CBC Video claims Apple's repair policies are abusive, but 'proof' falls far short

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  • Reply 81 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    davgreg said:
    Full Disclosure: Longtime Apple customer (before the Mac) and longtime shareholder (bought my first shares about the time of the OS X Public Beta).

    Apple May not be “guilty” of steering customers to expensive phones in stores, but they are quite obviously on the side of planned obsolescence. They do not want you to be able to change so much as a battery- much less upgrade your device and repairs are a very dodgy gamble at best. This is not where Apple traditionally fell on the consumer friendly scale.

    I am the owner of one of the last of the Cheesegrater Mac Pro workstations, which is still a very capable machine 8 years after purchase. I can easily add stuff at minimal cost and with minimal effort- like adding USB 3 with a simple plug in card. I could easily upgrade my CPU with a swap out from third party retailers like OWC. Adding SSD internal drives takes less than 5 minutes. Most importantly, I can open my case and clean everything quickly with my Miele vac or some canned air to keep everything clean and running cool. The only thing I had to replace was the power supply which was a simple online order.

    It is pretty apparent that Apple never intends to make such a device again and that is sad.

    Apple likes to present itself as green even as they make devices less repairable, less upgradeable and will not allow anyone to do anything other than swap whole boards out. What this accomplishes is make old devices more likely to end up in landfills or third world burn piles, where poor people pick for salable materials after open air burning of e-waste. They also use a worldwide supply chain that has a significant carbon foot print as components are shipped from worldwide sources to China for assembly. The finished products are commonly flown to retail on jets, which have a significant carbon footprint.

    The simple truth is that Apple has adopted planned obsolescence and part of that is making devices as hard to repair as possible. This may make Apple a lot of money in the short term, but it is not in the best interest of consumers, shareholders, Apple or our one and only home.
    Please explain how planned obsolescence jibes with Apple products lasting far longer than the competition.  A two year old Samsung phone typically has not been updated to the latest OS release and never will be, and that’s their flagship premium priced phones.  Planned obsolescence is producing tens of millions of cheap throwaway phones every quarter, which is what Samsung and other Android vendors are guilty of.
    edited October 2018 macxpressclaire1macseeker
  • Reply 82 of 127
    Bloody Canadians.
    Bloody Yanks (can it work both ways - actually I have some very dear and inspiring US friends I consider wonderful, anti-colonials - how the nation got to now we are all shaking our heads ) As a pro using macs for income I avoid Apple repair in favour of my local authorized dealer at every opportunity. As I recall last time I tried the Apple store they wanted my computer for 2 weeks, and with the indy dealer I dropped my mac off for diagnosis between meetings, and rescheduled the following day in the same gap for almost zero downtime, parts in. Let them eat cake ? If Apple issues the next mini with onboard ram and proprietary drives that may be it for me. Cook + Co. will have killed the brand for this user. Bad design, full stop. Nuff said.
    edited October 2018 obiwanbillradarthekat
  • Reply 83 of 127
    Wow, all this CBC bashing, and for what?

    Are you guys saying ... "u don't believe you have the Right to Repair your own product?"

    That is what is Rossman and the CBC are fighting for? For us  ... the consumers.

    The right for YOU to REPAIR YOUR own product!

    Sure, if nothing goes wrong with your system, you are happy .. you are the 98%. You know the one's commenting here and "CBC bashing".

    But what about the 2%. You know the one's with a $1,100 bill to "REPAIR" their MacBook.

    How about we get comments from those people?
    Get them to tell us how they feel about their situation?
    What happens if you become one of those people?
    You might sing a "different tune"?

    Yeah, sure ... I am an iPhone and Mac user today. It was the iPod nano in 2006 that got me to switch to Apple. Before that though, for DECADES ... I hated Apple ... it was OVERPRICED and UNDERPOWERED compared to the competition. The facts are the facts.

    Now granted, Apple is doing lots of stuff right ... but these overpriced repairs and impossible "user" RAM AND SSD upgrades are starting to chaffe.


