Frustrating apple repair experience with MBP - is this typical?

[weezin]

I'm not sure where to post this, so I'm posting here.

I brought my wife's 2019 Macbook Pro in for a battery replacement and mentioned that the trackpad doesn't "click" anymore, but still works otherwise. It's as if the "force touch" setting is turned off in system preferences but otherwise works fine.

After spending 45 minutes with the computer, they told me that the battery was faulty and the trackpad was faulty, and they gave me prices. I didn't feel like paying $175 to fix the trackpad (just to get the click), so I requested to have them just replace the battery.

They refused to replace the battery without also replacing the trackpad. I asked for a manager and they also refused, saying it is Apple's policy. They couldn't really explain why, other than to say it's just the policy. They could have replaced the battery on the spot, but they needed 5 days to get the trackpad parts, and then another 5 days to replace the trackpad.

This seems absurd to me. This is akin to taking your 5 year old car into the dealer for a brake pad replacement, only to be told that they'd only do the brake replacement if they also fixed the non-working stereo, and whatever other things are broken, and otherwise send you on your way without doing the brakes.

Is this actually Apple's repair policy? Or was this store just trying to get me to pay for an expensive replacement of a part I didn't want? All they had to do was get me to sign a waiver that they explained that the trackpad was broken and I opted not to fix it in order to cover themselves.

I'm fairly sure that there is a mechanism in their system that would have allowed this, but they refused anyway. Very frustrating experience.

 

[NT1440]

Your battery is likely swelling and putting pressure on the top case (trackpad included). Battery replacements require (unless something changed) the replacement of the top case anyway.

I can’t say for sure but they may have done a poor job explaining to you what goes into a battery replacement.

 

[Dylan33x]

The frustrating part is that had you not mentioned the trackpad not working they may have done the replacement for the cost of the battery, where if I'm not mistaken they replace the top case regardless.

It is ridiculous, and it's the reason why machines that only apple can service or approve service on are not the answer. But it's where we're at unfortunately.

I would call in to apple support and ask for a battery replacement, and go from there. But anticipate not having the laptop for 2 weeks, in case the worst scenario occurs.

And obviously, back it up first.

 

[BeatCrazy]

On the 2019 MacBook Pros, replacing the battery requires replacement of entire top case, which would include the track pad.

Best Buy will give you about $500 for a 2019 MacBook Pro (more if it's 15"/16"), and they won't care about the battery or trackpad situation.

I'd go trade it in today, as they have some nice sales going on for MacBooks.

No reason to throw good money after bad at this point, Intel is not long for this world.

 

[1014399]

On principal I find that repairing comes with consumption (when you buy products, you should take proper care and try to fix what's broken) .... but I have to agree with @BeatCrazy -> apple (and APR's) make it impossible to repair on a fair basis. I've had similar experiences on different apple products. (both Macs and iPhones and iPad, so unfair but consistent)

So, if at all possible; trade in and trade up ....

 

[weezin]

It requires a whole top case replacement? Jeez, I was not aware of that. I know they are somewhat glued in, but I figured that they would just be able to take it out. It's wild (and a sign of the times) that Apple would design the computer such that the whole top case needed to be replaced for a wearable item. That is insane and a massive amount of waste.

It's also interesting that they said they could do the battery repair on the spot, but if they were going to replace the trackpad, they would have to order parts. What gives?

The frustrating part is that had you not mentioned the trackpad not working they may have done the replacement for the cost of the battery, where if I'm not mistaken they replace the top case regardless.

It is ridiculous, and it's the reason why machines that only apple can service or approve service on are not the answer. But it's where we're at unfortunately.

I would call in to apple support and ask for a battery replacement, and go from there. But anticipate not having the laptop for 2 weeks, in case the worst scenario occurs.

And obviously, back it up first.

Yeah, I was wondering if I hadn't mentioned it whether they would have charged me.

I'll try calling apple support and see what they say. Thanks.

On the 2019 MacBook Pros, replacing the battery requires replacement of entire top case, which would include the track pad.

Best Buy will give you about $500 for a 2019 MacBook Pro (more if it's 15"/16"), and they won't care about the battery or trackpad situation.

I'd go trade it in today, as they have some nice sales going on for MacBooks.

No reason to throw good money after bad at this point, Intel is not long for this world.

I didn't realize the trade in value would be as high as that. We generally like to keep our devices a long time and get the most out of them, but as we all know, at some point it doesn't make financial sense to pump more money into an older product. It's a bummer. Edit: I'm seeing a $400 or $475 trade in value for the machine, depending upon which "model" I choose (that are described exactly the same).

