M1 MacBook LCD Crack

The store is always going to assume it's a pressure crack because 99% of the time it is. Your next step is to contact Apple and talk to their customer relations and dispute that assertion indicating what you say happened. There have definitely been cases where no point of impact could be found and it was handled as a material defect under the warranty.

As you know this also happened to my nephew (also a student) and like you his MacBook was only ever on his desk in his room (thanks to lockdown!). His is also immaculate with no marks or damage. Around 4 months after purchase He finished up work and the next morning discovered a damaged LCD. Apple replaced the screen as they considered it to be a manufacturing fault.

four months later the same thing occurred ... now Apple say it’s accidental damage and want £670 to repair.

Firstly, it’s not but secondly even if he could afford to pay, what happens next time? I mean if it’s a manufacturing issue what’s to stop it happening again. With hindsight he should have insisted on a new machine instead of a repair but he naively thought Apple to be a reputable brand. The treatment from the store, customer service etc has been less than satisfactory. It’s like pulling teeth getting through to anyone in a supervisory capacity, and when they do call you to advise it’s their error and they will repair it, they then change mid conversation and say they made a mistake and rang the wrong number! Computer most definitely says no ! We’re still fighting for someone to review this and to provide a detailed report so that we can take further advice on what to do next

tjord96 wrote:

I believe there to be a growing issue with the latest M1 MacBooks...

...the crack in the LCD is completely unexplainable.

I’m now discovering a number of people with the same problem as me and yet Apple have stated they aren’t familiar with one single case.

This issue is gaining some attention outside the ASC

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/07/30/m1-macbook-owners-complain-of-easily-cracked-screens

Typically in the past if Apple does release a Service Program, they have offered a refund for out of pocket expense parts & labor for the exact issue covered.

Service Programs are triggered by the percentage of all MBP of this spec vs the number of failures documented.

We are not privy to this %, or have any more insight.

A repair at your local AppleStore or AASP will generate a "service record" for the repair on your machine—and this is all you will need to qualify—if a Service Program is issued in the future.

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment for a "hardware issue"—

https://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

A repair ticket, your Apple Feedback—all are heading in the right direction to trigger this release.

Apple Feedback http://www.apple.com/feedback

I wanted to post an update. Although I was told in the store that the issue was not covered by the warranty, I took it a step further and contacted apple via phone with my credit card company that I purchased it with on the line with me (don't know if that piece helped or not).... but guess what... they told me it was absolutely covered by the warranty and didn't understand why I was told it wasn't. They also admitted that being told the 16 inch was "delicate" was a very strange thing to be told as a reason for what had happened and did not make sense. It was very nice to find common sense prevailing. They set up the repair and a box and over night shipping label and instructions arrived at my doorstep two days later. Sent it to them, and received my laptop back within 2 days. So moral of the story, forget about in-store repairs, they don't seem to have the correct information or authority to deal with whatever design issue this new machine seems to be having.

Same happened to me with my M1 MacBook Air. Terrible customer service from Apple, it’s in for repair at a cost of £429 which I morally refuse to pay so let’s see if they hold it hostage for years. Have sent an email (linking to 18 different media articles about this manufacturing fault issue) to the Uk CEO of Apple and two press officers in Cupertino cc’ing my friend the editor of the dailymail/mail online who is going to run an article on this. There is also (if you are in the states) a law firm dealing with customers (or should I say victims) of this design flaw- they are called Migliaccio & Rathod and you can google and contact them. And commenter on thread- Grant, you blatantly work for Apple sending the same defensive jobsworth responses to everyone, spare me, getting this issue fixed is about your pay grade. Good luck everyone, we are going to need it. 25 year long customer of Apple, never been treated so badly.

MissLFord wrote:

This happened to my M1 MacBook Pro recently too due to no damage by myself etc. Currently it’s in Apple London being repaired at a cost of £430 to repair, for which i morally refuse to pay and will be interesting to see if they hold my laptop hostage. I sent all the links to the faults reports in strongly but polite worded email to the Uk CEO of Apple who a friend knows and 2 press officers in cuperatino and cc’d my friend who is editor of the dailymail/mail online and is going to run an article about this for me. There is a law firm in the USA representing customers/victims of this manufacturing fault crack issue, they are called Migliaccio and Rathod if you want to google/contact them. Don’t give up stand up for unfair treatment! And commenter Grant - who blatantly works for Apple, save me the biased Apple style response reply, the outcome I require in this is above your pay grade. They need to announce this is an issue and treat customers with the respect they deserve.

Thank for your informative post, MissLFord.

