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Not too long ago, I went to the Apple store to get my MacBook Pro looked at for a faulty key and degraded trackpad. As I had a Genius diagnose the issue, the sc

Not too long ago, I went to the Apple store to get my MacBook Pro looked at for a faulty key and degraded trackpad. As I had a Genius diagnose the issue, the screen brightness of my iPhone 7 had dropped nearly completely. While it was true that the glass of the screen had cracked due to a fall, the phone had operated just fine for many months since. The Genius told me it was likely a display issue while I told him it's much more likely a software issue. The Genius gave me the unfortunate advice of restarting the phone by holding down the power button and the lower volume button. The phone restarted, with the Apple logo in full brightness but would turn black when it came to logging in. Pity, since my password is too long to type it in without visual aide. The Genius told me that to repair the display was $200+. I scoffed at the price and told him it's not the display, and it was unacceptable as I planned on buying the iPhone 12 next month. The manager came by and made it clear there's no room to budge on the price. I resigned and left the device with them. When I was called in to pick up my phone, they told me that replacing the display did not work, so now my option was either to upgrade or to buy another iPhone 7 for $400+. I told them that's unacceptable and that it's clear it's not the hardware. I told them I am immersed in their ecosystem and I would easily spent another $2000 this year and to cut me a break. They told me, take it or leave it. I took the phone back and started making my way home. Descending into the metro, I walked past an ill-lit part of the platform. I looked at my phone again and realized I could faintly make out the log in screen. I typed in my password, logged in, went to control center and raised the brightness back up. Perfect. Now, even if I lower the brightness to its lowest setting, it works as normal. Not only is Apple's moves to cut out 3rd party repairs egregious, their own solutions and staff are rife with incompetence and their offer to you once you've immersed yourself into their ecosystem is, "Money now or go away". I am not buying the iPhone 12 and my next machine will run Linux.