    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 84 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    dysamoria said:
    Also: Apple’s policies may be great for Apple and convenient for customers who need replaced devices ASAP, but they’re not good for our environment, materials usage, and the average consumer who isn’t demanding an immediate replacement (due to costs). It’s a shortcut process that makes for a lot of unnecessary waste of materials and the added impact of materials shipping.

    There was nothing wrong with having multiple Rossman-level technicians in service centers, back when it was more common in electronics repair work. Corporations making the products saw a way to increase profit margins and acted accordingly. That’s all this is about. It’s not about best serving the average customer in any way but speed. Defending the service model by saying that it’s the most efficient and cost effective for how the product is built completely misses the point.

    This business model is unsustainable and a massive level of cultural normalization of this unsustainable model has occurred. It’s being defended by people who don’t directly (or at all) reap financial benefits by supporting it, and people who argue against it are characterized as extremists, uninformed, irrational, or, like here on this forum, communist!

    Have you seen the Max Headroom TV series? A world where nothing new is made, because there aren’t enough new raw materials (or extraction of them is so wasteful and costly that society cannot tolerate it anymore)... that world is coming. It’s an inevitability, because recycling isn’t being done much at all.

    Most materials go to feeding abusively-contracted, privately owned & operated, municipally paid, toxic pollution-generating incinerators (with some of them having the gall to be called “renewable energy”), or into landfills. The regions that have banned landfilling of electronics waste have seen collection & materials-selling businesses crop up, but the waste just gets shipped out of those regions into less regulated places.

    Those “recycling robots” (the two promoted by Apple) are mere marketing curiosities that don’t actually do the real work of materials reclamation, when and where reclamation is actually done. Look outside your first-world comforts and witness the backside of the electronics waste system, operating in low-wage, low-safety workplaces. These are the places to which American corporations ship the materials and where human beings do the dangerous tear down work (or toxic incineration, once the most sellable materials have been extracted). The companies collect and ship the material for profit, not for reuse or for any environmental concern.

    The component-level refurbishment being done by electronics sellers in the USA pales in comparison to the waste they ship out of country. The material that is ultimately reclaimed is fractional.

    As an aside: Repairability isn’t some “communist” plot to rob you of your freedom (unless you feel you have a “right” to contribute to destroying the environment and wasting materials). It’s depressing just how entrenched and thoughtless the USA’s Cold War anti-USSR propaganda has been; entire generations of people (including those who didn’t live in the Cold War), are acculturated into slamming pro-society, pro-consumer, pro-environment ideas with rhetoric about “communism” and “anti-freedom”. The sheer amount of mindless, knee-jerk responses still coming from people out there, responding to issues like this, are frightening.

    Maybe CBC is promoting articles with sensationalism (which is bad, and I’m sick of seeing every media entity resorting to being little more than an ad space-selling agency that justifies click-baiting), but, in this situation at least, the issue isn’t a made up one; it’s actually in everyone’s best interests. Do you have children, or siblings whose children are planning to have children? It seems grandchildren are the extent to which people give a damn about the future. Beyond people’s grandchildren, few people in positions of power in public policy seem to care about the long term impact of the policies they enact or promote (in government or corporations), and even fewer seem to be motivated to vote for long-term sustainability. It’s like most people are simply incapable of thinking about it. I would suggest education is at fault here, but I know better. It’s attitude and belief. Being confronted with actual hard data and facts just tends to make “belief-motivated” people solidify their positions.
    I used to be young and uninformed.  But there really are corporations who both care about the environment and the future and are taking significant steps to address the issues you broadly brush all American corporations with.  Maybe you could take a closer look at Apple.  
    edited October 2018 obiwanbillclaire1
  • Reply 85 of 127
    "And, it's probably an important point to remember that Apple's design and service choices make the devices fail less often"

    ...like the new keyboards requiring the mandatory touch bar display on macbook pros...?

