Genius Bar .. do they actually repair?

[mjt2810]

Hi, I am a relative newbie to Macs despite having an iphone and ipod for years.

I bought my MacBook Pro in February and the other day when trying to install Snow Leopard the disk kept ejecting after just a few seconds. A visit to Apple store to complain about a dodgy disk resulted in finding that the optical(?) drive was faulty and booked in this Friday for tech support.

Are they actually going to fix it there and then (swap over a faulty disk drive for a new one?) or just confirm there's a problem and send my MBP away?

Curious as to the process .... thanks!

 

[Vster]

From my experiences with the Genius bar, they will repair the problem in store most of the time (iMac has a faulty HDD and logic board). But there are a few problems that they may have to send the computer out for (iBook had case warping). I think with an optical drive problem the turnaround should be fast, especially if they have the part in the back. Good luck!

 

[mjt2810]

Vster .. thanks for your reply .. that's good news as I have so much stuff on it that I use everyday, couldn't dare risk being without for a while!

Was really surprised the disk has failed a. so quickly and b. actually with hardly any use .. am sure I can count on one hand the number of times it's been used!!

 

[Mactagonist]

They can repair most things in store. How fast will depend on how busy they are and how much stock they have of that particular part.

In one of the Manhattan stores (always packed) it took them 4 days to get a new Airport card installed for me. I have no complaint other then the time though, they were polite, knowledgeable and communicative the entire time.

 

[aristobrat]

Vster .. thanks for your reply .. that's good news as I have so much stuff on it that I use everyday, couldn't dare risk being without for a while!

Like Mactagonist said, even if they can do the repair in the store, they do repairs in FIFO order, so it still may take a day or two before they're able to do it.

If you reallllly can't be without your computer for a long time, Apple Stores sell a service called ProCare that gives you "first in line, first on bench" privileges (basically bumps you to the front of the line) that can really speed up repair times.