sdfhbdf 6y ago
I had the same issue with iPhone 7 this August. I ended up letting the battery deplete leaving it for some time and then recharging it and that helped. I couldnt brighten the screen :( because of the Apple logo being at full Brightness i was also positive its software not hardware
sebmellen 6y ago
The iPhone 7 is a mess. I had the same issue with my screen, and now the iPhone's camera has stopped working, only a few months past Apple's warranty (I bought the phone recently). I go in to the "Genius Bar", and they tell me it's a $150 repair. I brought up that the issue had only started 2 months out of warranty and that I could buy a new iPhone 7 on eBay for $200. No budge, they offered me a $100 trade-in value for an iPhone 11. $100 trade-in value and they want to charge me $150 for repairs??? What? I am going to iFixIt as the issue seems common, it's just a ribbon that is attached weakly that pops off of the attachment. The camera is still working.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  It's a 4 years old phone. A non Apple phone that told doesn't even have a supported OS with security updates. Mass production is cheaper than custom repair labor. You're spending more than $150 on your own time fix it (which is great, you have that skill).
est31 6y ago
I understand and am sympathetic with your experience, but note that Apple targets the part of the market which is affluent and also ready to spend money. That's why they can turn a profit for so few units sold vs the rest of the market which sells phones that have far more "bang for the buck". If you own apple shares in any reasonable quantity, the increases of this year alone should reward you for it 3 times over.
- harlanji 6y ago
  I have gotten pretty comfortable fixing stuff myself. I almost want to stock replacement everything for my ‘16 SE. I don’t break it much, and I’ve got some razor’s edge stories. Super cheap, come with all the tools. Done screen w/ full sensor transfer, battery. I’m with parent on the price point thing, and no doubt if aftermarket goes away then hackers will too. I keep a separate work phone anyway, employers have never had a problem issuing one if I need to be reachable. iPhone from employer, bunnie or something for me.
qz2 6y ago
Honestly the bit that kills me is being thoroughly buggered for cash. And that is being forced down your neck even more regularly these days, particularly on the back of failures. When it came to upgrade time this year I skipped buying a mid-range iMac, built a hefty Ryzen desktop instead and had enough spare change to buy a Lenovo T495s. It’s phone upgrade time in January. I don’t know which way to turn yet.
- sharken 6y ago
  In the same situation here, have an iPhone 11 that is due to be replaced. The iPhone 12 is lighter but has worse battery life, so that one is out. The Sony Xperia 5 II is the current favorite as it has very good battery life and no annoying notch. And the recent Apple vs Epic case is making the switch easier.
  - whytaka 6y ago
    I'll definitely consider a Sony for my next purchase. I wish they'd bring back that super-compact design they had years earlier.
    - sharken 6y ago
      The current display tech required for a compact phone is quite expensive at the moment. Some phones do exist already such as these: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-z-flip/ https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-z-flip/ Motorola razr 2020 https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-razr https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-razr
- shaicoleman 6y ago
  I got the Xiaomi 9T Pro (variant of the K20 Pro) when it was released, it's one of the very few phones that fulfill my criteria for a phone that would last a long time * Repairable (modular design, pull-tabs for battery) * Good build quality (JerryRigEverything approved) * Rootable * Stable software, with long term vendor software updates * Active community for ROMs (if the vendor stops supporting the phone) * 3.5mm jack (with an excellent DAC) * Relatively compact * Flat screen, no notch/holepunch. Curved screens are more fragile and are more expensive to replace. * Good battery life * Spare parts available (e.g. main camera for $15 shipped) * Cheap * Decent processor, RAM and storage There are some downsides, so not for everyone: * Comes with bloatware, some of it can only be disabled with root * Rooting is a pain * Spare parts in China, so might take a while to arrive * Launcher is not great, but can be easily replaced * Camera is not best in class
maccard 6y ago
I moved from apple to android a few years ago, hoping the grass would be greener. I hoped I was leaving behind a locked in ecosystem with hard to repair devices for a more open ecosystem where competition would improve quality. Android is a fat mess, with flagship phones from premium manufacturers being incompatible with various OS features, and devices from different manufacturers being incompatible in ways that never happened in the iOS ecosystem. If you want a full blown "Android" experience, you end up buying all google devices, and in my experience google support are as bad if not worse than Apple. I have a pixel 3 phone from Google that is still under manufacturers warranty. The power button seems to have gotten stuck, and maybe once or twice a day it gets stuck in a reboot loop, and in that process the phone gets _hot_ and ends up running the battery to 0. It's happened when I'm driving too. Google's advice has been a factory reset, or a replacement device for $300. They claim I must have dropped it, or otherwise mistreated it and as far as they're concerned that's that. So here I am, 2 years later with a $700 android phone, contemplating an iPhone 12 because the situation is no different on the other side...
- toper-centage 6y ago
  I damaged the charging port on my android phone. I paid 20 euros plus shipping for a new bottom module and used the screw driver provided by the manufacturer to open the phone and replace it. If you care about repairable phones... Buy a repairable phone, instead of a "flagship".