    I just ordered a new 1TB sata III ssd 
    upgrade for an SJ era mbp for ~$130US - hmmm...
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 86 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    Why would Apple one of the largest companies in the world outsourcing experienced technicians who are capable of actually fixing the problem rather than billing out the cost of basically a new computer be ludicrous especially when apple tries harder and harder to make their products to repair? Do you think that Apple customers especially those who purchase pro products don't deserve quality repairs and should get ripped off by inexperienced servicemen?
    Read the article again. Apple does have component-level staff. Just not at the stores, for reasons enumerated in the article.
    ;

    So that the reasons cited in the article say that Apple will lose economy of scale so what he's basically saying is they will lose money, well yes they will, the other reason disclosed is that it takes 'time' of course it might take maybe a few minutes and extra resources to fix someone's computer, but those are costs that can ultimately be passed on the consumer which I would say is downright better than being asked to pay for replacement components, labor and cleaning when the genius's themselves actually don't know what the problem is. All of that is also centered on the fact that Apple continually pushes the idea that only they may repair their own products so I really don't care for the excuses this multi-billion dollar might have when offering such meager services to its high paying consumers.
    You seem unaware that there exist thousands of authorized Apple repair centers around the world.  A large multiple of the number of actual Apple stores.  
  • Reply 87 of 127
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    davgreg said:
    StrangeDays said:
    Poppycock. Apple devices have the longest useful lifespan on the market, and highest resell
    value, so your entire “But planned obsolescence!” theory is a crock. Apple
    devices last a long time and people are willing to pay for that. Try again, Mr Stockholder. 

    (Also, difficult for consumers or DIY tinkerers to repair is in no way the same as planned obsolescence.)
    Apple resale value is dropping and the useful lifespan has more to do with the maturity of the technology than any action taken in Cupertino.
    BTW- Apple is very good at selling yesterday's chips at tomorrow's prices.

    This is not the company Steve Jobs built, or the one he recreated after returning. It has a fashion house mentality and regular Wall Street values.

    Every single word in your post is full of shit. I just sold my iPad Pro that I purchased a year and a half ago and lost exactly $100. I buy and sell used Apple products regularly, and I haven't seen even a hint of that. You're most likely repeating garbage that you read at whatever anti-Apple cesspools you choose to frequent online. 

    "Yesterday's chips and tomorrow's prices"? What a fantastic line, that is utterly disconnected from anything approaching reality. Have you seen the benchmarks for Apple's latest chips? Or even last generation's? They smoke everything else out there. 

    "Fashion house mentality"? Wow. I've followed Apple for a long time, and I see SJ's principles and philosophies still embedded deeply in every single facet of the company. The people running Apple have infinitely more insight into Steve's thinking than you will ever have. And either way it's irrelevant, SJ is dead, and you don't need to pretend like you know what Apple would be like today if he wasn't. The irony is that the same people that shit on and mock Apple for removing ports, state how SJ must be "rolling in his grave" in the same breath, showing how little they're aware of SJ's history of eliminating ports. SJ would be proud of today's Apple, as not only has it held true to his fundamental philosophies, it's has improved in pretty much every single facet since then. 
    macxpressclaire1
  • Reply 88 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    majorsl said:
    Rayz2016 said:
    The problem I have with “damaged screen” part of the story is that it reads like a honey trap. The water markers were tripod so that the Apple bod (who did exactly what he was told to do, so it want his fault) would take a particular course of action to make the story. 

    How is did they get the laptop into that state?  Did they drop the laptop on to grass in mildly moist weather or did they bash it against the tiles while taking a shower?

    Chances are they dismantled the laptop, loosened the connector, moistened the water markers, before sealing it back up. 

    This is a tactic that works well for politicians and football officials who are willing to take a bribe. Not sure it should be used on retail staff following company procedures. 


