Design fault? 27" 2013 iMac stand just gave up!

This just happened to me today to my 2014 iMac. I was sitting at the computer, and then suddenly a crack, and the monitor drooped down. I brought this in to Apple on 5th ave, and I am out of warranty with no Apple Care. They will replace this for free and it's a known problem. Hope this helps.

Great news to all imac owners in Europe, not sure if it goes for the rest of the world. My imac Late 2013 had the same issue, the hinge broke for no reason. I don't have apple care and bought it almost 2 years ago. Apparently consumer laws in the UK states that manufactures has to warrant electrical devices for manufacturing faults for 6 years, 5 years if you live in Scotland.

After applying for a phone call an Apple support adviser said it was a known problem and they would pay for the repair. They emailed me a list of places to get it repaired. I have booked it in for next week and service centre says it could take a week before they receive the part and can fix it. My imac should be back next week with the repaired screen.

Well done Apple for recognising it's a manufacturing fault and claiming responsibility.

I have the same problem on both of the iMac I got at the same time.

I live in Los Angeles, called Apple Care, they told that they noticed this problem with the 27" iMac due to the weight of the monitor so they offer to fix it for me for free. I got this iMac late 2013 and it's ridiculous that both of the iMac that I bought have the same problems just few months apart. If they don't fix it for me for free, it would have cost me around $70 to get it fix.

Two days ago, Tuesday, I noticed my iMac 27" late 2013 (bought last year as a reconditioned unit with AppleCare) sagging, when I entered my office. I immediately propped it up, then went looking through the Internet to see if there was a simple solution. After reading many discussions, I called the North American AppleCare line. Spoke to the first respondent. He listened, then passed me on to a second. He listened then passed me on to Mischa, some higher-level of customer support. The initial reaction was to have me bring the iMac into a local store, but when I explained that as a quadriplegic it would be difficult for me to do this, Mischa decided that he would find someone local to come and pick it up, re[air it and deliver it back to me. The local store came that afternoon, they ordered the replacement hinge mechanism (already pre-approved by Mischa). The part arrived the next day on Wednesday. It was installed that day, and delivered back to me today. All, at no charge to me.

Now, that's what I call service. Thank you, Apple.

My advice is to ignore the local Apple store, and go directly to Apple Corporate. Although they claim that this is a rare occurrence, they also know that it happens, and are prepared to deal with it. Once they approve everything, the local store (or a certified retailer) can get the repair done fairly quickly.

As I understand it, no, there is no adjustment that will help this condition. It is the failure of a plastic washer-like piece in the hinge assembly. If you look back through the more recent posts on this discussion you will see that Apple is repairing this condition at no-charge. However, you do have tout up with the hassle of taking your machine into an Apple store or to an authorized apple repair facility. The repair requires the disassembly of the machine to get at the hinge, not something the average user wants to tackle. If you refer the local Apple team or the folks at the repair this conversation thread I think you will find all charges waived.

... bit of an update. Called Apple and got told to take it to the local store, so I asked to escalate the case no. while relaying the information and following the guidance within this thread. This resulted in them being incredibly helpful and agreeing to complete the repair FOC at my local store with authorisation from Apple International Distribution.

It seems this issue does not flag on the advisors screen, but once escalated is a known issue by the Senior Staff, or that's how it appeared today. I was also assured that the fix is a modification to the original plastic washer arrangement.

Will update once the work has been completed. Thanks to everyone who's posted, great thread.

Chris.

I mentioned I had the same problem here with my 27" late-2013 iMac last week; Apple replaced the small, internal cracked hinge part for free as a manufacturer's defect. The repair requires the entire back of the machine to be taken apart; it's a "difficult" level bench repair at an Apple-authorized repair center and can't be done on-site. I'm still under Applecare, but they told me they would not have charged me anyway because it's a known problem appearing with these very particular cases as they age. Very pleased with how Apple responded and how they handled it; my iMac's back home after three days at the Apple Store and as good as new.

Yep. Happened to me a few months ago. Just got it fixed on Apple's dime at a Apple-authorized repair center. And I didn't have Apple Care. They have finally accepted the issue and are repairing the faulty piece. Huzzaah! (My wife's work place had 3 or 4 iMacs with the same issue fixed as well, free.)

Its a known issue with iMAC (late 2013)....Apple takes care of this by charging only the part fee (labor cost is covered under repair program) even if you don't have Apple Care. Just talk to a customer support person and take your iMAC to the genius bar. You should be done under USD30/-

Well, guess what, kids? Out of the blue I received this email from Apple Support.

Subject: Refund Information - iMac Service Request

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Now, as it happens, as outlined in an earlier post on this thread, the fee for the service order was waived at the store by a manager after showing the Genius this message board thread and asking to escalate the matter to a manager. But for those of you who had to pay out-of-pocket, I suggest you contact Apple Support and see if you can get a refund.

Right. Normally there is a spring inside the iMac that provides tension against the gravity pulling the screen downward. And there's enough friction in the hinge so that when you tilt the screen to the desired viewing angle, the tension of the spring and the friction of the hinge are enough to hold the screen in place.

The design flaw is that the spring attaches to a plastic finger that gets fatigued over time (and probably heat). Eventually the finger snaps, and the friction of the hinge is no longer enough to keep the screen in position. It droops downward, so you need to wedge something between the body of the Mac and the vertical part of the stand to keep the screen at a comfortable viewing angle. And if you want to change the viewing angle, you need to find a different-sized something to wedge in place. I don't think anything electronic is affected.

The fix is to replace the finger that snapped. This is the repair that Apple was charging 60-70 bucks for, and apparently is now admitting was a design fault and they're issuing refunds. I hope the replacement part they're using is stronger than the original, otherwise I expect it will snap again at some point in the future.

HI, everyone Bristol United Kingdom

i had the same problem with my i mac which we bought 6 weeks ago. Dec 12th 2013. made an appt to take it to the genius bar last night, 31.12.2014. like you they had never heard of this happening before. the assistant had a word with his manager and came back to us saying we could have a new i mac there and then as it was such a long winded process to repair. They took it away for an hour and transferred all the data , files ,i tunes etc and we picked it up ready to go an hour later. Certainly cant complain about that service which you should have been offered.

My 27" iMac stand failed on 5/22/2014. Mine was purchased in January 2013, so out of warranty. However, I invoked my Discover card extended warranty feature which extended the warranty by one year.

I used the iMac for a few days, propped up with a stack of CD cases, while I researched the warranty procedure. Then the Apple store repaired my iMac in about three working days and charged me $67.41 + tax, for which I was reimbursed fully and promptly by DIscover. I was surprised that the repair cost was that low, and pleased by how efficient and courteous the Discover extended warranty service was.

Hi:

This is from the states, when I called the store (genius bar) they said the repair is very well documented and had stocked the parts so the repair itself should not take more than three days. The keyword here is parts. If they don't have the parts then its a long wait. The failure seems to be exponential increasing from the 1.1 years and beyond, indicating a serious problem with the hinge, which means they (Apple) should be stocking up on parts because the tidal wave is coming. That's my viewpoint from the states.

If they don't have the part and waiting for a demand incidences it would be best to commit them to a tight schedule: 1) Isolate the problem and order part. If part will take 5 to 10 days to deliver then 2) Then reassemble IMac in functional state to customer for use while waiting for part and keeping you in the que. 3) Apple receives part, calls and schedules the next available time slot to install part, test and return to customer. No repair shop likes this but if your service center has not been proactive in this manner they deserve the inconvenience.