  - maccard 6y ago
    Ah yes, blaming the customer for making an uninformed choice when the information about whether my choice is informed or not isn't available. If repairability was top of my list, I'd be using 4-5 year old device that's proven repairable. Silly me, I tried to be "reliable" and choose a samsung - you know the largest manufacturer of Android phones, and when that didn't work out for me I tried Google - the people who make the software. If your advice to people is to avoid all of the premier manufacturers, I think that shows that the ecosystem has major problems, no?
    - deleted 6y ago
csomar 6y ago
I had the same issue with the Macbook Pro battery. The laptop is just a couple months beyond the 1-year warranty and Apple did not recognize it as their fault. Needless to say, I'm happy now with Archlinux despite it took a while to set the whole thing up. I don't think I'll be buying any more Apple laptops but for phones, I don't think Android is doing any better.
- cmckn 6y ago
  Not sure when this happened, but many credit cards offer an additional year of warranty protection if you purchase electronics on them. I had a $750 motherboard replacement reimbursed on a MacBook recently when it was 2 months out of warranty. Worth looking into!
  - csomar 6y ago
    Good Point. But it was purchased with a debit card. Good reason to always use the Credit Card.
albertzeyer 6y ago
Interestingly, I had a very similar issue with my Pixel 3 in the past. The display was just black and it did not responded (I thought). Restarting it displayed the Google logo and then went black again. I was outside at the time, on a sunny day. I thought about this possibility of low brightness setting, but it was so dark that I could really not see anything (even when covering it with hands, getting in a dark corner somewhere), so I thought it must be some other problem. Later when I was back home, in a dark room, I noticed that I could barely see it again. Then just setting the display brightness higher again fixed it. I'm still not sure though if the brightness was just at the minimal level, and that is just too low outside to see anything, or if it was even lower than usual, similarly as you describe.
johnchristopher 6y ago
If I understood the story correctly, you are out of 200 bucks because they replaced the screen instead of acknowledging the software glitch ?
- whytaka 6y ago
  Actually no, they did me the favor of reinstalling my cracked screen before giving it back to me.
thebruce87m 6y ago
Sounds to me like there were two issues: 1) Hardware problem with the light sensor that was fixed when they swapped the display (might be built in and therefore replaced too, or maybe the crack was obscuring it?) 2) After the hardware problem was fixed, they didn’t think to check the brightness, or forgot to do part of the procedure. My guess is that the boot process ignores the light sensor and just sets full brightness, much like your fans going to full tilt (or at least a safe default) on your PC when you first boot. Not defending apple here btw - but I don’t think it was purely a software issue at the beginning.
- whytaka 6y ago
  They had actually reinstalled the cracked screen before giving it back to me.
  - ljm 6y ago
    Did they return your 200 bucks as well?
    - whytaka 6y ago
      Thankfully, I did not pay the $200. The fee is charged after delivery when the customer accepts the changes made. And there were no changes to accept.
  - alisonkisk 6y ago
    That could unblock a blocked light sensor due to shifting of the broken screen.
    - whytaka 6y ago
      It's not out of the realm of possibility but it seems extremely unlikely. Also, the part of the light sensor is not cracked.
    - thebruce87m 6y ago
      Yes, or they broke something themselves and replaced it, or fixed a loose cable without realising. There are so many possibilities but trying to get a shop worker to agree that it’s a software bug is going to be tough. My experience with these sort of things is that companies will generally do the opposite - make you do software resets for things that are obviously hardware issues.
neya 6y ago
Not speaking in support of Apple here, but just like any other manufacturer, their support quality varies with location. I was in Singapore, took my broken screen Macbook Pro for repair and I was quoted something that costed half the price of the machine for the replacement as they mentioned the motherboard also had to be replaced for some reason. That very month, I had to fly to India for some work and I decided to ask a local authorized Apple service outlet. The guy changed the display for me at no charge. The machine was out of warranty by atleast a year at that point. But still, Apple honored that warranty. Six months later, I got a blue tint on my display and the guy did another replacement free of cost because the replacement display he gave me was faulty. I spent $0. Many Apple service outlets are pretty good, especially in Asia - Singapore has some good outlets too apart from the one I went to, HK, China all have very knowledgeable people running these outlets too. Here's another one - I currently own a Samsung S10 phone. One of the speakers became bleak and service center A refused to honor the warranty because the phone had "water damage". It is an IP68 water proof rated phone. How the fuck can it have water damage? Especially when the phone is working just fine, except for the top speaker being bleak. Service center B did the job of speaker replacement in under 2 hours. This is the reality. My point is, service centers are like any other business, some people are knowledgeable, some people are spiteful, some people are stupid. So how do you figure out which ones are good and bad? My simple rule of thumb is ask around your extended family, usually they will know someone who they can refer you to. Referral based jobs are the best, since there is an element of personal touch involved. If not, scan for google reviews of the place to find the ratio of positive and negative reviews. Read the negative reviews especially as its a good indicator of the center's competence.
