This is an update to the thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/479545/
Quick summary: Our four day old Macbook Air took a coffee spill and stopped functioning. I refused to do anything unethical to 'pull one over' on Apple or Citibank or my retailer to get myself a new one.
Before I give the details, I'd like to take one second to say how surprised I was at the outpouring of support, it was a VERY widely read thread! Many people congratulated me on 'doing the right thing', which I appreciated. There are a lot of good people in this world. I also had many on the other side (not present in the thread, but through PM's and people in 'real life' who I told the same thing who felt I should have tried to screw over others to benefit myself. The argument was 'c'mon, that's better than eating a large cost! Don't be stupid just return the laptop it's still within the period' etc. I don't think these people are bad people, but it really shows how self-absorbed many of us are.
With all that said, here is the final results:
The Macbook Air went back to Apple Care. They diagnosed it. Due to the coffee spill, the items that must be replaced to 'return it to Apple specifications' are a new hard drive, a new keyboard, a new logic board and a new top case. The total cost of these repairs is ~$775.
Since this laptop is for my wife's business, we faced a tough choice. First of all, we didn't have this money. Second, this is almost the cost of a refurb Macbook. We decided it made the most sense to repair it, because once repaired it is worth ~$1400-$1500. Thus, spending $775 = a value of $1400. Versus spending $850 on a refurb macbook and still only being worth around $800. So repairing the Air 'made financial sense'.
The tricky part is the cost. My wife is from England, and she hasn't been able to visit home for a long time. We have a new child, and were hoping to get our daughter over to England to visit her (very old) great grand mother. We had been setting aside money to do this, and have about $600 saved up. By stretching the budget and also blowing this savings, we can afford to repair the Air, and put off visiting England for at least another year.
Ultimately, that cup of coffee will have cost us $775 outright, as well as delaying our vacation. We will certainly be more careful next time.
The interesting end result is the 'good for sticking to your morals' people will feel sorry for us making that sacrifice, but respect our integrity. The 'screw them over' people will think we are idiots and that we should have just screwed over Apple. This seems to be one case where 'doing the right thing' means the wrong thing happens to us...(as is often the case). I'm not religious, but I have to believe that someday, somehow, maintaining integrity will pay off for us.
So, thats the end of the story! We will definitely be much, much more careful with our repaired Macbook Air when it returns from Apple Care. Thanks for listening!
/edit: OH I forgot one thing. I bought 12 shares of Apple stock at 120.9 after the 'big drop'. Today, that stock is worth 189.50 a share, meaning I've 'made' $832 on Apple stock. It is locked away in my Roth IRA, so I can't get it, but I'll just pretend the repair bill was actually a Roth IRA contribution, and the stock has just been flat the past few months. This will let me sleep easy at night.
Please post "what YOU would have done"
Quick summary: Our four day old Macbook Air took a coffee spill and stopped functioning. I refused to do anything unethical to 'pull one over' on Apple or Citibank or my retailer to get myself a new one.
Before I give the details, I'd like to take one second to say how surprised I was at the outpouring of support, it was a VERY widely read thread! Many people congratulated me on 'doing the right thing', which I appreciated. There are a lot of good people in this world. I also had many on the other side (not present in the thread, but through PM's and people in 'real life' who I told the same thing who felt I should have tried to screw over others to benefit myself. The argument was 'c'mon, that's better than eating a large cost! Don't be stupid just return the laptop it's still within the period' etc. I don't think these people are bad people, but it really shows how self-absorbed many of us are.
With all that said, here is the final results:
The Macbook Air went back to Apple Care. They diagnosed it. Due to the coffee spill, the items that must be replaced to 'return it to Apple specifications' are a new hard drive, a new keyboard, a new logic board and a new top case. The total cost of these repairs is ~$775.
Since this laptop is for my wife's business, we faced a tough choice. First of all, we didn't have this money. Second, this is almost the cost of a refurb Macbook. We decided it made the most sense to repair it, because once repaired it is worth ~$1400-$1500. Thus, spending $775 = a value of $1400. Versus spending $850 on a refurb macbook and still only being worth around $800. So repairing the Air 'made financial sense'.
The tricky part is the cost. My wife is from England, and she hasn't been able to visit home for a long time. We have a new child, and were hoping to get our daughter over to England to visit her (very old) great grand mother. We had been setting aside money to do this, and have about $600 saved up. By stretching the budget and also blowing this savings, we can afford to repair the Air, and put off visiting England for at least another year.
Ultimately, that cup of coffee will have cost us $775 outright, as well as delaying our vacation. We will certainly be more careful next time.
The interesting end result is the 'good for sticking to your morals' people will feel sorry for us making that sacrifice, but respect our integrity. The 'screw them over' people will think we are idiots and that we should have just screwed over Apple. This seems to be one case where 'doing the right thing' means the wrong thing happens to us...(as is often the case). I'm not religious, but I have to believe that someday, somehow, maintaining integrity will pay off for us.
So, thats the end of the story! We will definitely be much, much more careful with our repaired Macbook Air when it returns from Apple Care. Thanks for listening!
/edit: OH I forgot one thing. I bought 12 shares of Apple stock at 120.9 after the 'big drop'. Today, that stock is worth 189.50 a share, meaning I've 'made' $832 on Apple stock. It is locked away in my Roth IRA, so I can't get it, but I'll just pretend the repair bill was actually a Roth IRA contribution, and the stock has just been flat the past few months. This will let me sleep easy at night.
Please post "what YOU would have done"
