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Help with failing iMac.

T

Trowa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2011
27
0
Hi there,

I just got off the phone with Apple Technical Support and they have told me that after owning my computer for 3 years, having the graphics card fail on me twice and having to pay for those repairs, plus a ram stick failing and now my graphics card failing for a third time that they, "cannot do anything about it". The other people i have spoken to over the last few days trying to get this issue sorted have been very helpful and i did not expect this kind of response back from apple. Admittedly i probably should have bought apple care but for the amount of issues i have had with the computer i think they are being unreasonable.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the matter and what line of action i should take. I have owned PC's or over 10 years that have not gone faulty once and my iMac has had a string of failures and apple seems unwilling to do anything about it.

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant, but, understandably i'm pretty annoyed at the whole situation. So to reiterate, if anyone has any advice they could give i would be extremely grateful.

Many thanks

Trowa
 
I would contact the consumer protection bureau in your country. Such huge amount of flaws is not acceptable and if Apple does not want to do anything about it, then you must play with the big guns.
 
The computer you have, is out of warranty by 2 years. That will be a tough issue with Apple. Definitely, if you had purchased Apple Care, it would be a no brainer. Did you have the repairs done at an Apple Store?? If you did, those repairs each have a 90 Day warranty and are completely listed in their Notes, available to all stores. If you did... take your computer to an Apple Store and show it to a MAc Genius AND talk to the LEAD genius... they may try to help you. Be as calm as possible but also be completely honest and they may choose to help you.
 
Hellhammer said:
I would contact the consumer protection bureau in your country. Such huge amount of flaws is not acceptable and if Apple does not want to do anything about it, then you must play with the big guns.
Click to expand...

Thanks i will.
 
walterwhite said:
The computer you have, is out of warranty by 2 years. That will be a tough issue with Apple. Definitely, if you had purchased Apple Care, it would be a no brainer. Did you have the repairs done at an Apple Store?? If you did, those repairs each have a 90 Day warranty and are completely listed in their Notes, available to all stores. If you did... take your computer to an Apple Store and show it to a MAc Genius AND talk to the LEAD genius... they may try to help you. Be as calm as possible but also be completely honest and they may choose to help you.
Click to expand...

I took it to the local apple authorized service provider. I'm sorry but 3 graphic cards and a stick of RAM in 2-3 years is totally unacceptable in my view. I was even told to contact apple by one of the workers at the apple authorized service provider because they thought it was unacceptable also.
 
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i bet its the geforce 8800 .... and no apple care ...2 years out of warranty ....tough , but go to the local authority for consumer protection eventually its advisable to file a case ,get a lawyer and try to fight against apple , tell us if you win..which you luck
this graphic card is well known for not lasting much longer then a year it just cannot cope with hot air and so far there is not apple extended repair scheme in place , which would not help really as there fits only that card inside and it would fail again anyway at least most of them do especially if you run windows with bootcamp , because even windows pc's with that card fail

so unless i am wrong with the 8800 and you got another card inside then you might have a chance of a lasting repair
 
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MacHamster68 said:
i bet its the geforce 8800 .... and no apple care ...2 years out of warranty ....tough , but go to the local authority for consumer protection eventually its advisable to file a case ,get a lawyer and try to fight against apple , tell us if you win..which you luck
this graphic card is well known for not lasting much longer then a year it just cannot cope with hot air and so far there is not apple extended repair scheme in place , which would not help really as there fits only that card inside and it would fail again anyway at least most of them do especially if you run windows with bootcamp , because even windows pc's with that card fail

so unless i am wrong with the 8800 and you got another card inside then you might have a chance of a lasting repair
Click to expand...

yup its a geforce 8800GS....
 