- shorts_theory 6y ago
  I've had a good experience with Apple Singapore (Wheelock Place) as well. I was even able to get a loaner iPhone 6 for a week when I gave my OG SE in for repair due to a display issue causing the screen to slightly pop out of its frame. Quite understandably (but somewhat to my dismay), they wouldn't give me a loaner iPhone 8 instead.
- oefrha 6y ago
  In my experience Apple still has the most haggle-free support experience and offers full replacements often and quite willingly, but whether you land on a no-questions-asked-replacement issue is luck-based. A few years ago I had an iPhone whose mute switch would flip off on its own after 1.5 years of use. Went to an Apple Store in U.S. Northeast, described the issue in a sentence, handed it over, and five seconds later the bro told me I was getting a full replacement, which was in my hands three minutes later. Then, in early 2019, my iPad Pro was having this occasional touch-not-registering issue, which to this day I’m not sure if it’s software or hardware. It also had a tiny tiny strip of dead pixels tucked in a corner, which was only noticeable when using a video player. I brought it into the Apple Store, this time somewhere in Asia, mainly for the touch issue, but casually mentioned the dead pixels since I was already there. Ended up getting a full replacement, and the lady told me it was lucky that this minor display issue was present, otherwise it would be hard to fix and basically impossible to get a replacement for that hard to reproduce and hard to diagnose touch issue.
vaccinator 6y ago
Did they still make you pay for the $200 for the screen? I wish I could get a phone with plain Linux but I don't think that my carrier (Comcast Mobile) supports any of them. I once used an unsupported phone, and the 4G would work for only a few minutes after a reboot (so it probably is an artificial problem).
- whytaka 6y ago
  In fact, they reinstalled the cracked screen before giving it back to me.
- ece 6y ago
  This seems curious, any unlocked phone regardless of OS should work on any network. Tech support should be able to help you with connection issues, and if not, I would try a different carrier.
  - vaccinator 6y ago
    Yes it should but it doesn't... a new carrier would probably be the easiest option.
avgcodemonkey 6y ago
The right speaker on my 2016 MacBook Pro blew out recently, and is the third time a speaker has blown out. Every time a speaker blew out, it was preceded by the exact same sequence of events: I open the lid of the computer, the machine starts making buzzing sounds as a notification sound starts playing, and one of the speakers blows out. Note that Apple engineered the hardware so that the speakers are glued to the top case, so replacing either speaker entails replacing the whole top case, which includes the left and right speakers, the keyboard, the trackpad and the battery. An out-of-warranty top case replacement for the 2016 MacBook Pro costs $600. My machine was now out of warranty, but the same exact thing happened just a little over three months prior and Apple did a repair by replacing the top case. I called to see if Apple would be willing to extend the 90-day warranty for repaired parts just a bit. The call was transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that it was the left speaker that was blown out last time, and it was the right speaker that was blown out this time, so they considered this to be a completely separate incident and there was no 90-day coverage at all for the right speaker to begin with. I would have to spend $600 to get this fixed, and the supervisor would not budge on the price, either. I am infuriated because even though they replaced the top case, which, to emphasize, includes all of the parts glued to it - the left and right speakers, as well as the keyboard, the trackpad, and the battery, they do not consider the right speaker to be a component in the same part as the left speaker. Even more infuriating is how Apple glues parts to the case so they can charge exorbitant amounts of money for out-of-warranty repairs. It also allows their staff to suggest braindead quick-fix solutions equivalent to "pay to replace the whole thing or go away," without actually diagnosing the real problem. I say this because the fact that a speaker blowing out was always preceded by the exact same sequence of events suggests to me that something else may be faulty, but the Apple technicians have never bothered to diagnose what the real problem was. I am also immersed in Apple's ecosystem and I was ready to trade this computer in and buy a new 16-inch MacBook Pro this year once a new one comes out, given the myriads of issues I've had with my machine (it has also needed three display replacements and one keyboard replacement). I was also ready to buy the new iPad Air. Now I've decided I won't buy the new iPad Air, and my next computer will likely not run macOS.
m463 6y ago
I just watched this video https://youtu.be/EATdYG7h9IQ https://youtu.be/EATdYG7h9IQ starting at ~ 11:35 it shows how a lot of track pad issues are resolved.
allarm 6y ago
I repaired 2 of my MacBooks during the last couple of years - one had a butterfly keyboard issue and another had a swallen battery. Both times it took 1-2 days and both times their support was amazing. The best part of it - both times I did not pay a cent for the repairs, it was all known issues. In the swallen battery case they replaced a keyboard and the touchpad module as well, and the laptop was not even under warranty anymore. I guess my case is a bit different from yours, but I was very satisfied with their technical competence as well. I suppose it depends on the country in the end, in my case it was Singapore.