 

[BeatCrazy]

I didn't realize the trade in value would be as high as that. We generally like to keep our devices a long time and get the most out of them, but as we all know, at some point it doesn't make financial sense to pump more money into an older product. It's a bummer. Edit: I'm seeing a $400 or $475 trade in value for the machine, depending upon which "model" I choose (that are described exactly the same).

You didn't say which exact 2019 you have, but I picked the lowest-spec model and get $500. If you're gonna go the trade-in route, I'd recommend doing it today. The Best Buy sale on the base M2 Air (8GB/256GB - I assume matches your MBP) is on sale today for $849. The M2 Air will outperform the 2019 13" Pro in every way, shape and form.

 

[weezin]

You didn't say which exact 2019 you have, but I picked the lowest-spec model and get $500. If you're gonna go the trade-in route, I'd recommend doing it today. The Best Buy sale on the base M2 Air (8GB/256GB - I assume matches your MBP) is on sale today for $849. The M2 Air will outperform the 2019 13" Pro in every way, shape and form.
View attachment 2368436

That's very weird. Her machine is a 2019 Macbook Pro 13" with the i5, 8gb, 256gb storage. The most I can get on the site is $475, but they also seem to have like 3 different "models" with those specs, so I can't know which one is correct.

 

[BeatCrazy]

That's very weird. Her machine is a 2019 Macbook Pro 13" with the i5, 8gb, 256gb storage. The most I can get on the site is $475, but they also seem to have like 3 different "models" with those specs, so I can't know which one is correct.

Just take it into Best Buy, and work with the person at the counter until they pick/configure it for $500 like I've shown above. They may even be able to type in that SKU (from my screenshot above), directly.

 

[tornadowrangler]

On the 2019 MacBook Pros, replacing the battery requires replacement of entire top case, which would include the track pad.

Best Buy will give you about $500 for a 2019 MacBook Pro (more if it's 15"/16"), and they won't care about the battery or trackpad situation.

I'd go trade it in today, as they have some nice sales going on for MacBooks.

No reason to throw good money after bad at this point, Intel is not long for this world.

So then why did they quote a price to "Fix" the trackpad if it was going to be replaced anyway?

 

[BeatCrazy]

So then why did they quote a price to "Fix" the trackpad if it was going to be replaced anyway?

Probably because they have to put it on the work order. Remember everything at Apple is done “by the book” unless you get someone willing/smart enough to do the right thing. This is not a knock on Apple retail employees, they’ve always done right by me.

 

[tornadowrangler]

Probably because they have to put it on the work order. Remember everything at Apple is done “by the book” unless you get someone willing/smart enough to do the right thing. This is not a knock on Apple retail employees, they’ve always done right by me.

I don't buy it. Something fishy. I worked at an Apple Store for a summer and don't remember everything being all that "by the book" when it came to making customers happy. But hey, that was back when Jobs was CEO. Things could have definitely changed.

 

[bob_zz123]

Oh it definitely is now, when I worked for them (around 15 years ago) there was a lot of leeway to do what you wanted to make customers happy, but there isn't now, it's very by-the-book. Some people found dealing with the change frustrating (including myself) but I think, on balance, it's probably right because it led to different treatment based on exactly which member of staff you talked to on a particular day.

 

[BellSystem]

Service isn’t what it once was. When I did this back in 2002 we had the ability to do whatever we wanted pretty much. When we did warranty work often times the customer got more repairs than they asked for. If we saw any issues we’d fix them. I replaced tons of iBook clamshell top covers because the trackpad was worn. Customers loved getting new plastics unexpectedly. I would also replace peoples broken doors on PowerBooks. Back then we were trying to be the best out there. Today they aren’t the same and seem very controlled. I remember when AppleCare had free in home repairs. Had my 8100 fixed on my dining room table by a tech.

 

[jlc1978]

They refused to replace the battery without also replacing the trackpad. I asked for a manager and they also refused, saying it is Apple's policy. They couldn't really explain why, other than to say it's just the policy. They could have replaced the battery on the spot, but they needed 5 days to get the trackpad parts, and then another 5 days to replace the trackpad.

It may b to avoid situations where a customer brings in a Mac with a broken part, gets a battery replacement, then claims Apple broke the other part. You were being straight forward and honest, but I'm guessing Apple will not let stores just fix one thing even if they note other issues.

 

[Fishrrman]

Either pay the extra $175 for the trackpad (if you want to keep it)...
or...
Trade it in for a new one (the Best Buy suggestion above was good).

(that wasn't so hard, was it...?)

