Update: I went to the Genius Bar today to make my case. Again, my SSD drive failed out of warranty. I purchased it on launch day. Spoke with the person at the store for 45 minutes pleading my case that this isn't some random hard drive crash and it in fact has been acknowledged by Apple as an issue. The proof that it has been acknowledged is that they spent money and paid people to write a firmware update to address it (DL1655). Going into my visit, I was anticipating that the fact that this firmware update has been pulled off their website (presumably due to issues it may have caused or its ineffectiveness in addressing the original issue) was a smoking gun in this mystery of high rates of SSD drives crashing.
I spoke to the guy there for 45 minutes and when that was going no where fast, I sat there at the bar and called Apple Care to plead my case to them (for the second time).
Not one employee that I have spoken with is willing to acknowledge that there is or was a bigger issue because the firmware itself is mysteriously erased from their websites (apparently both on those visible to the public and to employees only). They basically won't even acknowledge that a firmware update existed at all. Saying only that it's not in their system. The fact that you can search Google and find evidence of it immediately (which they wouldn't do), or that you can search these very support forums and find countless discussions about it (which they did do), I still couldn't get anyone to definitely say that yes there was a firmware update and yes it was to fix SSD hard drives on mid-2012 Macbook Air's. Extremely frustrating!
I pulled out all the stops. I asked when is it considered an extenuating circumstance past the warranty for a repair to be allowed, and they mentioned that if I had notified them there was an issue prior to my 1 year being up they could consider it. My response to that of course was that Apple themselves notified ALL OF US, the customers, there was an issue by releasing the firmware on May 16, 2013, prior to my 1 year being up!
Not a single budge. At the end of the day, I went ahead and left the computer with the store to be repaired. I've heard many different quotes on these forums about the cost of repair outside of warranty varying from the $200's to the $800's. Mine was $280.
I asked the rhetorical question, "What if there is a recall issued in the future? Will I be refunded my $280?". I got some confusing answers but from what I can put together, yes I would be refunded as long as the computer/part qualifies for the rebate (duh!) regardless if the recall is issued now, in 6 months, or whatever. So I recommend for those out of warranty, get the repair performed by Apple, at the very least you may qualify for a refund if there ever is a recall.
Finally, I predicted to the guy that when he was entering in my order that the part would be constrained/on backorder. He then clicked on the part and sure enough it notified him that it was. Later, I joked with him, after he told me it would be ready to pick up in "3-5 days" that I'll see him in more like 30 days to pick it up when it's ready and that I would come by and make sure I say hello. And for him to remember this moment as an, "I told you so" moment.
That's all. Frustrating day for sure. I put up a good fight. I'll keep everyone posted on how long it actually takes to get my MacBook back.