sdfhbdf 6y ago

I had the same issue with iPhone 7 this August. I ended up letting the battery deplete leaving it for some time and then recharging it and that helped. I couldnt brighten the screen :( because of the Apple logo being at full Brightness i was also positive its software not hardware

sebmellen 6y ago

The iPhone 7 is a mess. I had the same issue with my screen, and now the iPhone's camera has stopped working, only a few months past Apple's warranty (I bought the phone recently). I go in to the "Genius Bar", and they tell me it's a $150 repair. I brought up that the issue had only started 2 months out of warranty and that I could buy a new iPhone 7 on eBay for $200. No budge, they offered me a $100 trade-in value for an iPhone 11. $100 trade-in value and they want to charge me $150 for repairs??? What? I am going to iFixIt as the issue seems common, it's just a ribbon that is attached weakly that pops off of the attachment. The camera is still working.

alisonkisk 6y ago
It's a 4 years old phone. A non Apple phone that told doesn't even have a supported OS with security updates. Mass production is cheaper than custom repair labor. You're spending more than $150 on your own time fix it (which is great, you have that skill).

est31 6y ago

I understand and am sympathetic with your experience, but note that Apple targets the part of the market which is affluent and also ready to spend money. That's why they can turn a profit for so few units sold vs the rest of the market which sells phones that have far more "bang for the buck". If you own apple shares in any reasonable quantity, the increases of this year alone should reward you for it 3 times over.

harlanji 6y ago
I have gotten pretty comfortable fixing stuff myself. I almost want to stock replacement everything for my ‘16 SE. I don’t break it much, and I’ve got some razor’s edge stories. Super cheap, come with all the tools. Done screen w/ full sensor transfer, battery. I’m with parent on the price point thing, and no doubt if aftermarket goes away then hackers will too. I keep a separate work phone anyway, employers have never had a problem issuing one if I need to be reachable. iPhone from employer, bunnie or something for me.

qz2 6y ago

Honestly the bit that kills me is being thoroughly buggered for cash. And that is being forced down your neck even more regularly these days, particularly on the back of failures. When it came to upgrade time this year I skipped buying a mid-range iMac, built a hefty Ryzen desktop instead and had enough spare change to buy a Lenovo T495s. It’s phone upgrade time in January. I don’t know which way to turn yet.

