My Mac Book Pro has had the motherboard replaced once already under the repair extension program. the new, supposedly better solder in the new motherboard apparently wasn't too helpful because my motherboard produced the video issue... again. This is the 3rd failure. I had the foresight to purchase a warranty years ago. The warranty has expired now. The lady tried to tell me that my newest replacement was "complimentary" and that they went through my history of repairs and noticed that this repair wasn't covered but that they would cover it anyway. Of course this isn't true. The reason for selling me this repair as "above and beyond" is that I am asking for a replacement. My problem *is* covered because its a video issue. She must have barely paid attention to the previous conversation because I mentioned this, but she claims that I did not mention it. I was asking for a replacement, sent emails to executive email accounts. For me, the issue is I'm pretty sure that the motherboard will fail again because it has happened 3 times now. The repair extension program came on the heels of a class action lawsuit against apple.
I had to pay for the privilege of apple standing behind their product until 3 years out by purchasing an extended warranty. For a 2k+ machine I believe this should be built in by default. And I don't want the latest and greates machine as a replacement. I would accept one of equal specs, just not this computer (well right now I'm typing a not so great pc laptop). At this point I have accepted that my mac is dead. i'm not counting on the repair to "stick", I'm going to go forward with the repair and scavenge some data (i have backups but I need a mac to get them off my timecapsule) and scrub apple products from my future purchases. don't get me wrong, I love osx. i just cannot afford Apple's business model.
BTW, keep in mind that the apple stores are likely to dismiss your repairs. My local apple store was very passive aggressive and difficult when i wouldn't give them my password. (I gave them permission to erase the disk. But nobody gets my password regardless of how "uninterested" they are in the hard drive contents) They denied my original case and I watched them turn away 15 people for repairs while i was waiting. Do yourself a favor. Call apple and ask to ship it in if you are under warranty or the repair extension program. The guy I talked to on the phone (he was very nice) didn't know that the repair extension program went until Feb. 2016. Neither did the lady I spoke to from corporate relations. I would assume such massive recalls would be common knowledge to someone who makes this their living (corporate relations), but I digest. Make sure to find the page online first, and if they can't find that the repair extension program does go until feb this year, provide them the link.
Apparently do not use the word "won't boot" because this lady heard that phrase to the exclusion of everything else I said... and temporarily believed that I didn't fit the extended recall criteria. Apparently the correct buzzword is "video" and "screen" and then also probably add in some "doesn't work" "scrambled" "video" and "screen". Reminds me of the song Inside Out "I hear words in clips and phrases..."
Best of luck electronauts, the ether beckons.
