macbook pro problem - "water damage"- Really?

This just happened to my MacBook Pro where I have had problems and its only 8 months old. I have never spilt water on my computer what on earth is going on? Is there any recourse we have here?

.. take it to an aftermarket repair service and ask them for a quote. it will probably be less expensive.

I mean an alternative. It is the principal here, I have never had my laptop near any water I am in technology, and I take very good care of it. The manager was extremely rude and acted like she was doing me a favor despite my having had spent tens of thousands on apple products when I switched last year. I would rather go back to a pc then be treated with such blatent lack of customer service and now I'm thinking CLEAR fraud. I plan to go up there tomorrow and If I don't get anywhere I will report them to the better business bureu, and proceed from there. There are 7000 plus posts on the net about fraudulant claims with regard to water damage.

After being told I had water damage, I took my macbook pro to a second location, where they had the info of the first visit on file, and suggested I send the computer directly to 'depot', where they'd assess the damage and requote me, possibly for more than $750, depending on the 'water damage' found--even though I never spilled water on my computer. To my surprise, I heard back from the store a few days later that my computer was ready for pick up. I called to inquire why they never called to quote me the price, and they explained it was because no damage was found and they repaired my machine for free. I was SHOCKED. I knew I hadn't damaged it, but was convinced that with my computer flagged up as water damaged, there was no way they'd reverse course. But they did! So, my only advice is, if you know you didn't damage your computer, take it to other locations and have it sent into their main repair center. The more eyes who look at it and the more people you talk to, the more likely they will disavow what they know to be a bogus claim.

Very strange, it is very possible the first company wanted to make a quick buck.

I myself have had a few Authorized repair centres try to milk everything out of a repair, when I knew myself there was a specfic problem that needed repair.

One such event happened last year when I had seemingly unusual fan noise coming from my 2009 MacBook Pro 17", they explained the HD was faulty, and the battery needed replacing. I kept asking about the fan noise.

I was quoted $400CDN to fix the problems while it was still on AppleCare. Yeah right.

I took it to another shop and they fixed it on AppleCare for free. I added 8GB of ram for ~$100.00... yay

I am almost convinced after your story that some repair centres may actually cause the problems to bilk their customers.

Same experience as you are indicating. BE CAREFUL!

Interesting. Just to clarify though, I never took my computer to a certified third-party. I went to two Apple stores, and the Genius Bar at the first store discovered the 'water damage,' while the second store said their hands were tied because my computer had been flagged and so sent it into headquarters.

I am thinking about buying a PC when this computer dies because I can't stand Apple's greediness.

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.. yeah, but it was raining in Ireland all summer long so it was probably the humidity.. sorry, i just couldn't resist. Seriously though, about all you can do is ask them to prove/show there is water related damage.. if there is corrosion on the circuit board or the water sensors have been tripped I don't think there's much you can do.

I just got off the phone with both an Apple Store manager and an Service Center manager who both tell me they have evidence of water damage occuring to my computer. THe thing is, I bought the computer in May of 2010 and only use it one to three times a week for business; the rest of the time it sits in an unoccupied office in a bag in a case. No possibility of my causing water damage to the machine on my end.

Since my upgrade to Lion I have had issue after issue with the computer starting up, restoring from hibernate etc. and have had it taken into the Apple Store twice, once they fixed the hard drive (apparently: my service ticket says that is what was replaced, while both the managers said it was the logic board replaced. When I questioned the store manager further about this, he recanted and said no that wrong you still have your original logic board, the service center manager said "she was confused" by the service tickets' details.) and the second time the power supply was replaced and I recieved a new cord as well.

Anyway, $1240 to repair the computer, yet it still powers on and works the majority of the time. The manager of the store was vey uncooperative and repeatedly suggested that I wasn't sharing the whole story with him. When I asked why the damage wasn't visble before the last two times the computer was opened up and why my computer continued to have the same exact issues after being "fixed" before, he took the conversation in another direction and refused to answer, and told me water damage totally indemifies Apple of repair costs. He also bascially told me that I had been wasting everyone's time by bringing it into the store when I could have simply shipped it out to Apple through the mail for diagnostics.

I explained my situation to the far more understanding service center manager, who is now shipping the "broken" computer back to me and plans to contact me on Tuesday with what options they can provide me.

not sure why some of you guys are being so patronising

if someone says they didn't spill water on it you just need to take their word for it...