sharken 6y ago
In the same situation here, have an iPhone 11 that is due to be replaced. The iPhone 12 is lighter but has worse battery life, so that one is out. The Sony Xperia 5 II is the current favorite as it has very good battery life and no annoying notch. And the recent Apple vs Epic case is making the switch easier.
- whytaka 6y ago
  I'll definitely consider a Sony for my next purchase. I wish they'd bring back that super-compact design they had years earlier.
  - sharken 6y ago
    The current display tech required for a compact phone is quite expensive at the moment. Some phones do exist already such as these: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-z-flip/ https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-z-flip/ Motorola razr 2020 https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-razr https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-razr
shaicoleman 6y ago
I got the Xiaomi 9T Pro (variant of the K20 Pro) when it was released, it's one of the very few phones that fulfill my criteria for a phone that would last a long time * Repairable (modular design, pull-tabs for battery) * Good build quality (JerryRigEverything approved) * Rootable * Stable software, with long term vendor software updates * Active community for ROMs (if the vendor stops supporting the phone) * 3.5mm jack (with an excellent DAC) * Relatively compact * Flat screen, no notch/holepunch. Curved screens are more fragile and are more expensive to replace. * Good battery life * Spare parts available (e.g. main camera for $15 shipped) * Cheap * Decent processor, RAM and storage There are some downsides, so not for everyone: * Comes with bloatware, some of it can only be disabled with root * Rooting is a pain * Spare parts in China, so might take a while to arrive * Launcher is not great, but can be easily replaced * Camera is not best in class

maccard 6y ago

I moved from apple to android a few years ago, hoping the grass would be greener. I hoped I was leaving behind a locked in ecosystem with hard to repair devices for a more open ecosystem where competition would improve quality. Android is a fat mess, with flagship phones from premium manufacturers being incompatible with various OS features, and devices from different manufacturers being incompatible in ways that never happened in the iOS ecosystem. If you want a full blown "Android" experience, you end up buying all google devices, and in my experience google support are as bad if not worse than Apple. I have a pixel 3 phone from Google that is still under manufacturers warranty. The power button seems to have gotten stuck, and maybe once or twice a day it gets stuck in a reboot loop, and in that process the phone gets _hot_ and ends up running the battery to 0. It's happened when I'm driving too. Google's advice has been a factory reset, or a replacement device for $300. They claim I must have dropped it, or otherwise mistreated it and as far as they're concerned that's that. So here I am, 2 years later with a $700 android phone, contemplating an iPhone 12 because the situation is no different on the other side...

toper-centage 6y ago
I damaged the charging port on my android phone. I paid 20 euros plus shipping for a new bottom module and used the screw driver provided by the manufacturer to open the phone and replace it. If you care about repairable phones... Buy a repairable phone, instead of a "flagship".
- maccard 6y ago
  Ah yes, blaming the customer for making an uninformed choice when the information about whether my choice is informed or not isn't available. If repairability was top of my list, I'd be using 4-5 year old device that's proven repairable. Silly me, I tried to be "reliable" and choose a samsung - you know the largest manufacturer of Android phones, and when that didn't work out for me I tried Google - the people who make the software. If your advice to people is to avoid all of the premier manufacturers, I think that shows that the ecosystem has major problems, no?
  - deleted 6y ago

csomar 6y ago

I had the same issue with the Macbook Pro battery. The laptop is just a couple months beyond the 1-year warranty and Apple did not recognize it as their fault. Needless to say, I'm happy now with Archlinux despite it took a while to set the whole thing up. I don't think I'll be buying any more Apple laptops but for phones, I don't think Android is doing any better.

cmckn 6y ago
Not sure when this happened, but many credit cards offer an additional year of warranty protection if you purchase electronics on them. I had a $750 motherboard replacement reimbursed on a MacBook recently when it was 2 months out of warranty. Worth looking into!
- csomar 6y ago
  Good Point. But it was purchased with a debit card. Good reason to always use the Credit Card.

albertzeyer 6y ago

Interestingly, I had a very similar issue with my Pixel 3 in the past. The display was just black and it did not responded (I thought). Restarting it displayed the Google logo and then went black again. I was outside at the time, on a sunny day. I thought about this possibility of low brightness setting, but it was so dark that I could really not see anything (even when covering it with hands, getting in a dark corner somewhere), so I thought it must be some other problem. Later when I was back home, in a dark room, I noticed that I could barely see it again. Then just setting the display brightness higher again fixed it. I'm still not sure though if the brightness was just at the minimal level, and that is just too low outside to see anything, or if it was even lower than usual, similarly as you describe.

