so... what can I do to get those amazing Apple experience everyone was raving about??

[kingofwale]

long story short. I got my gf a Macbook pro on her birthday last year (May 26). She decided to against Apple warranty plan, and since it was a gift, I could care less.

fast forward to today. Her company refuses to turn on and apple told her on Sat that it was the logic board that needs replacing. It will cost her 560 dollars. (just a few weeks out of the warranty)

She's still in school and can't afford to pay for it.

I've been reading for YEARS about how Apple's customer service is top notch and can and will to help customer out even without an warranty. What do we have to do??

[thinfilms]

...

I've been reading for YEARS about how Apple's customer service is top notch and can and will to help customer out even without an warranty. What do we have to do??

where did you read that?

[cruisx]

where did you read that?

cause they do.....please dont bash them for everything, the CS is outstanding and this is a fact. OP try a diff apple store but it could have been the rep as well, iv found that being nice and up front with them usually gets the job done. Iv had 4 iphones replaced out side of warranty from things such as broken screen to small scratch from a fall it took. Only thing there super strick on is water damage.

Now of course just like evry company not everyone will get the same service, but overall pretty happy with them. A mac might be diff, never bought any other apple product.

[kingofwale]

cause they do.....please dont bash them for everything, the CS is outstanding and this is a fact. OP try a diff apple store but it could have been the rep as well, iv found that being nice and up front with them usually gets the job done. Iv had 4 iphones replaced out side of warranty from things such as broken screen to small scratch from a fall it took. Only thing there super strick on is water damage.

Now of course just like evry company not everyone will get the same service, but overall pretty happy with them. A mac might be diff, never bought any other apple product.

How do you approach them exactly?

We made an appointment with them. we were nice, polite and just generally friendly. we were told because it's out of warranty, the fee is take-it-or-leave-it. It doesn't matter if it's 1 day or 1 year out of warranty.

A bit disappointed, but we still agree to have it test it in case it is something else that went wrong. maybe we did something wrong?


should we be firm about asking for replacing pay with reduced fee/free? should we play poor-student card?

[HotYaris]

Your GF didn't want the extended warranty and you didn't care. Did you not think you would still be dating her after the warranty expired? Time for you to pay for that lapse of judgement and pay the big repair bill and never refuse another extended warranty again while you date her.

[Supercooled]

Yeah ita a xrapshoot. some will get it some wont. read on macrumors how ppl get excellent servuce. Ect. i decided against any extended coverage as well but i havent had any issues.. Yet. try searching ifixit.com and macrumors to guage the level of difficulty in undertaking it youtself
i had to repair a cable that ripped when i opened mine to clean and got the parts on ebay. good luck.

[no_username]

Well, your problem is that Apple is now a bit more mainstream. They can't afford to play nice with the warranty, and let people make claims after the warranty expired. After all, they are a business.

By any chance, does your credit card offer extended warranty? You may have 1 extra year of warranty, if you bought it with a credit card. You will have to take it up with the credit card issuer though.

[hackoder]

I think you have been misled.

Apple has very good customer support, but they don't give out free after-warranty support to everyone. It is completely at their discretion. One of the reasons why Apple has gotten this rep is because they have replaced a lot of older macbook/pro cases and GPUs after warranty, but only because those were manufacturing defects and they decided to replace it for free for 'x' (5 mostly) years.

So, while they are fair and will not give you the run around for an actual problem... you should a) either have bought applecare, or b) used your credit card to extend warranty another year.

As it is, you can either try another store or (for a higher chance of success) call Apple customer support and explain that it is a big college expense and if they'd do it for less.

[gnuman]

See, Apple products are not indestructible. You spent close to or over $2000 for a marketing gimmick that you thought would last forever because it is made by Apple and now you're complaining about overpriced logic board replacement? If you can't afford to fix a Mercedes then you don't buy a Mercedes, you buy something else.

Have you tried clearing the NVRAM or whatever they call it to see if it boots up? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Blowing $2k on a laptop is just ludicrous especially since you're/your gf is in school and are not even earning money it is financially irresponsible and cannot afford to fix it.

[shabby]

where did you read that?

Its true, my friends 3gs antenna stopped working and they offered to fix it for only $160. So apple will help out its customer even when their device is out of warranty... just not for free.

[samberkun]

I would first....

phone apple care... tell them you love apple but this has ruined your experience.... seriously logic board should not fail after 1 year, tell them you thought apple was suppose to have amazing customer service, that it is an expsensive product and they should stand by it..... i know from insider knowledge that they will go out of warrenty if it is a month or two from apple employees, if phone gets you no where try the apple store,

[ippon]

i've had two imac failures, both on their 13th months.
never ever again.

[gnuman]

iPod Minis used to fail within 13 months all the time. Used to file so many claims with that pos device it wasn't funny. FYI I worked for an extended warranty company so I've seen my fair share of failures of devices. It was a joke 2 weeks after 1 year the Mini drive would just die. Lots died after 6 months.

MacBook motherboards are still supplied from 1 of 3 OEM motherboard makers so your motherboard can be the same found in HPs because the marketing geniuses created the distorted reality field thinking everything is made at some sort of secret facility with Apple pixie dust or something.

Apple had the real reason back in the PPC days why a motherboard "logic board" costed $600 because no one used PPC architecture now it is for pure profit. Macs used to run on SCSI hardware and use different memory modules that weren't compatible.

What's inside today's Mac? 100% pure PC hardware with 0 proprietary hardware built an OS on FreeBSD which is Free but with a their own GUI.

[spandexninja]

What's inside today's Mac? 100% pure PC hardware with 0 proprietary hardware built an OS on FreeBSD which is Free but with a their own GUI.

Well... 100% PC hardware with a bit of soldering and glue to make it non-upgradable.

[gnuman]

Well... 100% PC hardware with a bit of soldering and glue to make it non-upgradable.

That is true then again they being Apple don't want enthusiasts using their machines because they would've launched a tower PC like they had back in the G4 days while they had the iMac.

It is pure stupid to solder things on a main unit. Spend $2300 on MBP with Retina display and you're SOL if logic board goes. Who can support a company like that? Oh yah the iDiots