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

Sorry to hear about your iMac's hinge failure. It is frustrating. Been there done that. However this is a known issue and Apple is repairing the problem out of warranty. Rather than tossing it out, wouldn't it be worth taking it to the nearby Apple store? You might want to give Apple a call first to confirm (800-275-2273). Worked for me. If you can 't get satisfaction at the Genius Bar you could jump on 280 and head down to 1 Infinite Loop and ask for Mr. Cook.

FWIW, the trunk hinge failed on one of my cars once. No recall. Had to pay for it. Just sayin'. 😉

This problem occurred to my 27" iMac in October of last year. I heard a loud cracking sound as if something heavy had fallen on to the tile floor. It was some time later before I noticed the screen would not remain tilted at the angle I set. As I live in Australia, even though the iMac was out of its warranty period, Apple repaired it free of charge due to our consumer laws that dictate that consumers should expect any reasonably expensive device to not malfunction within 3 years of purchase. As such, I did not purchase AppleCare within the first year as I no longer see the point when consumers are covered for 3 years anyway.

Anyway, so it has now been nearly 6 months since the repair, and alas another related problem has developed. I now notice that after adjusting the monitor to a certain angle, it will not preserve this adjustment for long period of time. After several hours the screen returns to its lowest possible tilt. It happens so gradually I do not notice it while using it, but when I go away and come back after a while it is obvious. It is as if the spring they used in the repair is not strong enough to hold the weight of the monitor. I'm not sure whether I want to be without the iMac for another 3 or 4 days again!

Update: Took iMac in April 4th and picked up today - April 10th. Cost was anywhere from $135 to $67 to $0. I went with the ZERO $'s. If I hadn't got into a chat discussion with Josh from Apple support on-line, I think I would have had trouble getting this fixed for nothing from the Apple store I took it to for repair.

My suggestion is clear this upfront from Apple support on-line - they are great!

The Apple store I took mine to needs to get Android phones installed as they don't seem to get reception on their Apple phones - not even from the Apple support people on-line!! Called and called and called.....nodda!!

Fixed for now and we'll see if the same weak parts were the replacement. Time will tell.

Good luck all!!

Just sat at my desk working away and "POP" then "droop"!!

Mine is a Nov 2013 iMac - so there definitely is an issue with these.

Luckily have AppleCare, drawback for me is that my closest Approved Repair place is 2 hours away and they want to have to for 72 hours!!

Just took mine into the Sydney store, under Australian consumer law this is covered so no charge for out of warranty. Genius experience was good but some how I was made to feel the device failure was my fault and Apple was doing me a favour by fixing their screw up. Did have a look at the Apple watch but in light of this IMac issue I don't feel all that confident.

Sent from my iPhone

I went to an apple certified service center and they said it's got to be taken all apart, a lot of work but they do it.. kind of reluctantly, but they did a good job and got it done in 1 afternoon for me.

Yeh, too bad Apple used a cheap part or one not engineered for the job.. My iMac is 2 years old and BOOOM,, stand collapsed.. All well now.. good luck!

Hi Arnaud

well....in my case is free of charge since I am in the second year of warranty...but as far as i could understand, they know this is a structural issue...so it would be free of charge, they help you anyway.

About the reseller, as far as i know, if you are in the second year of warranty, you *have to go* to the reseller shop, since Apple store works for you only in the first year, if you buy an Apple product in a reseller store. In the second year, there is no choice: Apple store can do nothing for you but give you some friendly tips.

This is the situation here in In Italy. When i had issues with my macbook air, things worked in this way.

Same happened to me about an hour ago. I bought mine from John Lewis and have been asked to take the Mac in for them to sort out. Busy backing stuff up to Dropbox in case Time Machine fails.

Update: John Lewis have loaned me a Macbook Pro so that I am not too inconvenienced. That's good customer service!

This recently happened to my iMac (purchased late 2013).

Took mine to Apple store and will repair for free (I have Apple Care, so I should hope so).