johnchristopher 6y ago

If I understood the story correctly, you are out of 200 bucks because they replaced the screen instead of acknowledging the software glitch ?

whytaka 6y ago
Actually no, they did me the favor of reinstalling my cracked screen before giving it back to me.

thebruce87m 6y ago

Sounds to me like there were two issues: 1) Hardware problem with the light sensor that was fixed when they swapped the display (might be built in and therefore replaced too, or maybe the crack was obscuring it?) 2) After the hardware problem was fixed, they didn’t think to check the brightness, or forgot to do part of the procedure. My guess is that the boot process ignores the light sensor and just sets full brightness, much like your fans going to full tilt (or at least a safe default) on your PC when you first boot. Not defending apple here btw - but I don’t think it was purely a software issue at the beginning.

whytaka 6y ago
They had actually reinstalled the cracked screen before giving it back to me.
- ljm 6y ago
  Did they return your 200 bucks as well?
  - whytaka 6y ago
    Thankfully, I did not pay the $200. The fee is charged after delivery when the customer accepts the changes made. And there were no changes to accept.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  That could unblock a blocked light sensor due to shifting of the broken screen.
  - whytaka 6y ago
    It's not out of the realm of possibility but it seems extremely unlikely. Also, the part of the light sensor is not cracked.
  - thebruce87m 6y ago
    Yes, or they broke something themselves and replaced it, or fixed a loose cable without realising. There are so many possibilities but trying to get a shop worker to agree that it’s a software bug is going to be tough. My experience with these sort of things is that companies will generally do the opposite - make you do software resets for things that are obviously hardware issues.

neya 6y ago

Not speaking in support of Apple here, but just like any other manufacturer, their support quality varies with location. I was in Singapore, took my broken screen Macbook Pro for repair and I was quoted something that costed half the price of the machine for the replacement as they mentioned the motherboard also had to be replaced for some reason. That very month, I had to fly to India for some work and I decided to ask a local authorized Apple service outlet. The guy changed the display for me at no charge. The machine was out of warranty by atleast a year at that point. But still, Apple honored that warranty. Six months later, I got a blue tint on my display and the guy did another replacement free of cost because the replacement display he gave me was faulty. I spent $0. Many Apple service outlets are pretty good, especially in Asia - Singapore has some good outlets too apart from the one I went to, HK, China all have very knowledgeable people running these outlets too. Here's another one - I currently own a Samsung S10 phone. One of the speakers became bleak and service center A refused to honor the warranty because the phone had "water damage". It is an IP68 water proof rated phone. How the fuck can it have water damage? Especially when the phone is working just fine, except for the top speaker being bleak. Service center B did the job of speaker replacement in under 2 hours. This is the reality. My point is, service centers are like any other business, some people are knowledgeable, some people are spiteful, some people are stupid. So how do you figure out which ones are good and bad? My simple rule of thumb is ask around your extended family, usually they will know someone who they can refer you to. Referral based jobs are the best, since there is an element of personal touch involved. If not, scan for google reviews of the place to find the ratio of positive and negative reviews. Read the negative reviews especially as its a good indicator of the center's competence.

shorts_theory 6y ago
I've had a good experience with Apple Singapore (Wheelock Place) as well. I was even able to get a loaner iPhone 6 for a week when I gave my OG SE in for repair due to a display issue causing the screen to slightly pop out of its frame. Quite understandably (but somewhat to my dismay), they wouldn't give me a loaner iPhone 8 instead.
oefrha 6y ago
In my experience Apple still has the most haggle-free support experience and offers full replacements often and quite willingly, but whether you land on a no-questions-asked-replacement issue is luck-based. A few years ago I had an iPhone whose mute switch would flip off on its own after 1.5 years of use. Went to an Apple Store in U.S. Northeast, described the issue in a sentence, handed it over, and five seconds later the bro told me I was getting a full replacement, which was in my hands three minutes later. Then, in early 2019, my iPad Pro was having this occasional touch-not-registering issue, which to this day I’m not sure if it’s software or hardware. It also had a tiny tiny strip of dead pixels tucked in a corner, which was only noticeable when using a video player. I brought it into the Apple Store, this time somewhere in Asia, mainly for the touch issue, but casually mentioned the dead pixels since I was already there. Ended up getting a full replacement, and the lady told me it was lucky that this minor display issue was present, otherwise it would be hard to fix and basically impossible to get a replacement for that hard to reproduce and hard to diagnose touch issue.

