Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

D3monic C1oud

Suspended
Original poster
May 10, 2014
4
0
I own a MacBook Air that I have owned for about 5 years now. It's a 2011 that I purchased refurbished. I bought it in 2014. In 2015 it was 3 years old. One year later after purchase, I woke up one morning and found the screen floating above the keyboard. The keyboard was warped and the computer wouldn't turn on. The battery had swollen and crushed everything inside causing it to not work.

At first I thought it was from a virus and I stayed quiet and dealt with it. But after a year of mulling on it, I decided to make a case. So that's what I did. I contacted support and got a case, but at that time the laptop had reached a sum of 5 years old, and that the battery was older than 2 years so the warranty was voided and they saidbthat I should have been responsible for replacing the battery. I explained that it happened a year after being refurbished.

My case was referred to mutliple senior advisors with a rarity of .03% chance of it happening to any laptop. You'd think that would mean it should be replaced immediately. No.

I was told that because it was 5 years old, that they could not fix it or even compensate me at all. They told me tough luck and to be on my way. I restarted my case today out of spite and went through the process for them to tell me the same thing. They said "I am the highest of apple support, the policy says we cannot compensate for vintage or obsolete products". I understand the policy, but my case is 3 years old, you'd think they would send AT LEAST send an apple gift card.

This is not me going out of my way for some money, this is me angry at the corporation. I'm in the medical field in the Army and we do not operate by means of protecting ourselves and being stingy without administering proper treatment to people who need it. We order MRIs, cardioechograms, we refer people to Vanderbilt and do invasive surgeries for people with issues that are in need. It seems like all apple support does is talk nicely and read off their policy because they are stingy and they don't want to pay for something that was their fault if they don't have to.

I am a fan of MacBooks, but I hate iPhones. I will honestly never be spending my money on an overpriced apple product ever again. I know their policies are not only TOO strict, but their training clearly focusses around the employees being trained in the arts of turning away customers in a fashion where they'll believe it. I'm going to be a nurse practitioner someday, and if I ever have a patient that says they work for apple, I'm going to give them barebones treatment because that's all I'm required to do. My experience with customer support has been terrible. But at least I know I can now throw away this useless hunk of aluminum.
 

AndyMacAndMic

macrumors 65816
May 25, 2017
1,068
1,611
Western Europe
I own a MacBook Air that I have owned for about 5 years now. It's a 2011 that I purchased refurbished. I bought it in 2014. In 2015 it was 3 years old. One year later after purchase, I woke up one morning and found the screen floating above the keyboard. The keyboard was warped and the computer wouldn't turn on. The battery had swollen and crushed everything inside causing it to not work.

At first I thought it was from a virus and I stayed quiet and dealt with it. But after a year of mulling on it, I decided to make a case. So that's what I did. I contacted support and got a case, but at that time the laptop had reached a sum of 5 years old, and that the battery was older than 2 years so the warranty was voided and they saidbthat I should have been responsible for replacing the battery. I explained that it happened a year after being refurbished.

My case was referred to mutliple senior advisors with a rarity of .03% chance of it happening to any laptop. You'd think that would mean it should be replaced immediately. No.

I was told that because it was 5 years old, that they could not fix it or even compensate me at all. They told me tough luck and to be on my way. I restarted my case today out of spite and went through the process for them to tell me the same thing. They said "I am the highest of apple support, the policy says we cannot compensate for vintage or obsolete products". I understand the policy, but my case is 3 years old, you'd think they would send AT LEAST send an apple gift card.

This is not me going out of my way for some money, this is me angry at the corporation. I'm in the medical field in the Army and we do not operate by means of protecting ourselves and being stingy without administering proper treatment to people who need it. We order MRIs, cardioechograms, we refer people to Vanderbilt and do invasive surgeries for people with issues that are in need. It seems like all apple support does is talk nicely and read off their policy because they are stingy and they don't want to pay for something that was their fault if they don't have to.

I am a fan of MacBooks, but I hate iPhones. I will honestly never be spending my money on an overpriced apple product ever again. I know their policies are not only TOO strict, but their training clearly focusses around the employees being trained in the arts of turning away customers in a fashion where they'll believe it. I'm going to be a nurse practitioner someday, and if I ever have a patient that says they work for apple, I'm going to give them barebones treatment because that's all I'm required to do. My experience with customer support has been terrible. But at least I know I can now throw away this useless hunk of aluminum.

A swollen battery caused by a computer virus? You've got to be kidding me.

