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Apple macbook air hinge defect -closing lid is considered accidental damage

Hi Apple

Is closing the screen normal operations of the macbook air?

my apple air has a defect with the hinge. could apple please change your policy to accept hinge as warrant on apple air models

purchased my air 28/2/2008 from Sydney Broadway apple shop. I think this was the first day they got delivery in Sydney.

Last week when closing the screen, it was about half way down, it made a crack noise, and the hinge moved. (see photo from link below)

I have been to two apple care centres in Saigon, Vietnam this week. Spoke to apple in singapore and usa. They all told me i broke it and the damage is accidental. Offically on paper it was "it might be accidental damage, warranty repair declined"

Many people have had this problem, mostly in USA.

Below is the link to a post i made on the problem. It has a photo of my laptop hinge, it is not as bad as others, because i stopped using the air as soon as it happened

http://www.crashzone.com.au/2009/02/04/apple-macbook-air-has-a-defect-hinge-prob lem/

some more links to more of the same problem

http://mindspacemind.blogspot.com/2008/06/macbook-air-damaged-hinges-little-too. html
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=495259&page=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7uEMfJVm4U&feature=related
http://flickr.com/photos/landung2008/3247328478/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJLUMBCF98&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Siq84YBlv7E&feature=related

Regards Christiaan Hunter

PS. Apple Air is the BEST laptop yet for me personally. light, 13" screen, full size keyboard, multitouch huge touch pad, nice casing, no dvd player and osx
I have owned these laptops:
compact portable iii
dell latitude d600
toshiba portege 3500 tablet
fujitsu lifebook p7010
motion ls800 tablet
apple macbook air

Macbook Air, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Feb 3, 2009 11:19 PM

190 replies

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Dec 22, 2009 5:23 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

knarfy,
I want to be sure that I understand your situation completely: your computer broke, Apple offered to fix it free, and you refused to have it repaired by Apple. Oh look, my eyes are rolling.

Dec 30, 2009 3:43 PM in response to Mo78

I own a first generation MBA and I started having the "loose screen" issue about six months ago. Today I called the Apple support line and explained the problem, they put me on hold for ~3 minutes and then provided me with a case number to fix it for free. I am ~9 months out of warranty and did not not purchase the Apple protection plan. I expected to have to jump through a million hoops only to be told I was out of luck and had to pay a small fortune to have it repaired, I am actually in shock. There must be enough of these issues for them to be willing to fix it without any hassle.

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Jan 3, 2010 12:18 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

"But you know what..... "

No, what?

Abscate

Level 1

45 points

Jan 6, 2010 3:44 AM in response to mojotiger

Ive got 200,000 flight miles logged on my MBA, with associated land/hotel travel and the display and screen are as tight as they day I bought it. What are you guys doing to these MBA, playing tennis with them? Ive travelled with about 15 different PCs and Macs over my career and this is in the top 3 of robustness imho.

Jan 18, 2010 12:50 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

Thanks for everyone posting their comments and experiences, also special thanks to Engadget.com for posting my problem last year. I am sure we brought help to thousands of people which were not getting warranty for a known apple problem.

Apple has since made this problem a defect see link below. And it is very good to see apple fixing this out of warranty as not everyone uses there apple air 18 hours a day.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2948

About my original air, a few weeks after my post apple USA got apple Australia to fix my REV A apple air. As this is the best laptop around I purchased a REV B apple air on the spot.

And my Rev B had the same defect after 9 months as well (exactly 450 battery cycles), which just got fixed without questions, but sadly had to go back for a small clouding problem as they changed the screen when fixing this issue.

regards,
Christiaan Hunter

Jan 21, 2010 1:47 AM in response to Christiaan Hunter

The left hinge was loose on my revision A MacBook Air (1.5 years old). Then it suddenly broke while I opened the lid. (note: I'm always careful to never force open the lid or pull it back to the max). On a Saturday morning I took it to Genius bar at the local Apple store. They ordered a new topcase, repaired the MBA free of charge and I had it back in perfect working order the following Tuesday. Happy with the Applecare service.

luis_qo

Level 1

0 points

Jan 31, 2010 8:58 PM in response to anthroboi

hey!!! i just read ur comment about the bad experience with ur mba and i had the same issues!!! with the video the over heating and the hindle... i live in mexico and they wont accept my mba on warranty so... i just saw apples publication about the money refaunds and taking the mbas even with the finished warranty mayb they accept it with this document or what should i do to tell this bastarts that there is an official document about this mba case?... plus what can i do to fix the internal issues like the over heating or video any idea?!!!

Thanks for reading me.

Feb 9, 2010 3:12 PM in response to DeidreW

Just taken my 2 year old MBA into the UK Sheffield Apple Store with no knowledge of this history of problems and was very pleased to be offered an out of warranty repair. I honestly thought the problem must have been user induced. I was expecting to be quoted many hundreds of UKP for a repair and was fully expecting to have to bin it. Result.

Feb 11, 2010 3:09 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

I have the same hinge problem on my first generation MBA. I've had it for about 2 years and use it for hours and hours everyday...

