HELP PLS: MBP bent/warped aluminium unibody caused by USB flash drive

polymathone

The unibody casing on my 15" Mid 2015 MBP has been warped/bent by a SanDisk metal USB flash drive (purchased from Apple store). The casing around the USB port is bent upwards (see pic) and I'm now worried that it may damage the display when it's closed. 
I was told at the Genius Bar that this is not covered by Apple Care and that it must have been caused by my applying undue force and it's not a material fault. 
I have not exerted any force to the machine (unduly or otherwise) and would have thought that any force that could possibly be put on the casing by a flash drive would not cause the aluminium to bend like this. The burden of proof that the bending is due to a weakness in the material and/or manufacture, and not due to my 'misuse' is apparently on me, and I have no idea how to go about proving such a thing. I know that I've not jerked the flash drive about whilst connected and that the flash drive is endorsed by Apple, hence suitable for use with the MBP.
The replacement of the case will cost £480 and there is no way that I can afford this repair. 
I would be really grateful for any input regarding similar problems with the aluminium casing, how to prove that the fault wasn't caused by not using the product according to guidelines/user manual (not there is much in terms of how to use the ports published in the guides!), or any other relevant information you might have. I've been using Apple/Macintosh (hahaha showing my age here!) products for longer than I care to remember and have found that in recent years the customer service seems to have gone down the pan... 
Many thanks for your two pence/cents worth.

hmm

How did that happen in the first place? usb connectors don't have enough thickness to do that. My suggestion is to live with one less port. Buy a monoprice adapter for under 10 euros and use one of the other ports. Otherwise you can try arguing with Applecare that you received a bad unit with weak casing. Even then it would have required some upward force to completely break the aluminum.

avon b7

polymathone said:

The unibody casing on my 15" Mid 2015 MBP has been warped/bent by a SanDisk metal USB flash drive (purchased from Apple store). The casing around the USB port is bent upwards (see pic) and I'm now worried that it may damage the display when it's closed. 
I was told at the Genius Bar that this is not covered by Apple Care and that it must have been caused by my applying undue force and it's not a material fault. 
I have not exerted any force to the machine (unduly or otherwise) and would have thought that any force that could possibly be put on the casing by a flash drive would not cause the aluminium to bend like this. The burden of proof that the bending is due to a weakness in the material and/or manufacture, and not due to my 'misuse' is apparently on me, and I have no idea how to go about proving such a thing. I know that I've not jerked the flash drive about whilst connected and that the flash drive is endorsed by Apple, hence suitable for use with the MBP.
The replacement of the case will cost £480 and there is no way that I can afford this repair. 
I would be really grateful for any input regarding similar problems with the aluminium casing, how to prove that the fault wasn't caused by not using the product according to guidelines/user manual (not there is much in terms of how to use the ports published in the guides!), or any other relevant information you might have. I've been using Apple/Macintosh (hahaha showing my age here!) products for longer than I care to remember and have found that in recent years the customer service seems to have gone down the pan... 
Many thanks for your two pence/cents worth.

If you are more worried about possible screen damage, I would take two bars of metal, one about three inches long and place it under the chasis. Then another bar, just a touch longer the the length of the port and place it on top. Then use some grips to slowly and carefully flatten the aluminium down, paying much attention to the underside to make sure it does't cede and applying just enough pressure to flatten the metal down.

make sure the bars are completely flat and strong enough to withstand the pressure without bending.

That would be my cheap and dirty solution.

from the photo, it doesnt look like it would damage the screen but it could be the angle that makes the bulge look lower than it really is.

As for why it happened, that's a difficult call. Fatigue is possible but if other users haven't seen this issue, it would strange given the age of the machine. It does look like undue force was applied but you seem sure that wasn't the case.

1st

look like ethernet plug jammed into firewire... the force to extrude aluminum to deform is not small...(just based on the image). thermal expansion of plug alone will not do it... something else happened.

linkman

I don't believe that this could have occurred spontaneously or without some sort of external force being applied. If you don't want to replace the casing (I wouldn't at that price if some type of repair can be made) then I recommend you follow avon b7's repair instructions. It won't look quite as new cosmetically but it should restore your ability to close the screen without damaging anything. The USB port connectors might be permanently damaged however -- if the root cause was the USB connector being torqued upwards.