I hope this issue gets resolved by Apple to the benefit of everyone involved.

w_winters

Thank you!!! Because your post today I decide to contact my Credit Card company, and they recommended I file a dispute. Between my MacBook Pro, my AppleCare Insurance, and all of its "protective gear" I paid over $3000 in August of 2020. Then last month (July) this "single" phantom crack on the inside of my computer screen (LCD) and the Apple manager tells my that my Apple's limited warranty does NOT cover it, and that I would have to use my AppleCare coverage and pay the $99.00. This also would mean that I would lose one of my two accidents / incidents claims, leaving me with only one. My MacBook was pristine with no signs of trauma nor damage, but not one of the stores managers could give me a logical explanation as to how this could have happened, or how I could prevent this from happening in the future. Some of their illogical explanations were; "you should not have been using a keyboard cover," "you could have possibly touched it too hard while cleaning it," and "removing my hard-shell cover could have caused" (though it had never been removed).

Like most in this blog, I have been a long-time Mac user (since 1986), and I have purchased at least 5 iMacs and exactly 6 MacBook Pros. I have never had these kinds of quality issues, and though I had no options but to allow Apple Repair to fix it and pay their charges, I am so scared to touch it, remove it from room to room in my own home. I am especially concerned about traveling with it, which is why I sold my iMac and purchased my MacBook Pro in the first place.

I don't know what the final outcome will be, but I am so happy your post led me to call my Credit Card company.

they are still investigating it. But I started with the dispute department. If you go that route your bank will give you instructions on how you should handle it.

your situation sounds a lot like how mine got started. I had vertical lines and then vertical bands in black, and I was initially told that it happened all the time and they scheduled a Apple Store visit for me. When I arrived they told me there was a crack in the LCD before even examining my computer. I'm guessing that They are going to tell you the same thing. But it needs to be done before your one year limited warranty is up., Even though they're going to tell you it doesn't cover it.

This just happened to me last night! Brand new $2600 16 inch Mac Book Pro!!! Watching a movie in bed last night, I reached to move my computer closer to me - had my right hand thumb touching the screen with my other hand pulling the body of the computer towards me and I hear a cracking sound and exactly where my thumb is - it cracked and everything black. I mean - I'm not some body builder with some extraordinary strength in my one thumb- insane. I went in today thinking this absolutely has to be covered as a defect. NOPE! They tell me unfortunately not covered and that the 16 inch screens are especially "delicate". I tell them i've had at least 8 laptops over the years and not one of their other models was so "delicate" - and that explanation is absurd. There is no way a LAP TOP computer can be so delicate that it cracks like that. NO WAY! Their next best advice if I don't want to spend $600 - is that i can always buy an external screen and then just won't have the "portability". It's a LAPTOP! Also, knowing it's a laptop, logic would say that it should be durable enough to be moved around, which just might include touching the screen from time to time!!! I'm truly shocked that they do not admit there is a defect in their screen and that they clearly do not care about customers (in my case a devoted customer for 20 years). As the other gentleman above asked, please anyone that has had a similiar experience please reply! Perhaps the more cases come in they will have to admit the problem is with their screens. I'm so angry and have no money left aftert his huge purchase to now have a computer I can't use. So, so upsetting.

Struggling with this same issue right now. It's a hard pill to swallow. My wife purchased the new Apple Macbook Air M1 2 months ago. Already it has a pressure crack. Apple refuses to help and they keep blaming it on my wife saying that she admitted to holding it by the screen briefly. The computer was never dropped nor did any liquid get into it. Should we have lied in order to get them to help us? It's an internal issue. How were we supposed to know that the screen was so sensitive before making the purchase? Why wasn't there a disclaimer? And why do they put their customers through all this. They told us it's either we pay $500 to get it fixed and that's that. They showed absolutely no empathy and just continued to argue with me when I kept asking for help in a reasonable resolution. They refused my request for warranty services and also ignored my mention of consumer law once again blaming the whole thing on my wife. After having this computer for only 2 months, it should not be unreasonable to help your customers instead of blaming them. My wife and I are out of luck now. One of our biggest regrets consumers so far. All we were asking for was help and all we'll gotten is neglect. Feel like we were scammed. Good luck to you. You're not alone. I hope they do a recall soon because this is definitely a big issue!

tjord96 wrote:

Hello everyone! This is my first post on the Apple Community Forum. I want to try and gain as much insight as possible, as I believe there to be a growing issue with the latest M1 MacBooks that needs urgent highlighting. Recently, my MacBook Pro was sat on my laptop stand in my home office. It’s just me at home and the desk space is clear. I was working on some documents when I took a short break. When I returned, my display now had vertical and horizontal lines going through it. I gasped in shock because only a few minutes ago it was absolutely fine. I’d like to point out that the MacBook was not overheated (if you own an M1 Mac, you’ll know it’s near impossible to even get the fans spinning on this thing). It’s never left my home, and never been anywhere other than on my desk (so no opportunity to take a few bumps or knocks in a bag etc). I am also extremely careful with all things, particularly my tech. The outer body and glass screen is in perfect condition and so the crack in the LCD is completely unexplainable. I’ve taken the MacBook to my local Apple Store where a Specialist told me straight away it was a pressure crack and it won’t be covered under warranty and I should pay around £600 to repair it and that I should of purchased AppleCare+. If I could just pull out £600, I would but the thing is, it’s taken me 2 years as a student to save money to even purchase the MacBook. The Specialist then proceeded to repeatedly press his thumb on the display which made more vertical lines appear (this made me really unhappy) and possibly even make the crack worse. Admittedly, I should’ve purchased AC+, and it was on my radar, but I’d forgotten and before I knew it I was 21 days over the 60 day purchase period. However, something like this shouldn’t just happen randomly and the automatic response shouldn’t be “You should’ve purchased AC+“ — it almost feels to me that they just know their products are not as durable as they once were. Nonetheless, a couple of Google and Twitter searches and I’m now discovering a number of people with the same problem as me and yet Apple have stated they aren’t familiar with one single case. So please, if you have had this issue or know someone that has, please leave a reply!

If you have Apple Care+ it covers a large portion of accidental damage...

https://www.apple.com/support/products/mac.html

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

or on line https://getsupport.apple.com/

or call AppleCare Support at 1-800-APLCARE (800-275-2273)

Learn how to get your Mac fixed and how much it will cost.

https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

Get your Mac ready for service - Apple Support https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209095

This just happened to me last night! Brand new $2600 16 inch Mac Book

Pro!!! Watching a movie in bed last night, I reached to move my computer

closer to me - had my right hand thumb touching the screen with my

other hand pulling the body of the computer towards me and I hear a

cracking sound and exactly where my thumb is - it cracked and everything

black. I mean - I'm not some body builder with some extraordinary

strength in my one thumb- insane. I went in today thinking this

absolutely has to be covered as a defect. NOPE! They tell me

unfortunately not covered and that the 16 inch screens are especially

"delicate". I tell them i've had at least 8 laptops over the years and

not one of their other models was so "delicate" - and that explanation

is absurd. There is no way a LAP TOP computer can be so delicate that it

cracks like that. NO WAY! Their next best advice if I don't want to

spend $600 - is that i can always buy an external screen and then just

won't have the "portability". It's a LAPTOP! Also, knowing it's a

laptop, logic would say that it should be durable enough to be moved

around, which just might include touching the screen from time to

time!!! I'm truly shocked that they do not admit there is a defect in

their screen and that they clearly do not care about customers (in my

case a devoted customer for 20 years). As the other gentleman above

asked, please anyone that has had a similar experience please reply!

Perhaps the more cases come in they will have to admit the problem is

with their screens. I'm so angry and have no money left after his huge

purchase to now have a computer I can't use. So, so upsetting.

The exact same thing happened to mine just 4 days after I received it. Mine was an Apple Certified Refurbished Macbook Air M1.

The issue was definitely not due to any kind of pressure or shock whatsoever as I handled it like a kitten and hadn’t even taken it out of my home. There are no cracks or physical anomalies at all.

The display spontaneously began to flicker on whites and gray tones and progressively got worse by the hour. Tapping lightly on the case near the touchpad would make it stop for about 15 seconds. I called Apple within an hour of the event. I had not yet purchased AppleCare, but fully intend to. This morning the screen just goes black after a few seconds.

Apple is sending a replacement along with a call tag to return the faulty unit. This is likely due to the fact that I was within the 14 day return window, and they happened to have another refurbished unit with the same configuration in stock.

Same happened to me with my M1 MacBook Air. Terrible customer service from Apple, it’s in for repair at a cost of £429 which I morally refuse to pay so let’s see if they hold it hostage for years. Have sent an email (linking to 18 different media articles about this manufacturing fault issue) to the Uk CEO of Apple and two press officers in Cupertino cc’ing my friend the editor of the dailymail/mail online who is going to run an article on this. And commenter on thread- Grant, you blatantly work for Apple sending the same defensive jobsworth responses to everyone, spare me, getting this issue fixed is about your pay grade. Good luck everyone, we are going to need it. 25 year long customer of Apple, never been treated so badly.

[Edited by Moderator]

This happened to my nephew last year- they repaired the “manufacturing fault” - their words- but it happened again within 2 months and now they say he’s has to pay £600 to repair it. The issue is that this has occurred twice now, what happens the third time? Because there is clearly something wrong with a number of these machines.... Apple are in “computer says no” mode and as they have absolutely no respect for their customers it feels like there is little we can do - they refuse to even put their “investigative” findings in writing (funny that) so you can’t even take it for a second opinion.