Anyway, the genius in my local store said he wouldn't repair it due to a dent on the top corner of the outer shell. He said it would therefore cost £350/$650 :/

Any ideas? I can't afford to pay.

Feb 11, 2010 3:33 PM in response to FountainMoney

FountainMoney wrote:
I have the same hinge problem on my first generation MBA. I've had it for about 2 years and use it for hours and hours everyday...

Anyway, the genius in my local store said he wouldn't repair it due to a dent on the top corner of the outer shell. He said it would therefore cost £350/$650 :/

Any ideas? I can't afford to pay.

I am lucky then - my MBA also has a dent in the top corner. However, I haven't got it back from them yet, so fingers crossed.

Feb 15, 2010 2:47 PM in response to FountainMoney

My MBA (24months old) also has a dent close to the bottom right corner, and the right hinge has now cracked:(
Took it to the apple store on regent street today but didn't book an appointment, but the help person at the genius bar said, that because there is a dent the technicians are likely to say it is accidental damage, and I would be charged 300pounds at least.

can't decide if I want the repair or to just wait till it collapses completely, then get an original MB instead:(

Just made an appointment to see a genius on saturday, hopefully they'll repair it.

Feb 18, 2010 10:42 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

My display had also become loose, and would even fold completely flat! I took my machine in because of artifacts on the screen. My warranty will be up in March. They sent it off, two days later I get it back. They replaced the display, antennae assembly, hinges, AND logic board. YAY! Right? Nope, that night it starts overheating and slowing down to the point of being completely unusable. I take it back. They send it off. It comes back. Turn it on, working for a few minutes... and locks up. Wouldn't do ANYTHING. So, I restarted it. Or tried to. It hasn't turned on since. Apple is asking I give them one more chance to repair it before we start discussing replacements. I miss my Mac 😟 I am 3 weeks into not having my macbook... it is a tragedy. [I think it will be for sale when I get it back...]

ctschoi

Level 1

0 points

Feb 23, 2010 2:43 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

They gave me so much crap for this problem. It took me multiple complaints and phone calls to get this fixed for free. When I called for the first time, they gave me soooooooooo much crap about it. The person that answered the phone call (guy) kept saying they can't do anything about it and how they would charge me $400~600 for it. This is after I have sent them my Macbook Air. I was very upset and started saying how Apple screwed me. I told them I needed time to think about the repair. After couple of days, I called them back and was about to just have them send it back to me. However, the person helping me out (lady) was super nice and helpful. She even told me she will try her best to help me out and even asked her supervisor. After being on hold for 20 minutes, she came back and told me they would fix it for free but it's 1 time only thing. Perseverance is the key for this problem and contact and call as many times as it takes. You may get lucky like me!

Oh, btw, my trouble didn't stop there. My sound stopped working. FML. For sure I'm getting Macbook Pro or iMac for my next comp! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg!

AsianTom

Level 1

4 points

Feb 26, 2010 3:46 PM in response to Christiaan Hunter

I had this problem last Friday while typing on my MBA!! I heard a snap sound and then followed with a crack noise. Sure enough, it looks just like the one on engadget link. I suddenly went to Apple store without an appointment and hope they could fix my problem. They told me to stand by and wait for a no show customer. While waiting, I googled the problem and found this thread on the first link and I'm like WOW...I'm not the only one, there are plenty of us out there having the same problem. Then, on like page 7 or something like that, one of you guys post a link from Apple addressing this issue. So, I felt a bit better.

There wasn't any no show so I scheduled for an appointment with a tech support at the Apple Store in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. The guy didn't seem to know about the problem until I showed him the link. He took it back door and came out saying that it would be fixed for free even though mine was over six months out of warranty.

I have to wait until Sunday to get it back. I called them to see the progress of the repair and they said they are behind the schedule...Just in time when my iPhone crashes and needs a full restore today. FML!

Feb 26, 2010 9:06 PM in response to ctschoi

Hey all this FORM WAS VERY HELPFUL

I had my MBA hinge completely snapped off and I really mean that. Hanging off, cracked holding bar etc. I did not know what to do and I did not have money to fix this problem. I looked on ebay and say replacements bars for around $150!!!

Until I found this form I dealt with my problem by taping the hinge and back of the laptop together and had it this way for a week.

Last night I made an appointment to the apple store (Arlington, VA) and this morning I walked in. This is how it went down.

*Me: I have a problem with my MBA the hinge is broken and I dont know how it happened. One day I left my desk and came back and saw it tilted to the side.*

Apple: I think this problem is covered under the warranty let me check for you.

*Me: My laptop is past the warranty*

*Apple: It should be fine, this a separate problem that should be covered.*

literally two minutes later I was singing a paper that said it was being shipped off for replacement for *$0.00!!!*.00!!! It will take up to 5-7 days but SO WORTH IT!!!

Thank you APPPLEEEEEEEEEEE you have restored my trust!

Apple macbook air hinge defect -closing lid is considered accidental damage