 

[weezin]

It may b to avoid situations where a customer brings in a Mac with a broken part, gets a battery replacement, then claims Apple broke the other part. You were being straight forward and honest, but I'm guessing Apple will not let stores just fix one thing even if they note other issues.

That must be the reason. Since Apple does diagnostics on every device before working on it, they would have found the broken part prior to doing any work on it, so all they needed to do was present to me the broken parts, and if I didn't want one of the things fixed, make me sign a waiver that they told me the part was broken but that I refused to fix it. This is standard practice elsewhere and avoids trouble.

Probably because they have to put it on the work order. Remember everything at Apple is done “by the book” unless you get someone willing/smart enough to do the right thing. This is not a knock on Apple retail employees, they’ve always done right by me.

What I don't get is that they said they could fix the battery on the spot, but in order to fix the trackpad, they would have to order parts. If the trackpad usually comes for "free" with the battery / topcase replacement, why would they have to order parts? My guess based on that is that the top case replacement uses the customer's swapped-over trackpad.

Just take it into Best Buy, and work with the person at the counter until they pick/configure it for $500 like I've shown above. They may even be able to type in that SKU (from my screenshot above), directly.

I really appreciate the heads up on this. I ended up taking the machine to Best Buy last night, getting a $475 trade in (the best I found and the best they found) and bought an on-sale M2 Macbook Air. The total cost I paid was around the same cost to have Apple replace the battery and trackpad, which is wild.

My wife really didn't want or need a new computer but this ended up making the most sense. Thanks!

 

[BeatCrazy]

I really appreciate the heads up on this. I ended up taking the machine to Best Buy last night, getting a $475 trade in (the best I found and the best they found) and bought an on-sale M2 Macbook Air. The total cost I paid was around the same cost to have Apple replace the battery and trackpad, which is wild.

My wife really didn't want or need a new computer but this ended up making the most sense. Thanks!

That's great! Plus you will probably have 8 years of macOS support, and you have a fresh battery + warranty. I played around for a good amount with my wife's M2 Air yesterday, very nice machine, especially for the price.

 

[LaterWolf]

You didn't say which exact 2019 you have, but I picked the lowest-spec model and get $500. If you're gonna go the trade-in route, I'd recommend doing it today. The Best Buy sale on the base M2 Air (8GB/256GB - I assume matches your MBP) is on sale today for $849. The M2 Air will outperform the 2019 13" Pro in every way, shape and form.
View attachment 2368436

Thats the 13"
I think the 16 would be higher

 

[Imperial926]

I had a similar issue in the UK. £200 and 2 weeks for a simple battery replacement. Mine was a 2016 and after taking it home resigned to just operate on a cable (despite less than 60 cycles) I finally acquired flexgate as well. Result? I still love Apple products but I will not spend more than I need to and will assume they won't go reliably past 5 years. I have bought a base level M3 13" MacBook Air which is great and more than meets my needs. It cost me half what I spent on the 2016 MacBook Pro. I have learnt my lesson.
If Apple want me to spend more they will need to have a much improved repair facility at reasonable prices. As a result of buying the M3 I took £6000 worth of Apple's redundant kit to be recycled. All the laptops failed due to design flaws and not through misuse.

With all that said, I'm still buying Apple because the products are potentially great. My new M3 Air is fabulous and all the more so because I haven't thrown a ton of money at upgrades.

 

[AlmightyKang]

I've learned over the years to hit it with AppleCare and when the 3 years is up, make sure all these problems are someone else's!

Still better than Lenovo. They took my old T495 away for repair, lost it and I had to take them to small claims court to get money back after they completely stopped talking to me.

 

[Woyzeck]

Well, Apple's repair policies are very weird to say the least. I brought my iPad Pro in for battery replacement, which in reality means that they swap it with a refurbished one as the battery can't be replaced and that came at a reasonable low three-digit-price. However as the action button didn't work they wanted to bill about EUR 500 for the repair, which would be at exactly the same cost for them. I never misused the device and the action button just stopped working.

Somehow disappointing.

I remember the good old days when Thinkpads were still produced by IBM. Whenever you had a problem they would send a service technician who'd fix it on-site. All that covered by something comparable to Apple Care's price. Those guys were available worldwide and they even visited me in my hotel room during a business trip just to replace the screen.

 

[AlmightyKang]

I remember the good old days when Thinkpads were still produced by IBM. Whenever you had a problem they would send a service technician who'd fix it on-site. All that covered by something comparable to Apple Care's price. Those guys were available worldwide and they even visited me in my hotel room during a business trip just to replace the screen.

They still do that at Lenovo. Except they replaced the guys with small furry gremlins who make the problem worse, if they can find where you are.