My 17″ MacBook Pro is about 14 months old. I purchased a 3yr extended warranty with it.
Last Nov. or Dec. I traveled 150 miles to my nearest Apple Store (Galleria Mall, Houston, TX). My case was warped so that when the lid was latched there was a small gap at both front sides of the lid. If you look at the closed machine “head-on” from the front it appears to be smiling at you! I also have some separation were the metal case meets the plastic strip on the riight side edges. The narrow strip of metal above the latch button bulges out enough that it is difficult to open the lid at times. You have to make sure that all of your finger tip is below the bulging strip.
These deformities did not occur until my battery melted down! The Apple Genius looked at it and said that Apple would take care of it. However, I had not backed it up - so he said I could mail it in later, after all I still had almost two of my three year warranty left. I returned home (150 miles again) and wasn’t in a big hurry.
I decided to wait until my next trip to Houston so I could personally deliver it to the Apple Store. Meanwhile Apple replaced my power cord because the wires and rubber insulation had melted at the magnetic plug!! Yesterday was the day I went back to the Apple Store to leave my Mac for repair. But to my great surprise the two “Geniuses” that looked at it accused me of dropping it!!! TOTALLY not true!! I have never dropped it.
The Apple Idiots (no longer Geniuses) told me that heat could NOT cause that kind of damage. Their’s stayed on 24 hours a day, they said and never got hot!! I couldn’t believe it! But they were adamant. I turned around facing the crowded store, help my Mac up in the air and loudly said, “Does anybody want to buy my Mac?”
Several people asked why I wanted to sell it and I said, “Because Apple does not honor their warranty!” Of course I did not sell it, but as I walked trembling with anger from the store I must have told about half a dozen people that Apple would not honor their warranty.
I am waiting until I cool down a bit before attempting to talk with someone “at Apple” (if I can ever find their phone number!). I do intend to pursue this as far as possible and if I am ultimately unsuccessful I will continue to use my MacBook Pro but there will be large black letters on the shiny lid that spell out “APPLE DOES NOT HONOR THEIR WARRANTY!” for anyone to see as I carry it about. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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ya similar situation with my macbook pro 15″ I bought it only 5 months ago and the smile from the lid was always there and now the popping out of the frame and separation of the metal frame from the plastic is extremely bad. It looks as though I could have dropped it but I haven’t. On top of that the disc drive is warped downwards in the middle so it makes it damn near impossible to get discs out of the drive.
I really cannot believe they wouldn’t even consider that it really could be a design flaw and just assumed that you must have dropped the computer. The people at the genius bars rarely know what they are talking about. I know from experience, but I won’t get into that
daniel on February 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am | Link
I just got back from the APple Store in Bethesda–same thing.
However, my machine is only a couple of months old and it’s obvious I didn’t “drop” it…
Ticked Off Lemur on March 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm | Link
I just had mine (just 8 months old) to the Apple Store in Estero, Fl and got the same treatment. The extremely thin strip of alluminum over the disc drive slot is so warped that discs cannot be ejected. I was told, by the Idiots that I this kind of “damage” could occur only if significant pressure was applied to the top of the computer and it was apparent that I had stood on or perhaps sat on it! It would not be fixed under ANY type of warrenty and offered me a $1250 “solution”. Not only were they rude, arrogant and condescending, they told me if I commented to any other customers in the store about their assessment, they would have me “escorted” out.
I am so done with Apple….
susan on March 4th, 2008 at 7:56 am | Link
hmm.. i was kinda wondering.. that warped lid thing.. could it be caused by opening the lid by the edges??.. ive had mine for a coupla days now.. used it fairly much.. i normally open the lid by the centre.. where the cam is.. so far.. no warping i noticed.. really hope it wont happen anytime soon though..=o
retribution on March 18th, 2008 at 8:20 am | Link
Had my Macbook pro 15″ for about 9 months now and it is also smiling at me. Along with this there is a slight warp in the metal above the cd drive. To top this off the catch’s that holds the screen shut have sheered off and now i have to use a rubber band to hold the screen shut. Bits that have sheered off are in the base of the mac and have spoken with Customer relations and they viewed pictures of the machine only to be told that would not be covered under warranty as they claim it is a result of excessive force or abuse of the computer yet there are no marks to suggest it has been dropped or used in a manner for which it should have been designed!
Ben on July 8th, 2008 at 5:47 am | Link
I have the same problem, the so called genius in the London store told me that it is not covered by warranty as it is my fault. I know for a fact that it is not my fault.
Apple make great stuff, when it goes wrong they are totally useless. Iv had a nice long line of experiences with my apple stuff going wrong.
Miraj Ahmed on July 27th, 2008 at 5:25 am | Link
I have the same problem. I reported it right away and they offered me an exchange. I Opted not to take it because i did not have a way to back up all of my data before sending it in for a new one. Instead i had it reported on my account, and now that my Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics card failed (due to it being “faulty”? who knew?) so i decided to try and cash in on the replacement to avoid losing my laptop for two weeks. Although I am not sure the offer still stands, i will take the replacement if they offer because i use Time Machine with Leopard now, so i can just plug in the new machine and press restore. Good luck everyone.
PS If they say it is within their specs, ask why the MacBook Pro on the Apple website doesn’t have this warp?
Aaron on October 7th, 2008 at 8:36 pm | Link
Google the apple problems and you will see quite few people have had melt down problems. It is amazing Apple can get away with this legally because they are breaching their warranty. I bought four macs thinking they were better and less hassle than pc’s and I was dead wrong. Two out of the four macs can no longer get on our internet at home. They did before and the other macs are on the network which tells me something is wrong with the macs. Of course, apple isn’t to blame. They sell ’sheet’ products and offer service that is even worse. This is a horrible company and it’s no wonder they just about went bankrupt. They didn’t learn a thing because their customer service is horrific. I should have bought a Dell because my husband has had them for years. Any problems, they fix it within a day or two.
jazzoodle on December 29th, 2008 at 8:21 am | Link