    ....and your point is? It took a competent technician less than 2 minutes to find the issue and resolve it because he understands how the device works.  He's not a "technician" that slaps in a piece of software that tell him what is wrong or one that makes an assumption that red dots = bad.

    The only "trap" was highlighting everything that is wrong about the "genius bar" and the sham it is in the face of what real service providers once were.
    You’re missing the point; the Genius Bar is not designed to do the level of analysis/repair that a full-service repair shop does.  There are, as the article states, thousands of Apple Authorized service centers you could take an Apple product to.  Or you could send it in for repair by Apple.  In either case your results may vary with respect to the time it takes to get your device back.  It looks as though Apple has opted to setup the Genius bar to favor quick turnaround, likely because they have many years experience in dealing with customers and have learned that customers place a higher priority on faster turn-around than on more detailed analysis and board-level repairs, which might be less expensive or might not be, depending upon the situation.  Apple has reduced the in-store repair procedures to those it knows can be accomplished quickly; I’d even bet they have detailed metrics on turn-around time and use those to set goals and policies.  Nothing wrong with that as long as it’s based upon decisions derived from the side of the ledger that will satisfy the majority of customers.  
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 89 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator

    Maybe Apple should sell phones with no warranty at all and then you could get it serviced/fixed where ever you choose...
    I don't know what you think you read, but it clearly wasn't what I wrote. Maybe you should read it again.

    What I said is that I value and appreciate the kind of service Apple offers. I *also* think there's a place for less stringent, more affordable alternatives in cases where the age and/or application of a particular device doesn't warrant as thorough a remedy as an expensive Apple repair would provide.

    The existence of the latter doesn't compromise the former.
    There are thousands of Apple Authorized service centers.  If a device is so aged that it falls far outside any warranty offered by Apple then sure, take it even to an unauthorized service center, as you might with an old watch (those exist here in the Philippines in most malls and charge just a few dollars to repair many mechanical watch issues).  So it’s just not the case that you are forced to bring, say, an iPhone 4 back to Apple for repair. 
    qwwera
  • Reply 90 of 127
    trifid said:
    Instead of taking the CBS video and supporting it for right to repair, and making Apple accountable for issues such as Error 53, and throttlegate, Appleinside tries to dismiss CBS story and side with Apple. Shameful.
    We aren't against Right to Repair as a whole, not are we unabashedly supporters of all of it, because there are massive security implications behind it. If you read the article, you'd know that it fully praises iFixit and Rossmann, and what they do. Most of the AI staff has been on that side of the counter.

    What we're wholeheartedly against is factually light low-quality hit-pieces -- which is precisely what the CBC article is.
    Mike, I get what you are saying ... it doesn't make economical sense for Apple to provide component level repair services at their stores. Hey, that's fine.
    Setting aside the security issues regarding repairs, yes, I agree those security related repairs must happen at Apple ... we trust them!

    Now, what about the rest? The broken screens?, the broken wires? Whatever. What about Apple sharing the manuals so that ... "if someone else is willing to put the time and effort to develop the skill and offer those services at a rate competitive with Apple's way of "quick swap" and someone is willing to wait to receive that service and perhaps pay less ... why is Apple actively fighting against that option?

    Apple is fighting to give consumers ONLY ONE option. Apple Service.

    If the product is out of warranty, why do I only have ONE OPTION to repair? Is that FAIR to the consumer?
    I have choices to fix my CAR. Why can't I have a choices on where to fix my Phone? Or my computer?

    Why are you against this Mike? TBH, your article looks like a "hit piece" on the CBC. Why Mike, why?

    I am sad.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 91 of 127
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    trifid said:
    Instead of taking the CBS video and supporting it for right to repair, and making Apple accountable for issues such as Error 53, and throttlegate, Appleinside tries to dismiss CBS story and side with Apple. Shameful.
    We aren't against Right to Repair as a whole, not are we unabashedly supporters of all of it, because there are massive security implications behind it. If you read the article, you'd know that it fully praises iFixit and Rossmann, and what they do. Most of the AI staff has been on that side of the counter.