vaccinator 6y ago

Did they still make you pay for the $200 for the screen? I wish I could get a phone with plain Linux but I don't think that my carrier (Comcast Mobile) supports any of them. I once used an unsupported phone, and the 4G would work for only a few minutes after a reboot (so it probably is an artificial problem).

whytaka 6y ago
In fact, they reinstalled the cracked screen before giving it back to me.
ece 6y ago
This seems curious, any unlocked phone regardless of OS should work on any network. Tech support should be able to help you with connection issues, and if not, I would try a different carrier.
- vaccinator 6y ago
  Yes it should but it doesn't... a new carrier would probably be the easiest option.

avgcodemonkey 6y ago

The right speaker on my 2016 MacBook Pro blew out recently, and is the third time a speaker has blown out. Every time a speaker blew out, it was preceded by the exact same sequence of events: I open the lid of the computer, the machine starts making buzzing sounds as a notification sound starts playing, and one of the speakers blows out. Note that Apple engineered the hardware so that the speakers are glued to the top case, so replacing either speaker entails replacing the whole top case, which includes the left and right speakers, the keyboard, the trackpad and the battery. An out-of-warranty top case replacement for the 2016 MacBook Pro costs $600. My machine was now out of warranty, but the same exact thing happened just a little over three months prior and Apple did a repair by replacing the top case. I called to see if Apple would be willing to extend the 90-day warranty for repaired parts just a bit. The call was transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that it was the left speaker that was blown out last time, and it was the right speaker that was blown out this time, so they considered this to be a completely separate incident and there was no 90-day coverage at all for the right speaker to begin with. I would have to spend $600 to get this fixed, and the supervisor would not budge on the price, either. I am infuriated because even though they replaced the top case, which, to emphasize, includes all of the parts glued to it - the left and right speakers, as well as the keyboard, the trackpad, and the battery, they do not consider the right speaker to be a component in the same part as the left speaker. Even more infuriating is how Apple glues parts to the case so they can charge exorbitant amounts of money for out-of-warranty repairs. It also allows their staff to suggest braindead quick-fix solutions equivalent to "pay to replace the whole thing or go away," without actually diagnosing the real problem. I say this because the fact that a speaker blowing out was always preceded by the exact same sequence of events suggests to me that something else may be faulty, but the Apple technicians have never bothered to diagnose what the real problem was. I am also immersed in Apple's ecosystem and I was ready to trade this computer in and buy a new 16-inch MacBook Pro this year once a new one comes out, given the myriads of issues I've had with my machine (it has also needed three display replacements and one keyboard replacement). I was also ready to buy the new iPad Air. Now I've decided I won't buy the new iPad Air, and my next computer will likely not run macOS.

m463 6y ago

I just watched this video https://youtu.be/EATdYG7h9IQ https://youtu.be/EATdYG7h9IQ starting at ~ 11:35 it shows how a lot of track pad issues are resolved.

allarm 6y ago

I repaired 2 of my MacBooks during the last couple of years - one had a butterfly keyboard issue and another had a swallen battery. Both times it took 1-2 days and both times their support was amazing. The best part of it - both times I did not pay a cent for the repairs, it was all known issues. In the swallen battery case they replaced a keyboard and the touchpad module as well, and the laptop was not even under warranty anymore. I guess my case is a bit different from yours, but I was very satisfied with their technical competence as well. I suppose it depends on the country in the end, in my case it was Singapore.