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FYI, I am in Europe. Had a 2.3 GHz 2012 with 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD, and a US keyboard.

10/07: Genius appointment
10/07: First call from Apple for card details, confirming 2015 model replacement
13/07: Second call from Apple, confirming switch to 2017 model. Credit card charged for €209

Thanks. When did you finally receive the new Macbook? And in what country did you do this if I may ask?
 
Thanks. When did you finally receive the new Macbook? And in what country did you do this if I may ask?

I'm still waiting for it – they told me 2 to 3 weeks. Also in the NL.

If this upgrade happened a month ago, I probably wouldn't have bought my new iMac that I got when they were updated. I went in to the store expecting nothing more than a new battery, so that I could keep my old laptop running for another few years. So I'm pretty stoked with this.

Oh well, having bought the iMac kind of offsets the guilt of this ridiculously good customer service.
 
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I'm still waiting for it – they told me 2 to 3 weeks. Also in the NL.

If this upgrade happened a month ago, I probably wouldn't have bought my new iMac that I got when they were updated. I went in to the store expecting nothing more than a new battery, so that I could keep my old laptop running for another few years. So I'm pretty stoked with this.

Oh well, having bought the iMac kind of offsets the guilt of this ridiculously good customer service.
Awesome! I'm from NL as well so great to hear they use the same policy here :)
Did they allow you to take your old macbook home until the new one is in stock? Or are you without macbook for a few weeks now?
 
Awesome! I'm from NL as well so great to hear they use the same policy here :)
Did they allow you to take your old macbook home until the new one is in stock? Or are you without macbook for a few weeks now?

They let me keep it until the replacement comes in. I assume that's a standard policy when parts are on back-order.

If you're currently in the same process, the exact replacement that you get might still depend on your keyboard. e.g. if you have a Dutch keyboard and they still have stock of those machines from 2015, you'll get an older model. I have a US keyboard, so maybe I lucked out (though I don't mean to imply that getting a 2015 refurb is bad luck!).
 
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They let me keep it until the replacement comes in. I assume that's a standard policy when parts are on back-order.

If you're currently in the same process, the exact replacement that you get might still depend on your keyboard. e.g. if you have a Dutch keyboard and they still have stock of those machines from 2015, you'll get an older model. I have a US keyboard, so maybe I lucked out (though I don't mean to imply that getting a 2015 refurb is bad luck!).
I'm liking your story more and more. I too have a US keyboard (the only correct layout imho :p ). Would be awesome if I can get it arrange this weekend, take home my macbook and use it on vacation. And when I return from vacation swap it for a brand new one. Only thing is that I replaced the 256GB SSD with a 512GB ssd, curious to what they'll say about that :p

Anyways, thanks for sharing, now it's fingers crossed.
 
I suspect you'll have to revert the MBP back to original config if you upgraded the drive yourself. Maybe someone else here can confirm.
 
@pposthoorn , I would recommend swapping the original SSD back in, if you still have it. They won't give you a 512 GB 2017 model just because you upgraded it – their policy is equal to (or better than) the original spec from the factory.

If you don't have the original, and your 512 GB one is not an Apple SSD, they might refuse to do the swap for a new / refurb model. Apple refurbish the parts to use for other repairs. If yours doesn't have an Apple SSD, they might not like that.

Also, don't wait too long to bring it in for service. We don't know when Apple will stop offering these replacements. I wouldn't be surprised if they discontinue this offer in early-mid August, because then it's only a couple of weeks until the new batteries parts are back in stock.
 
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Agreed Moriarty - I'm quite surprised they didn't shut it down earlier due to the large numbers of people flooding in for a battery replacement. Must be costing them quite a bit.

I posted a thank you letter to Apple this morning. I could have emailed - but a proper letter seems more appropriate!
 
Agreed Moriarty - I'm quite surprised they didn't shut it down earlier due to the large numbers of people flooding in for a battery replacement. Must be costing them quite a bit.

There's probably a few people who have bought used machines and flipped them to make a profit, but taking advantage of this multiple times for profit is not really a nice thing to do.

I haven't seen anything about this outside of Reddit and Macrumors, so I guess only Apple could say exactly how many more people than usual have been asking for new batteries in the last month or two. Although they have run out of 2015 dGPU refurbs, they also stopped making those machines about a year ago.