    What we're wholeheartedly against is factually light low-quality hit-pieces -- which is precisely what the CBC article is.
    Mike, I get what you are saying ... it doesn't make economical sense for Apple to provide component level repair services at their stores. Hey, that's fine.
    Setting aside the security issues regarding repairs, yes, I agree those security related repairs must happen at Apple ... we trust them!

    Now, what about the rest? The broken screens?, the broken wires? Whatever. What about Apple sharing the manuals so that ... "if someone else is willing to put the time and effort to develop the skill and offer those services at a rate competitive with Apple's way of "quick swap" and someone is willing to wait to receive that service and perhaps pay less ... why is Apple actively fighting against that option?

    Apple is fighting to give consumers ONLY ONE option. Apple Service.

    If the product is out of warranty, why do I only have ONE OPTION to repair? Is that FAIR to the consumer?
    I have choices to fix my CAR. Why can't I have a choices on where to fix my Phone? Or my computer?

    Why are you against this Mike? TBH, your article looks like a "hit piece" on the CBC. Why Mike, why?

    I am sad.
    I have a friend, a retired actor, his name is Tom B___, who over the past two years has setup Apple Authorized repair shops in Colorado.  They fix broken screens and a number of other issues.  Apple does provide support, parts and documentation... to those shops in its Authorized service network.  

    I think the disconnect is that people read about the right to repair hoopla and see videos like the one CBC just put out and they associate Authorized service centers as being owned by Apple.  Nope.  You could go start one tomorrow, go through Apple’s certification process and become both authorized and supported in the service and repair of Apple products.  That’s all Apple is asking regarding third-party service and repair. And I think they should have the right to require this as Apple bears the reputational hit when things go wrong or an improperly serviced device is later rejected for service by Apple.  The company would naturally like to minimize those instances.  
    edited October 2018 macxpressclaire1stompydsd
  • Reply 92 of 127
    qwweraqwwera Posts: 281member
    I kept seeing this report on my feed on Youtube. that it was just a loose wire that the Youtuber just happened to spot and know and fix seems fishy.
    edited October 2018 claire1radarthekat
  • Reply 93 of 127
    metrixmetrix Posts: 256member
    Just my two cents. The Apple computers and phones have been nearly bullet proof for me. Yes, maybe an occasional power cord and mouse but the CPU worked year after year. I swear I ran that Quadra 800 for almost 20 years, finally thru it out but it was working. I usually give away my stuff to parents and friends. I am writing this on my 6 1/2 year old MBPr using latest Mojave OS and its great! Still very fast with CAD and Parallels running Windows 10 Pro. I love the fact I can run Windows updates and let it take forever and a day but still be working over on the Apple side, that is priceless. Just had the battery replaced and it appears that they replaced the whole top half of computer , not the screen but keyboard and maybe touch pad anyway I just want to use it for another 2 years. That would be 8 years for a $2,000 laptop, well worth it! Replace battery and top half of computer $200.00. Grand total $2,200 for 8 years of constant computer usage and people still think it's brand new.
    edited October 2018 radarthekat
  • Reply 94 of 127
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    "And, it's probably an important point to remember that Apple's design and service choices make the devices fail less often"

    ...like the new keyboards requiring the mandatory touch bar display on macbook pros...?

    I just ordered a new 1TB sata III ssd upgrade for an SJ era mbp for ~$130US - hmmm...
    Including the new keyboard failures, the failure rate percent is half of what it was in 2001-2011, so yes. Overall, the 2016-2018 are more reliable than the vaunted 2015 was. And, that SSD you ordered is less than 1/6 the speed of the 2600 MB/sec one in the 2016-2018 MBP. Good price, though.
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 95 of 127
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator

    trifid said:
    Instead of taking the CBS video and supporting it for right to repair, and making Apple accountable for issues such as Error 53, and throttlegate, Appleinside tries to dismiss CBS story and side with Apple. Shameful.
    We aren't against Right to Repair as a whole, not are we unabashedly supporters of all of it, because there are massive security implications behind it. If you read the article, you'd know that it fully praises iFixit and Rossmann, and what they do. Most of the AI staff has been on that side of the counter.