You bought a three year old refurbished machine in 2015. So now in 2019 it is 8 years old.

Do you really expect a computer of that age (long out of warranty) still to be repaired for virtually free or with a compensation? I myself think that Apple can be stingy sometimes, don't get me wrong, but I don't know any computer manufacturer in the world that will extend the warranty or give a compensation the way you expect.

In reality the average (physical/financial) lifetime of a computer can be expected to be around 5 years. Yours has passed that a long time ago. Even in Europe (where the customer protection is much stronger than in the USA) you can't expect this kind of warranty.

Just live with it. Accept that your computer died and buy a new one.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jbachandouris

D3monic C1oud

Suspended
Original poster
May 10, 2014
4
0
Entitled much? Refurbished by *whom*?
Entitled? I'm in the military, what do you mean entitled?
[automerge]1571500587[/automerge]
A swollen battery caused by a computer virus? You've got to be kidding me.

Also, do you really expect a computer of that age (long out of warranty) still be repaired for virtually free or with a heavy discount? I myself think that Apple can be stingy sometimes, but I don't know any computer company that will extend the warranty in a way that you expect.
I was 18. And it was refurbished by apple.
 

D3monic C1oud

Suspended
Original poster
May 10, 2014
4
0
He means that you seem to think you are entitled to service that nobody else gets, or expects. Your machine (purchased in 2014) is six years old now. It's long past the warranty period, so repairs are your responsibility, not Apple's.

You can buy a battery replacement here: https://www.ifixit.com/Search?query=MacBook Air 2011 battery
Purchased in 2014, but was compromised in 2015. It was still under warranty and they refused because the battery was supposedly my responsibility to replace.
 

Duckhunter

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2014
39
22
It’s a 5 year old refurbished laptop, I’m not sure what your expecting Apple to do about it lol
 

theramod

macrumors member
Dec 2, 2015
65
55
Standard warranty means that Apple guarantees a product to function normally up to one year. If something happens with that product within that year, Apple will either replace it or repair it. Of course, given how well built Apple products are, we all expect that these products last well beyond that one year.

Even if it is not your fault, Apple is not obligated to repair or replace your product after the warranty ends. You said it yourself, you reported a problem with a battery one year after the warranty ended. What did you expect?

battery was older than 2 years so the warranty was voided
 
  • Like
Reactions: jbachandouris

_Kiki_

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2017
961
281
you have only 1 year warranty for new or refurbished Apple device (if you want more you need buy Apple Care), after this period it's only good will to repair your laptop or can be Apple program for that
 

minifridge1138

macrumors 65816
Jun 26, 2010
1,175
197
Here's the timeline as I understand it (please tell me where I"m wrong). You don't provide more detail then year, so I can't be too precise.
2011 - Laptop is made.
2014 - You buy it refurb from apple with 1 year warranty.
2015 - The battery swells. You said this was 1 year after you bought it, so it was probably out of warranty when the problem happened. Sometimes Apple is generous and will give you extra time so If you reported it when it happened you may have gotten it fixed for free under warranty, but maybe not.
2016 - You waited another year to report it to Apple. They say it's 5 years old and the warranty was out a year ago. Had you reported the problem within the warranty, they would have.
2019 - You go back to Apple and ask them to honor a warranty that may not have applied when the problem happened and expired 4 years ago.

If my timeline is correct (and again, please tell me what I got wrong), then you're asking to do something for you that they don't normally do - provide some amount of warranty coverage years outside of the warranty expiring.
 

mmomega

macrumors demi-god
Dec 30, 2009
3,879
2,089
DFW, TX
Entitled? I'm in the military, what do you mean entitled?
[automerge]1571500587[/automerge]

I was 18. And it was refurbished by apple.
A job has zero to do with a feeling.

Having an expectation that you deserve anything is entitlement. No person anywhere deserves anything. Thinking that you do, when in reality you don't is where those personal feelings come in to play like a company is being mean to you.
 

retta283

Suspended
Jun 8, 2018
3,180
3,480
Rare damage? By what metric? Swollen batteries are not rare. If the amount of damage is extremely rare, then okay. But it's not rare for it to happen. Severity wouldn't affect the coverage in this case. You're asking too much for you old equipment that was bought refurbished. Look
 

Howard2k

macrumors 603
Mar 10, 2016
5,316
5,148
Sounds like it's an education issues on the OP's side re: batteries and warranties.

Tough break, but live and learn.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.