Damage after repair

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Occasionally I have read of damage inflicted during the repair process. Repairs are, after all, done by human beings, and things do happen. Apple seems to have a philosophy of working with the customer until it is right, so I do think that you have some recourse.

Obviously, there is no point in trying to get any satisfaction from your local Apple Store since you are leaving--good riddance! Since Applecare should be honored world-wide, you can just bring this up when you get moved.

If you don't already have it, you might want to purchase 3 year Applecare. Possibly even in England if you plan to be there a while.

If you have time, you might want to call Apple and speak to Apple Customer Relations and tell them what happened and explain your situation to them. I think they would like to know when something like this happens so that they can take steps to prevent the same thing happening to someone else.

What I think you should do is be sure you have the documentation papers from the repair so that you can show the Manchester Apple Store exactly what was done and that the repair was obviously not done properly and that the damage should be repaired. You are after all under warranty, and have every right to expect a warranty repair to be done properly. I believe Apple will work with you on this, but it may take some persistence on your part.

Good luck!

It is very surprising that Apple Customer Relations was not more helpful than that--most people have had a much better experience than you have. $2000 sounds like too much for a hard drive replacement. Also, someone on the phone cannot see the damage for himself. In your situation, I would like to speak to someone else. Since you are moving to England, you will have that opportunity.

The improper assembly can probably be corrected. There is probably nothing that can be done about the palm rest stain, but you can always ask.

I think the best strategy would be to go to the new Apple Store with your repair record and tell them that your repair was not done properly and ask if it would be possible to take your computer apart and reassemble it properly, possibly even at the store. You can complain about the palm rest stain and ask if there is anything that could remove it. Be very nice and polite, and tell them of your experience, and how it all happened right before you moved so you weren't able to pursue this in the US.

And do consider getting 3 year Applecare. You will need to do this before the first year's warranty is up. Since your machine has already been opened up and messed with, there may be more than the usual likelihood of future problems.

Good luck!

I brought in my Macbook Pro (15 inch) for repair because on start up the screen was black. I thought it might be the graphics card or something. I brought it to the Apple store (Marketmall in Calgary) on a Sunday. It took them several days of me calling them to find out what was happening on the repair to my Macbook Pro. There service was quite slow in terms of giving feedback to the customer on what they would be doing with the repair and how long it would be. So about a week later, Monday morning I get a message on my phone that my laptop was repaired from the technician or Apple Genius. He said that everything was "checked out and good to go now." I picked it up that evening only to see the slot opening for the DVD drive bent in. It looked like somebody was using a screwdriver or something to pry the bottom from the top part of the palm rest area. There's no structural support around that opening so it just bent in. As well the top part around the DVD slot was not closed. It was like a wide opening. I complained about it right there in the store and asked them to try and fix that damage on the DVD slot opening and wide gap in the case.
I got it back that night and was a little upset about the repair.
I took it home and then found out from a little testing that my DVD drive didn't even work. I couldn't put a DVD in. I could hear a DVD spinning inside but nothing was mounting on the Desktop.
I called Apple Customer Care the next morning to complain about the damage done to the case as well as the DVD drive not working when returned to me. I got a case number (it's good to start a record or paper trail on there end I think) and the ok to take my macbook pro to another authorized Apple reseller to "complete the repair" properly.) I didn't want to go back to the first store after that horrible service from staff and technicians.
I didn't want to go to another store and start a whole new repair on file and have it look like I did the damage myself. So that was the reason I wanted the case number and for Apple Customer Care to take note of the incident.
Anyway, the repair at the 2nd store (Westworld) went very well and extremely fast. It was noted in the service order form that they were fixing damage done by the other store. The repair to the case and DVD drive was done in a few hours the same day.
Oh, and that spinning noise from the DVD drive was a DVD that the Apple technician from Market Mall left in my drive. I think it's some sort of program to apply a new serial the logic board after it gets replaced.
I've had repairs done before and they've all gone well. I expected exceptional service from an official Apple Store, but was disappointed.

I've done several repairs at local Apple store and 3 out of 4 times I've been disappointed. Every time they had to send it to Apple to get the problem fixed.

Almost every time the problem was bad workmanship - once there were burn marks near the speakers, once there were round cuts under near the battery and one other time the case was so badly warped and the lid wasn't closing at all - even bad they forgot to re-key the serial number.

But when it got back from Apple service center it was all fixed up like new.

They really need to look at what goes on inside the stores.