    What we're wholeheartedly against is factually light low-quality hit-pieces -- which is precisely what the CBC article is.
    Mike, I get what you are saying ... it doesn't make economical sense for Apple to provide component level repair services at their stores. Hey, that's fine.
    Setting aside the security issues regarding repairs, yes, I agree those security related repairs must happen at Apple ... we trust them!

    Now, what about the rest? The broken screens?, the broken wires? Whatever. What about Apple sharing the manuals so that ... "if someone else is willing to put the time and effort to develop the skill and offer those services at a rate competitive with Apple's way of "quick swap" and someone is willing to wait to receive that service and perhaps pay less ... why is Apple actively fighting against that option?

    Apple is fighting to give consumers ONLY ONE option. Apple Service.

    If the product is out of warranty, why do I only have ONE OPTION to repair? Is that FAIR to the consumer?
    I have choices to fix my CAR. Why can't I have a choices on where to fix my Phone? Or my computer?

    Why are you against this Mike? TBH, your article looks like a "hit piece" on the CBC. Why Mike, why?

    I am sad.
    When the CBC decides to NOT take one laptop, one store, and one genius and declare that this is a system-wide issue, then we can talk about who's delivering a hit piece on who. From my perspective, it is a hit piece on the CBC, because their piece is sensationalist and lacks perspective on the size of Apple's service efforts.

    Respectfully, I'm not sure you do get what I'm saying. I'm very clear about techs like Rossmann being welcome and good for the consumer. I'm also clear that it makes no sense from a scaling perspective, or a time to turn-around for repair for Apple to put them in the Genius Bars. The CBC should be aware of this, as I'm reasonably sure that they have far, far more in the way of assets and investigative staff that we do. The fact that they aren't suggests that they had an agenda, or just didn't care.

    That MBP was a very specific failure. Where did they get it? How did it come to them? There are four different failure modes that I'm aware of (and there may be more, but there aren't less) for that kind of failure, one of which is voltage regulation problems caused by a water ingress. How did they specifically have a machine that failed in that particular fashion which is most likely caused by an improper reassembly by a third party.

    We've asked the CBC for comment, yet here we are. And, they republished it today, adding nearly nothing but yet talking as if they somehow confirmed something.

    You don't have one option for repair if the product is out of warranty. There have always been people like Rossmann, and there will always be people like him. Hell, I was one of them for the longest time.
    edited October 2018 radarthekatmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 96 of 127
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    trifid said:
    Instead of taking the CBS video and supporting it for right to repair, and making Apple accountable for issues such as Error 53, and throttlegate, Appleinside tries to dismiss CBS story and side with Apple. Shameful.
    We aren't against Right to Repair as a whole, not are we unabashedly supporters of all of it, because there are massive security implications behind it. If you read the article, you'd know that it fully praises iFixit and Rossmann, and what they do. Most of the AI staff has been on that side of the counter.

    What we're wholeheartedly against is factually light low-quality hit-pieces -- which is precisely what the CBC article is.
    Mike, I get what you are saying ... it doesn't make economical sense for Apple to provide component level repair services at their stores. Hey, that's fine.
    Setting aside the security issues regarding repairs, yes, I agree those security related repairs must happen at Apple ... we trust them!

    Now, what about the rest? The broken screens?, the broken wires? Whatever. What about Apple sharing the manuals so that ... "if someone else is willing to put the time and effort to develop the skill and offer those services at a rate competitive with Apple's way of "quick swap" and someone is willing to wait to receive that service and perhaps pay less ... why is Apple actively fighting against that option?

    Apple is fighting to give consumers ONLY ONE option. Apple Service.