Thedjprice wrote:

I explained my situation to the far more understanding service center manager, who is now shipping the "broken" computer back to me and plans to contact me on Tuesday with what options they can provide me.

Simple fact is IF the service center even calls you back they will basically say there is Nothing they can or will do for you.

This whole Water damage thing is the way Apple gets out of doing any warranty service on computers that where defective from the start.

Now the biggest problem. It is people like you, Not necessarily you, that after this happens they turn right around and buy another Apple product instead of saying Good Bye.

Good Luck and Best Wishes.

I would ask them to open the machine in front of you and show the water damage, regardless of any stickers, electronics tend to show water damage visibly on components and PCB traces, solder joints (gray not silver) as well as obvious signs of corrosion/ discoloration. Ask to see the same model opened that supposedly has no water damage. I have dealt with plenty of audio gear that has been rain soaked at festivals and the like, and it is not hard to see a water issue. Hope this gives you something to work with. Best of luck

i am in the same boat. My macbook air's top 3 keys aren't functioning as they are suppose to. So i took a it to a genius bar, and called me in 3 days saying there was some evidence of liquid damage and quoted 755 $ plus taxes. My macbook is 6 months old. I have definetly not spilled any kind of liquid over it. Now they want me to pay them 755 bucks to function just 3 keys. How can the liquid damage just the top 3 keys and leave behind the entire system working perfecty fine. This is just ridiculous on the part of apple.

Kindly reply me what have you guys done to solve this issue about the liquid damage.

thank you

i am also in the same boat! I have a 2011 Macbook laptop and have never spilled anything on it! It also does not travel with me much, but when it does I keep it in a secure case. Anyway, I was in love with this machine until about a week ago when my track pad started acting up. I brought it into the store and he asked me if there had been water damage. I said no and he said that if that turns out to be the case (no water damage), they would replace it for free under the warranty. A day later, my trackpad had been replaced for free.

Yesterday, my E and F keys stopped working. I took it back in and again was asked if there had been water damage and I again said no. I asked him if there could be something "serious" going on since first the track pad, now this. As he was running a quick diagnostic test, he said everything else looked perfect and then told me that they'd fix the keyboard within 48 hours and that it would be covered under my warranty. I noticed on the receipt I signed that without warranty, it would cost $200something. Later that I night I received a call that there was "some evidence" of water damage and that my only option was to allow them to send it to the repair center for $775. I repeatedly asked him what sort of "liquid damage" and he simply said there was some "corrosion" but did not mention that a strip had changed colors or anything like that.

I went to pick it up today and asked him if ANYTHING else could have caused this since I have never had any liquid near my computer. He showed me a photo, which just looked like a bunch of dust that had come in through the vent! He told me it was "dry" liquid damage and had probably been there for a while. When it became apparent that he was not going to budge on this accusation, I asked him if he could meet me halfway between not fixing it and charging me almost 800 dollars. I of course offered to pay the $200something for the new keyboard outside of warranty and he kept telling me that it was simply their "policy" to fix all the parts that are vulnerable to liquid and I had no option of only buying the keyboard. Why is this the policy? No straight answer. I also asked him repeatedly why they didn't see any evidence of water damage when they fixed the track pad if the water damage had truly been there for a while. Again, no straight answer. Just a lot of smugness and refusal to sympathize with my situation-- I work from home and need my computer. I am also back in school and can't spare almost $800 to fix a problem that should not cost over $300, according to their own prices. I'm guessing he simply believe me, which I guess I understand. However, after all of this I can't help but feel paranoid and start wondering if THEY did something to it, or if they accidentally switched parts with another damage computer when they fixed my track pad! I know that sounds crazy, but that's how sure I am that I haven't damaged my laptop.

I am absolutely livid. I have spent thousands on Apple products and convinced many people in my life to switch to Mac and to invest in iphones. My biggest sell has been the fantastic repair center/customer service. Because I work from home, I had to take my laptop home with the broken keyboard and buy a cheap microsoft keyboard to use for now. I do plan to keep following up on this, becase something just doesn't seem right, but I fear that it's hopeless.

Does anyone who's posted on here with similar issues have any good advice?