MacBook Woes

[n01]

I recently bought a new MacBook (about 3 weeks ago)

Last night, I unplugged it, shut it down and went to bed. When I woke up it wouldn't turn on. Very bizarre.

Now, I've tried all the "fixes" suggested on the Apple site, but I'm thinking I need to take it in somewhere to get it fixed. I looked up online and the closest place I could find was just south of Edinburgh.

This would cost me maybe £25 to ship it there (and back)?

1. I don't think I should pay for something faulty (if this is the case). Of course I wouldn't pay for the part (warranty) but I would have to pay for the shipping. Is that right?

2. Is there any better option?

Any ideas or past experience?

[Malcolm]

No, if it's as little as 3 weeks old surely it can go back to Apple? You'll be under warranty. I'd say giving it to an external repair centre might actually invalidate your warranty.

That said, I've heard a lot of reports of dodgy Macbooks and MBPros...

[Fawksie]

There are bugger all non-certified repair centres left, so if you send it to, say, ScotSys, the warranty won't be invalidated. My first machine died outright and Apple paid for it to be shipped to their service centre, where the mainboard was replaced. Later, still under warranty, it developed a horrible backlight flicker. Apple refused to do anything, said that there was no way the machine should ever have been brought to their centre in the first place, and that any future work under warranty should be carried out by the local Authorised Service Provider. I brought it to MacSys in NI, who didn't have a single engineer on the premises the day I was there. They ended up keeping it on the bench for observation for over two weeks, during which time they responded to my phonecalls with increasing levels of rudeness and lies, making me obtain a service authorisation from Apple twice, telling me that they had no obligation to fix the machine despite it being brought to them as an ASP, under warranty, and threatening to bill me for their time. Eventually they left a message telling me that they weren't going to do the work and demanding that I come and remove the machine from their premises. After more argument it was eventually sent to Apple, who replaced the display. Except they didn't just replace the display, they swapped my entire top half for a second-hand one complete with gouges, stripped every external case screw and fucked up the reassembly, putting pressure on the optical drive and destroying it. And the flicker remained. It was sent back to be reinstated, and after two months of bitching and fighting with them, they replaced the entire machine. Then it had a RAM failure, within warranty, and they wanted me to send it to ScotSys, out of my own pocket. More wrangling ensued and they ended up paying for it.

In brief, Apple build quality and service is abysmal, expect nothing but grief from the cunts.

[Guest]

www.fixmymac.co.uk
This guy is excelent with macs and probably one of the nicest guys. He's worked on both mine and my flatmates backs and even brought them back to st andrews. If it's still under warranty then I'd go through those official channels but if now def. give this guy a call.

[mrkev]

Have you tried taking it to it services they have a guy there that has been working on macs for 20 years and is quite good at fixing these things.

[n01]

Quoting mrkev from 13:34, 17th Apr 2007
Have you tried taking it to it services they have a guy there that has been working on macs for 20 years and is quite good at fixing these things.

i sent it out - turned out it was a logic board that was fucked. at least it's now and not after the warranty.