    If the product is out of warranty, why do I only have ONE OPTION to repair? Is that FAIR to the consumer?
    I have choices to fix my CAR. Why can't I have a choices on where to fix my Phone? Or my computer?

    Why are you against this Mike? TBH, your article looks like a "hit piece" on the CBC. Why Mike, why?

    I am sad.
    Riiiiight.... Apple should let people like you repair your own products only to have you guys blame Apple when you mess something up.

    qwwera said:
    I kept seeing this report on my feed on Youtube. that it was just a loose wire that the Youtuber just happened to spot and know and fix seems fishy.

    This thing is all over my recommended videos. It's all over youtube when I'm on the site.
  • Reply 97 of 127
    Today my toddler fell in the pool. I jumped in the rescue her and she was fine. (Thank god!). My two week old XS was in my pocket and was submerged in about a foot of water for less than five seconds. When I checked it, Face ID was disabled but the phone never shut off and was working fine besides Face ID (water proofing my butt). Took it to apple store they did diagnostic and a check of sim slot water indicator. Both were negative and everything appear normal. The really nice apple tech told me that if they take it back and open it up and find water damage it would cost me $550. This would have most likely been the case since Face ID broke after being in the pool. I asked him why apple advertises water proof and he couldn’t give me an answer.  Rather than take the risk I went back to Costco where I purchased it.  Told them the same story and they gave me a new phone on the spot.  Costco>Apple
  • Reply 98 of 127
    So here is the rub: the guy with the bent pin didn’t spend the $150 for a new cable. He just walks out of the shop and sells the machine at top dollar to you on EBay before ever turning it on to use himself. It fails on you three weeks later. You take it to the proper place and spend megabux to fix it. You will never buy a second hand Mac again. 

    All this for .05% of buyers who don’t have apple care. Further more, if you are still insisting on a cheep repair to keep a five year old iPhone going you didn’t need an iPhone in the first place. Just buy a cheep low end Android every year and keep up with the tech that way for less cost. The same applies for computers. Apples way keeps the second hand market relatively clean of fake repairs for those who buy second hand to keep the cost down
    radarthekat
  • Reply 99 of 127
    slurpy said:
    [...]Every single word in your post is full of shit. I just sold my iPad Pro that I purchased a year and a half ago and lost exactly $100.
    Either you're exaggerating or P.T. Barnum was right about there being a sucker born every minute.

    Who the hell would buy a device with a year-and-a-half of battery and component decay, not to mention intervening feature and performance growth, to save only 10-15%?

    If you aren't misrepresenting the situation, then buyers of used gear are a whole lot different where you live than they are here in Vancouver. I can't even get $100 for current-generation Airport Extremes.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 100 of 127


    Maybe Apple should sell phones with no warranty at all and then you could get it serviced/fixed where ever you choose...
    I don't know what you think you read, but it clearly wasn't what I wrote. Maybe you should read it again.

    What I said is that I value and appreciate the kind of service Apple offers. I *also* think there's a place for less stringent, more affordable alternatives in cases where the age and/or application of a particular device doesn't warrant as thorough a remedy as an expensive Apple repair would provide.

    The existence of the latter doesn't compromise the former.
    There are thousands of Apple Authorized service centers.  If a device is so aged that it falls far outside any warranty offered by Apple then sure, take it even to an unauthorized service center, as you might with an old watch (those exist here in the Philippines in most malls and charge just a few dollars to repair many mechanical watch issues).  So it’s just not the case that you are forced to bring, say, an iPhone 4 back to Apple for repair. 
    Right, but you're skipping over the whole point of what I wrote in the first place, which is that if Apple has its way, the cheap alternative may no longer exist. Apple is making it increasingly difficult for third-party technicians to keep old, out of warranty Apple products working. There are benefits to Apple's approach, no question, but there's also a downside. Lauding security and convenience while ignoring cost and flexibility is either disingenuous or a sign that one has too much money and should be giving some of it to me.
    muthuk_vanalingam
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