Does this sound right vs genius bar

[demonx]

My HDD had been clicking at me for awhile on my rev a macbook air but I never bothered to take it in. Recently disk utility reported my drive as failing, so I decided to make an appointment with a genius. I've used my MBA air pretty heavily, including international travel quite a bit so it has some wear and tear.

I get there and he takes it to the back, comes back and says because of of a dent on the back of the casing (knocked it against a wall on accident), the fact the button on my touchpad was clicking and I had a screw missing in the bottom of my air that they could replace to dive but I would not like the price. It would be $900.00 and that's because they had to get the air in it's original condition appearance wise before they could send it to apple for repair

 

[Electro Funk]

My HDD had been clicking at me for awhile on my rev a macbook air but I never bothered to take it in. Recently disk utility reported my drive as failing, so I decided to make an appointment with a genius. I've used my MBA air pretty heavily, including international travel quite a bit so it has some wear and tear.

I get there and he takes it to the back, comes back and says because of of a dent on the back of the casing (knocked it against a wall on accident), the fact the button on my touchpad was clicking and I had a screw missing in the bottom of my air that they could replace to dive but I would not like the price. It would be $900.00 and that's because they had to get the air in it's original condition appearance wise before they could send it to apple for repair

that's insane... so they can replace the case there locally but not replace the HDD while the case is open???? Bullox

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

It'd be a lot cheaper for you to just follow an iFixit guide and replace the drive yourself. Sorry

 

[Rondue]

I swear apple built this thing and after you buy it they dont want to help you with anything dealing with it for less than 700 bucks, there fault or yours otherwise. they wanted to charge me 700 bucks for "Cosmetic damage" that occurred due to there poor design. After bitching to a supervisor (nicely) they repaired it under warranty for me.

 

[NU Camper]

My HDD had been clicking at me for awhile on my rev a macbook air but I never bothered to take it in. Recently disk utility reported my drive as failing, so I decided to make an appointment with a genius. I've used my MBA air pretty heavily, including international travel quite a bit so it has some wear and tear.

I get there and he takes it to the back, comes back and says because of of a dent on the back of the casing (knocked it against a wall on accident), the fact the button on my touchpad was clicking and I had a screw missing in the bottom of my air that they could replace to dive but I would not like the price. It would be $900.00 and that's because they had to get the air in it's original condition appearance wise before they could send it to apple for repair

That sounds consistent with Apples rules of engagement. Any time where there is any sort of dent in the the housing of a portable, it falls out of warranty. I also know as of 5 months ago, MBA's were rarely serviced in house for OOW repairs, like yours. As long as you didn't purchase AppleCare, I would agree if you feel confident in your abilities, follow the online guides and fix it yourself. If you mess it up further though, and need to go back plan on at least another $200+ to get it back in a warrantable status.

 

[demonx]

Thanks for the information guys, I did not get apple care but the notebook is still in "warranty" until March 9th. I guess the dent kind of kicks it of warranty though, I'm just debating if I should maybe call Apple and make a big deal about it or just suck it up and try to repair it myself

 

[mhnajjar]

Thanks for the information guys, I did not get apple care but the notebook is still in "warranty" until March 9th. I guess the dent kind of kicks it of warranty though, I'm just debating if I should maybe call Apple and make a big deal about it or just suck it up and try to repair it myself

I would try and call and see if they can help.

They should fix it if the dent isn't one of the reasons considered as the cause to the problem you are having depending on how big it is and on what side.

 

[Mactagonist]

Thanks for the information guys, I did not get apple care but the notebook is still in "warranty" until March 9th. I guess the dent kind of kicks it of warranty though, I'm just debating if I should maybe call Apple and make a big deal about it or just suck it up and try to repair it myself

If you can honestly say that the damage is simply cosmetic then you arnt 'making a big deal out of it' just asking for what is rightfully yours and you should never accept their answer of no.

 

[demonx]

Yeah the dent is on the top part of the laptop on the hinge, you actually have to go looking for it to notice it (thank goodness because it would drive me crazy otherwise, I hate little imperfections on my stuff).

Is there a particular number I should call where I would more likely get someone willing to help?

 

[marbles]

If it is a big dent and you have mistreated the machine then go the ifixit route but if not you are entitled to warranty repair period don't let anyone take away your rights, you get on to them, be firm and fair, record all information like who you speak to and when etc , write a letter to store manager sent signed for delivery and hope he see's your honesty , if not take it up a notch and go through customer relations but only if your certain it isnt your fault , I'd imagine they get blagged a lot by people trying it on after dropping the notebook of the wardrobe or something . so ye if its just well used but cared for get on to em, after all we are meant to use them and the warranty is there for the becoming all to frequent QC issues

 

[demonx]

Called apple , didn't really get anywhere beyond the you can send it in but if it's not cosmetically perfect we may need to charge you. Well that's great since I actually use my notebook, I know the bump didn't cause the drive failure because it was clicking before that even happened

Going to try one more genius bar today and if nothing, guess it's time to learn how to repair this thing myself

 

[Maks]

I've only had my MBA for a few days, but just noticed the clicking yesterday as I have always had the TV/radio on while using mine. After reading many posts and doing some investigation--this is normal assuming that it is happening during idle times. It seems to be OSX parking the drive heads, I've tried the common remedies but to no avail. I ran a 1 hour SMART scan and there wasn't a single click the entire time because the HD was working. However, if I let the drive sit while I read a web page, I'll get the click. You can also verify this with the Load Cycle Count (or something similar, I can't recall) within the SMART Utility info section.

However, if you are getting a rhythmic/repeated clicking while trying to access/write files and the system hangs, that is the sign of a sickly HD. I've had that happen on every Dell laptop I've owned for work so I'm pretty familiar with it. Hopefully this helps others who are experiencing the click.

On a side note, anyone know where to order replacement 80g HDs?

 

[ziggyonice]

It's one of the difficult things that tech support has to deal with... is if cosmetic damage could have an effect on the status of the machine's internal components. In this case, I think they're being a little ridiculous about it, but then again, it's AppleCare and they've got their quirks.

 

[AIRniloc]

It's one of the difficult things that tech support has to deal with... is if cosmetic damage could have an effect on the status of the machine's internal components. In this case, I think they're being a little ridiculous about it, but then again, it's AppleCare and they've got their quirks.

+1

as a former genius at an apple store, cosmetic dents are a VERY touchy subject...

when it comes to cosmetic damages and the air, well....a big enough 'cosmetic' dent just about ANYWHERE will probably damage something internally.

to the OP: is the location of the dent on your MBAir by any chance in the middle of the bottom case (possibly slightly to the left / middle if the air vents are on the bottom)? If it's anywhere CLOSE, then it is very possible that this dent is what caused the damage to your HDD.

As far as the price....yeah it sucks...but if they just replaced your HDD (and not your dented bottom case), the HDD might have future problems or might not even work at all!

this is the price one must pay for having cutting edge technology, unfortunately...you have to deal with apple, and their prices