i wish you lots of luck
there had even been people where the 8800gs after apple replaced the card with a new one failed again within 15 minutes after receiving the iMac again lucky for those who bought apple care , then apple is replacing without fuss , but so far there is no repair extension scheme for that issue , but apple knows like so often that there is problem , but as there is no cure for the problem as new cards fail again i doubt apple will put a repair extension scheme in place




apple care its the most important upgrade when buying a new apple product
 
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MacHamster68 said:
i wish you lots of luck
there had even been people where the 8800gs after apple replaced the card with a new one failed again within 15 minutes after receiving the iMac again lucky for those who bought apple care , then apple is replacing without fuss , but so far there is no repair extension scheme for that issue , but apple knows like so often that there is problem , but as there is no cure for the problem as new cards fail again i doubt apple will put a repair extension scheme in place




apple care its the most important upgrade when buying a new apple product
Click to expand...

whatdo you recommend my next step should be? New computer, repaired with a different hard drive?
 
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you could try to talk at a genius bar with all the staff there is around , with really a lot of luck they might change the graphics card for free , but i guess a lottery win is more likely , as i doubt that because you already said you had 2 before and both times you paid, so why should they repair for free now ?
so if you follow my advise try your best at apple genius bar , but dont be disappointed if it fails ,i would not get it repaired again as its likely to fail again , sell your iMac for spares and repair ,but best in parts as there are still parts working that bring quiet a bit money like the display for example , take whatever you get for it and buy a new iMac 21.5/27 base model or a refurbished one (depending on your budget ) and plan to buy apple care before you get any ideas about any other upgrade

no please no new thread about apple care and its importance we all know that and ...i guess the op knows that now too
 
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MacHamster68 said:
you could try to talk at a genius bar with all the staff there is around , with really a lot of luck they might change the graphics card for free , but i guess a lottery win is more likely , as i doubt that because you already said you had 2 before and both times you paid, so why should they repair for free now ?
so if you follow my advise try your best at apple genius bar , but dont be disappointed if it fails ,i would not get it repaired again as its likely to fail again , sell your iMac for spares and repair ,but best in parts as there are still parts working that bring quiet a bit money like the display for example , take whatever you get for it and buy a new iMac 21.5/27 base model or a refurbished one (depending on your budget ) and plan to buy apple care before you get any ideas about any other upgrade

no please no new thread about apple care and its importance we all know that and ...i guess the op knows that now too
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, i'm going to call customer support tomorrow. Then if that fails i'll head to my local genius bar, then i guess giving the customer protection bureau a call is my next step.

Thanks for the help

Trowa
 
I dunno...I bought my Apple Products at Best Buy

They offered GeekSquad or some such as warranty. I didn't take it because I never buy warranties on cars or any appliances. Besides, I was buying Apple and they are great.

Less than two years into iMac 24" the HD failed. Expensive.
Less than 18 months on MBP the DVD drive failed. Very Expensive.

Like you I had PC's (still have one on the floor that is 15 years old). Now I'm not saying PC's are better, it's just my luck my Apple products failed when rather new.

iPhone and iPad are great :) so far.
 
HadItWithWindow said:
They offered GeekSquad or some such as warranty. I didn't take it because I never buy warranties on cars or any appliances. Besides, I was buying Apple and they are great.

Less than two years into iMac 24" the HD failed. Expensive.
Less than 18 months on MBP the DVD drive failed. Very Expensive.

Like you I had PC's (still have one on the floor that is 15 years old). Now I'm not saying PC's are better, it's just my luck my Apple products failed when rather new.

iPhone and iPad are great :) so far.
Click to expand...

yeah my iPhone is the best phone i have ever owned. Just a shame my iMac has had constant problems. Hopefully i will get sorted asap :)
 
the magical word is "proprietary parts" are used in iMac's, like logicboards /graphics cards that will only fit in that particular type of iMac and that makes replacing the parts expensive
 
Went into the local apple store an explained the situation. New 27 inch iMac on the way :D
 
Cougarcat said:
Before you do that email sjobs@apple.com and explain the issue. It will be forwarded to people who have the power to get it fixed or give you a new computer.
Click to expand...

I don't know if he's been reading much of those being on med leave and I don't think any have popped up publicly since he took said leave. Always worth a shot though, he may be on the can when you email:D
 
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