Although it is an extraordinarily generous offer, it also seems to be an unprecedented combination of circumstances. If there was a shortage of logic boards, it's uncommon for a logic board to fail so we probably wouldn't hear much about it. But a lot of people's batteries are failing when they're 5 years old, and under normal circumstances, few people would bother to get them replaced. So there's a lot more incentive to talk about this issue.

If someone has a dying battery, it seems fair to expect that they could get a replacement within a week or two. Especially if they need more battery life for work! Same goes for the logic board, or any other component that is not performing properly. It would be really poor customer service to tell those customers that they'll either have to come back in 2–3 months, or buy a new machine at their own expense. Especially since the complexity of battery replacements is Apple's own doing. Yeah, this is great service – but it's also what I would expect. It's Apple's fault for not keeping stock of spare parts until the machines are officially obsolete.
 
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@pposthoorn , I would recommend swapping the original SSD back in, if you still have it. They won't give you a 512 GB 2017 model just because you upgraded it – their policy is equal to (or better than) the original spec from the factory.

If you don't have the original, and your 512 GB one is not an Apple SSD, they might refuse to do the swap for a new / refurb model. Apple refurbish the parts to use for other repairs. If yours doesn't have an Apple SSD, they might not like that.

Also, don't wait too long to bring it in for service. We don't know when Apple will stop offering these replacements. I wouldn't be surprised if they discontinue this offer in early-mid August, because then it's only a couple of weeks until the new batteries parts are back in stock.
I swapped my 256GB ssd for a 512GB ssd from another retina macbook. This was years ago and I have no idea what the other person did with his macbook or where he is. So no way to revert the change.
It is an original Apple ssd though, so that shouldn't be a problem I hope. If they offer me a 256GB model that would be a bummer, although I might ask if I can upgrade to a 1TB anyways. A few years back I promised myself that my next macbook would have at least 1TB as 512GB is just not enough for me anymore :p
I guess I'll know more this Sunday.
 
This thread is just marvelous. It's filled with intensely happy people who received a brand new MacBook for basically nothing 5 years after purchase.
I have a first batch retina with bad battery myself so I'm thinking about taking it in, too bad I found this thread just now because I'm going on vacation on Monday :p I made an appointment for this Sunday but I'm unsure if I should go (I need to bring my Mac with my on vacation).

Are there experiences here from people in Europe who successfully received a new laptop?

Don’t worry, they’ll let you hold onto your old one if they need some time to get the replacement in. Just go! You may have your replacement ready by the time you come back from your trip.
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I only have two reservations about going in with my 2012.

a) I live 90 minutes from the closest Genius bar.
b) I use BootCamp to load Windows and am scared to be thrown back from my upgraded 1TB to a 256GB model. (I could live with a 512, if necessary)

They’ll offer you one with equal specs so you’ll probably get a 1TB model. Lucky you!
 
Mine failed the battery test at just under 80% capacity and they offered the CRU. Genius kept saying he had to send mine off to the repair center before the replacement would be ordered (even when I asked him to check on this). So I signed out of the cloud and he started a re-install of MacOS only to return shortly and report the procedures had changed and they were looking into what to do. I hope I'll get to keep mine until the replacement arrives, and will have to do a Time Machine Backup when I get back home.
 
I have a Late 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 13inch
Cycle count of 75
and battery is at 95% capacity..
nothing to worry about?
 
I heard the late 2013s have a different battery anyway and it only applied with 2012 and early 2013.
 
The Apple Store here in Norfolk, VA took 3 hours to figure all this out and told me this was the first time for them to do this. I was able to keep my rMBP and didn't have to restore from Time Machine Backup, only logged back into iCloud. They took my credit card info and told me someone would call me when the replacement ships and then my card would be charged approximately $210. I'm so glad I stumbled across this thread by accident.
 
Argh, I just discovered that I accidentally made an appointment with an Authorised Apple Service Provider (AASP) instead of a real Apple Store.

It's really hard to get a genius bar appointment for a MacBook here, there are never any available time slots.

I guess it's useless to go to the AASP for this issue?
 
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