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

Is anyone else having problems with getting their Air repaired? I brought mine into Apple. The Hinge is clearly broken, and now the screen actuallys opens to 160 degrees. The genius looked at it, said it was clearly covered under my warranty. All was good and I was sent on my way

The next day, I get a call from an Customer Relations Exc. She stated that she had reviewed my computers problems, from get this, pictures the Apple store sent her and that it was NOT covered under warranty. She actually wanted me to pay 700 bucks to get it fixed.

It gets better, when I asked why my hinge problem was not covered her exact reply was that "The hinge was physically broken" WELL NO KIDDING APPLE THATS THE PROBLEM!

I've found this whole mess to be so unfair, as their own employees stated it was clearly covered. To be called back and told that it was reviewed through pictures is beyond unfair

I have lost all faith in Apple, and have basically just spent 2,200 for a lemon - as it has overheating issues but since " I voided" my warranty by breaking my hinge nothing is covered anymore.

What a joke - and still no one else replys to me from the company.

THANKS A LOT APPLE I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM YOU AGAIN

Is it still covered even if the first owner doesn't still own the unit but sold it? I've got one in and it has that left side hinge issue 😟 It's one of the 2008 Models!

"Is it still covered even if the first owner doesn't still own the unit but sold it?"

The warranty follows the product, not the buyer.

I have bought MacBook Air in August, 2008, at it both hinge have broken, in the service centre to us have refused free replacement and traces of defects on a cover of the monitor which were formed because of the broken hinge have demanded 1200$, since from it. I do not need to change the monitor, only hinge, and repair cost exceeds market cost of the computer though we bought it for 2500$. We are disappointed in company APPLE, and our company will never not take any more products at APPLE, and we will recommend another other products.

Wow awesome! Just made a call and sure enough they're sending me a return package to put it into and kick back to them so they can repair it all for no charge!

Gotta Love Apple!!

Just got mine fixed for free this week - last week went to shut the lid and crack - and mine rarely has left my desktop for 2 years! However, now that it's back my wifi drops connection all the time unless Im within 20 feet of the airport express. The service center said the new lids have a different antenna inside. Great. Never had any problems at all with the airport before - unlike apparently others have had with the MBAir. At least the lid closes now though but am at a loss about what to do with the airport problem being so weak. Would have rather just had a new hinge instead of the whole assembly and still had my wifi working.

Hello group,

I was full with joy when I got my macbook air two years ago, and it gave me a lot of fun in the meantime. What I didn't like is the trackpad-button that had to be replaced once because it developed a strange clicking behaviour after a year, and again a few weeks ago.

what also was very discomforting: the hinge-issue I had about a year ago and my local Apple Store (Glattzentrum) exchanged it without even lifting a brow. That's what I call customer service!

Two weeks ago, a nice Saturday morning, I opened my Air and at about half way open I heard a CREAK and I looked at my hinge. Same thing again. OKAY, off to the Apple Store again.

This time they said that my Air suffered a drop, and therefore they waive my warranty (3 years parts&labor, practically AppleCare without phone-support).
EXQUISE ME?

Yes, it has dings and scratches, but none that would physically explain the forces that would have to have happened to tear the hinge. They just see damage to the aluminum, and for them that's proof enough to deny any coverage.

I uploaded two fotos of the parts that Apple objected to, unfortunately it's quite hard to photograph such a shiny object 😉
The first ( http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2218501/front.jpg)is at the front right, where I turned into a door with the Air in my hands. The force clearly went to both the upper and bottom parts equally, so no shearing force to the display was applied which could have broken the hinge (and it's a year old).
The second ( http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2218501/above_usb.jpg)one is in the back, above the port-hinge. I didn't even notice it until the AppleStoreGuy pointed it out. For this to happen, a force perpendicular to the display has to be applied, also something that will not damage a hinge.

And the other two fotos are of the hinge.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2218501/back.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2218501/hinge.jpg

Apple clearly advertised the Macbook Air to be made out of "amazingly thin" material (therefore making it prone to damage, but Aluminum is designed to absorb forces and deform instead of splintering like cheap windows-plastic) and to be "extremely durable" (direct quote from apple.com), which would translate in my book to a product that should be able to absorb some damage. Now they say 'hey, I cannot explain the forces that would break your hinge, but your Macbook was not handled with velvet gloves and therefore you lost any right for warranty.

If I take a Prius to the garage that it has a problem with accelerating and braking, Toyota will NOT laugh at me if the windshield is broken and tell me they cannot guarantee that the windshield didn't cause the brake-problem.....

Am I totally out of my mind, or who do I have to talk to to get this fixed? Paying for this is clearly not an option as the hinge is clearly a design-error on Apple's side.

Thanks a lot for enlightening me.
simon

Message was edited by: zaxxon72

I had the same issue with mine after it came back from having the hinge assembly and display replaced. I had to send it off to Apple again to have the antenna, airport and bluetooth card replaced for my Macbook Air. Now its working normally again. I dropped it off at the Genius bar on a Sat and it came back Tuesday.

Had the same issue recently. Just called and was told to send it to them and it would be fixed at no charge to me. It sounds like they finally realized it is a defect. Now I just hope I dont have similar WiFi issues like the previous posters.

Hello, all!

Here's the situation: hinge problem, past warranty already (purchased in August 2008). I'm based in Russia and it takes half a year to get such problem fixed here.

Do you know, if I may take it with me on my next business trip, say, to the States and get it fixed within 2-3 days there for free? Or maybe someone had experience in mailing the poor MBA to another country to go that?

Anna

Go to this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2948 you can get the hinge repaired even out of warranty. Good luck.
Sue

FWIW - I just had my left hinge break during normal usage - I am not sure when it happened, it just would not close properly Tuesday morning. I called AppleCare and they made an appointment at my local Apple Store for 1pm.

I dropped it off - pretty painless - and just got it back Thursday at 10:30am via FedEx.

They replaced:
604-0499 - Clutch
604-0500 - Clutch
810-3319 - Antenna
806-0019 - Magnet
607-2035 - Bezel

This was covered by Apple and I am back to using my computer in less than 48 hours.

Unbelievable - Thank you Apple for taking good care of this issue.

Also, thank you for this forum as I did not know what to expect. I was able to google this forum and read up while I was at the Apple store waiting for my appointment.

The same thing happened to my macbook air. I am a student and really need my laptop for taking notes. The right hinge is snapped off and the wire that went through that hinge is detached. Everytime I pull my laptop out i have to be very careful not to let the screen over extend. My laptop is only a year old and it's in such bad shape, especially for being a mac!

Hey Guys,

My macbook air's hinge snapped (May 7th 2010), I was about to take it a part to see if I can fix it myself since I knew apple wont cuz my warranty ran out a year ago, so I decided to do some research and came across this forum topic, where ppl had the same issue and had there's repaired by apple. So I gave them a call and told them about this "common" issue and made them aware of this discussion topic. Long story short, Apple store in Montreal (Canada) fixed my macbook air free of charge (they replaced the entire screen). I thought I'd share this with you and put it in writing somewhere so it might help someone else.