartendc]

Hi everyone,

 

Thought I'd share a positive story for once, since people only ever post their negative complaints or questions. The Apple service I've had on my Macbook Pro so far has been excellent. This is the first Mac I have ever owned, so not a fanboy or anything. I previously owned a Dell laptop and several gaming desktops (still do).

 

I bought the machine, a 15 inch Retina Macbook Pro early 2014 brand new. Got Applecare 3 year warranty with it for about $300 I think, just in case.

 

In early 2017, just before my Applecare was going to expire, I experienced random reboots, and the keyboard was acting up. Brought it to the apple store, and they replaced the whole bottom assembly, including motherboard, battery, keyboard, etc. So I had a brand new battery in a 3 year old laptop at that point with no wear on it, pretty great! This would have been a $600+ repair, so the Applecare was worth it.

 

Now, early 2018, laptop is 4 years old that this point, and the anti-reflective coating on the screen is starting to exhibit "spots". This is a known problem apparently, it had been getting worse lately and started to bother me. So I take it to the Apple store, and again, they will repair it free of charge because it is a known defect, even though I am out of warranty at this point. This would have been a $700 repair.

 

So all things considered, pretty pleased with the fact that Apple actually stands by their products. If this were a Dell laptop, they'd tell me to buy a new one already. I think I will be sticking with Apple in the future.

 

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

[Acrain7]

its great to hear a good positive story for once

 

same story with my dads laptop, gotta hand it to apple, they know how to make a product last! going on five years with his macbook pro, still works as great as it did the day he bought it! (and this is coming from a pc guys perspective, too!)

[captain_to_fire]

I'm glad you're having a positive experience with Apple Care. I just hope the 2018 refresh of the 13" touchbar MacBook Pro would finally be quad core.

[ProjectBox153]

Good reminder that I'll need to get Apple Care once I get my MacBook Pro either later this year or next year. Glad to know they helped out! I've heard some good stories about Apple Care.

[JustDenDimi]

Same here, I bought a second hand Macbook Pro (also the early or late 2014 edition) and it still had a few months of apple care. After owning it a few months the charger suddenly stopped working. So I brought it to a certified Apple re-seller or whatever you call them, and they gave me a new charger.

[ARikozuM]

Shouldn't this be in member reviews? 

 

Glad they helped you out on the issues especially since you don't often hear good reviews for services aside from "great service" and "fast". 

[Guest]

It is cool and all, but all the prices they give you are wtf. 700 dollars for a new screen coating? 600 for motherboard keyboard battery?? That is why most people hate apple. The repair costs are just ridiculous if you dont have the apple warranty.

[maartendc]

41 minutes ago, anthonyjc2010 said:

It's great to hear the positive story. People generally only report bad interactions, so good ones go under the radar.

 

On a side note, those prices for repairs are absolutely ridiculous. 700 USD for a display replacement? The entire top section of the notebook doesn't cost that much! Paying for the employee repairing your unit and storage of the screen assembly shouldn't bring it that high either.

*sgh* Apple is... well Apple.

 

1 hour ago, Almostbauws said:

It is cool and all, but all the prices they give you are wtf. 700 dollars for a new screen coating? 600 for motherboard keyboard battery?? That is why most people hate apple. The repair costs are just ridiculous if you dont have the apple warranty.

Well, it is true that these repairs are very expensive if you'd have to pay them out of pocket.

 

For the screen: $700 is a lot, but this is not just applying a new coating, but a completely new display. If I am not mistaken. they replace the whole top assembly, including the aluminum lid, because the display is fused or glued to the aluminum. The display itself is a very high resolution ( 2880-by-1800 ) IPS screen, with very good color gamut etc. So it IS just an expensive part. To me that is not a surprising cost. My desktop Dell 1440P IPS monitor with good color gamut cost me $550 as well, and that is just 1440P.

 

And the $600 for the motherboard replacement and keyboard replacement is again for the whole bottom assembly, including the aluminum case part, the battery that is glued to it, the keyboard, and then the actual motherboard.

 

Part of the problem is that Apple glues so many things together, like the battery, keyboard and bottom case are all glued, so they are not individually replaceable. That makes the repairs very expensive indeed because you have to replace everything. In my case, this was positive, because I got a new battery because of an unrelated repair.

 

But yes, this is sadly more and more common with all manufacturers that repairs are getting more costly because the parts are glued together.

[maartendc]

2 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Good reminder that I'll need to get Apple Care once I get my MacBook Pro either later this year or next year. Glad to know they helped out! I've heard some good stories about Apple Care.

Yes, the extended warranty it is definitely worth it, considering the price of most repairs on the Retina models is $500+.