I mentioned to the staff member that it appeared to be a common problem and pointed him to this thread. He was not interested, and stated they were not aware of this problem.

This is the third time I have had to take a Mac in for repair due to construction or faulty hard drives. Apple used to be so reliable.

Dang. It's really maddening, isn't it? Mine is just a little over a year old and it hasn't moved an inch since I unpacked it. The idea that Apple thought using plastic washers instead of metal to hold up this heavy monitor is mind boggling.

I will call my store to see how the wait time will be, but the thought of hauling it to the store in this heat has me sticking a cork behind it to hold it up for now. Thank goodness someone shared that idea here because it appears that Apple hasn't addressed the problem at all.

I took my 2013 27" iMac in on Sunday at 4:00 pm. I was notified Wednesday at 7:45 pm that it was ready for pickup. The charge was "Mechanism, 27" IMAC $28.41 and Hardware Repair Labor $39.00 for a total of $67.41, but free with Apple Care.

My iMac repair was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be considering what had to be done. even though it seems like a lot to remove, it must come out easily.

Mac (27-inch, Late 2013) out of warranty (March 2015)

Monterrey México

One Morning just tilted down

Apple Autorized Service at Monterrey, Mexico Quoted 50 USD for the Mechanism and $ 50 Dlls Labor

very freaky knowing that they need to take apart the whole computer to be fixed

Chat with Apple Tech refuse to accept any flaws. She said that currently there is no "program" in place to cover this out of warranty

Escalate to Senior Apple Tech said the same, but forward my complaint to Customer Relations Dep ...

I considered it a hardware and design flaw, too much pressure for a plastic ring.

I will wait for an answer to authorize a free Repair

This happened to me tonight. I heard the loud POP and couldn't figure out where the sound came from until I went to use my iMac (27-inch, Late 2013). The screen was tilted forward and wouldn't stay in position after I attempted to adjust it. I have Apple Care and called them. The support person assured me that it would be covered so long as there was no visible damage. Then she proceeded to tell me she'd "never heard of such a thing. That it's so weird." She then went on to ask me if I'd been placing anything on top of the screen or attaching anything to it. 😠 All that was running through my mind was a hope that Apple's award winning customer service was still holding strong. Don't go trying to make this my fault. While I was still on the phone with her and listening to her explain how weird this event was, I ran a google search "iMac screen pop and tilt fail" which earned me a nice selection of hits. Which I shared with support. I know she's doing her job, but the implication that I'd done something to the screen, or was attempting to manufacture an issue was rather insulting. I paid nearly $3K for this machine. And now I have to pack it up, pray that it's not damaged in transit, drive it 90 minutes away, and sit tight for however long (hours or days) it takes to repair... all while being six weeks from a deadline. I'm not unreasonable. I know bad stuff happens and failures happen and there's no way around it sucking majorly. But let's avoid adding insult to major inconvenience, eh. Because while you tell me it's "just so weird" and "I've never heard of anything like this ever happening" and your tone suggests your humoring me -- the fact that this Apple Support Community thread has a over 400 replies points to someone being full of bologna.

UPDATE

Spoke with apple on Monday, its now wednesday and after 2 hours of fixing my new imac has a new hinge and is working again!

2 DAYS PEOPLE!!!!! Big thumbs up to the tech from Unisys for representing apple in the most professional and thorough way possible!

Now Im going to get on the apple site and buy a new 5k retina version right this minute, Im just so happy with apple!!

My iMac 27" (late 2012) bought in Milano in 2013 last week made the same think.

I've come home and the monitor was down..I rarely use the iMac so I do not know how this could happened.

My iMac is out of warranty. I've called the Apple Support in Milano and they want 95 eur + tax (cca. 115/120 eur) for the repair.

Is definitely a design fault of this iMacs – I hope Apple will admit it one day.

I will not repair it for now. I've just put a book behind so the monitor stands up.