My stand just broke yesterday. I wasn't even touching it when suddenly it snapped. I just got off the phone with Apple Support and they require me to haul it in. I'm glad I have Apple Care support that will cover this but it makes me wonder if I didn't would they still repair the iMac at no cost?

I hate that I won't have my computer for a week. I was really hoping someone could come on site and fix it same day.

I've just joined the club. My iMac (27-inch Late 2012, purchased mid 2013) was all sad and droopy this morning. Let's see what AppleCare can do for me...

One more to count in the famous "spring-break" of recent iMac models. Mine is a 27-inch late-2013 model. Last week, I found it head-down, playing Droopy. After finding this thread and being assured I was not the only one, I sure enough contacted Apple (here in Turkey). Although the system was purchased last year Feb 10, 2014 and as Apple does not offer AppleCare in Turkey yet, their material is under warranty for a generous 2-years.

Apple now have 2 stores in Istanbul, Turkey (with Genius Bars and all the perks) however, due to popular demand, it is impossible to find a free slot to book an appointment. Therefore the person from Apple on the phone recommended I contact one of their Authorised Reseller & Service Provider called World Information Technologies (WIT). I did that and explained the situation. They were aware of rare cases on the 21-inch but had never encountered it with 27-inch models yet. Nonetheless, despite the original Apple process which usually takes about 3-4 days, they were very helpful and agreed to order the piece ahead of time and I simply took it in yesterday and picked it up today. So thumbs up to WIT and their tech-guy Fatih there! The repair was covered by Apple's warranty and I did not pay a cent, which was great as well.

As I was told the faulty piece would go back to Apple, I hurried and took a few photos of it to share with you all. You can see them following this link: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8pPqmR and in particular this photo: https://flic.kr/p/rtVteg (see below smaller) to better understand the issue here.

There is of course no guarantee this will not happen again, just crossing fingers... Good luck to all of you!

Hi Tarkan. Glad to hear that the hinge issue was (somewhat) easily resolved.

Great photos. They match up with some that were posted by others previously.

Thanks for posting!

Exactly the same as mine, Tarkan. The repairer came to my house the other day and replaced it. He said that the part has been updated and is now stronger, so I'd suggest that anyone whose Mac breaks like this and is out of warranty tries to get it repaired under the "must be of merchantable quality" proviso in the consumer laws in many countries.

Same exact thing just happened to mine. I heard this loud crack, turned around, and droopy 27inch iMac. :-( I shall have to take it in now. Thanks for this post.

PDF this page and take it in just in case they've never heard of it.

for those based in the UK: as someone else already mentioned, the guarantee is valid for 6 years in England and Wales, and 5 years in Scotland. And in fairness to Apple, they do state this quite clearly on the page for AppleCare, or better that links to this page:

http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

This same thing happened to me 20 minutes ago. I was not touching the screen. It simply broke on its own accord. Loud snap, then flop. I have the same late 2012 machine.

"Another one bites the dust".  The same Stand Hinge Failure issue has recently happened to me as well.  The design flaw parts failure had occurred on 02/20/15 to my iMac 27" with an Order Date[from Apple(US)] of November 29, 2013 and an Invoice Date of December 6, 2013.  I do not have Apple Care.   I was on the computer the night before and everything was fine, however the next morning after I came home from a meeting to my horror I found my 2013 27" iMac facing downward looking at it's keyboard.  When I tried to tilt it back to the normal viewing position I came to discover that it would no longer say put in any position that I had tried to put in and unfortunately it will now, on it's own, only face downward.  My current temporary solution, to a better and more comfortable viewing angle, is to put a stack of CD cases(remember those?) under the monitor as to prop it up.  This computer is where I do my post processing Photoshop CS6 work for my photography business and having my computer perform properly and as expected is a must.  My hope here is that voicing my experience can in some way beneficially contribute to those whom have suffered the same shocking parts failure and that this obvious light weight plastic washer confining a heavy duty spring be address with perhaps a heavier duty solution.  Furthermore, I find it interesting that it appears to be just the right side plastic washer that keeps breaking. 

The exact same thing happened to me. Nothing was touching my screen and suddenly a loud snap and my monitor leaned forward.

The sorry part of this (which I believe is a design flaw) is that at the same time this flaw was introduced (with the thin version of the iMac), Apple made it practically impossible to replace the stand with a Vesa mount (must choose which when purchasing this computer). Even the third party repair shops I talked to in San Francisco said to forget about it, the cost would be many hundreds of dollars and it would tie up the machine over night, minimally. I'd rather buy another computer than to sink $600 into a 2.5 year old one, but this one's resale value has fallen with the failure of the bracket.

It is irritating that the richest company in the world can change their design in some flawed way without any responsibility. Were this an automobile, I'd be getting a government-mandated notice of recall.

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'.

Same thing happened to me just now, iMac 27 Late 2013. This is an obvious design flaw, I saw the photo of the part and even with zero knowledge of know how I could tell you that the flimsy plastic knob wouldn't hold the 21 pound computer+screen.   My 1yr warranty expired 2 months ago. Nice timing ...

Aloha gang,

Ok, so here is my followup.  I called Apple on March 16, 2015 and got my case escalated up to a "Senior Advisor" who directed me to the nearest Apple Store for inspection of my computer and in this case it was going to be MacNet Maui an Apple Authorized Service Provider(only option on here on Maui) which is on the other side of the island about an hour away.  At around noon on March 18, 2015 I carefully packed up my late 2013 27" iMac in it's original box(than God I actually still had it) and took my busted computer to the MacNet store.  Upon arriving the tech asked what he could do for me and I said that I'm another member of the Spring Hinge Parts Failure Club and he smiled and chuckled saying something to the extent of "No problem, we're familiar with the repair, and have the part in stock".  I was charged $147.81 total for the service at this point and told it would be a day or two. 

Part number 923-00151 MECHANISM,27"IMAC $41.95

In-Store Support & Labor Fee $99.95

Plus tax $5.91

They didn't finish the repair until today March 21,2015.  At pick up I asked about if I was perhaps going to be reimbursed for the my payment thus far mentioning that my folks here in this forum were getting "Out of Warranty Repair Authorization" and that this design flaw was know by Apple and they had been covering repairs costs beyond the original one year warranty.  But no luck for me.  I still had to eat the $147.81 repair cost.  The tech said that Apple hadn't call them and or there was nothing in their system that said to charge $00.00 dollars for the repair and that I should call Apple again.  So I called Apple before I left MacNet but couldn't get thru to my "Senior Advisor" so I just called Apple Care again and escalated my case up to another "Senior Advisor" but still no luck.  He said that currently there is no "program" in place to cover this out of warranty repair.  He did say that I could go to http://www.apple.com/feedback/ and leave some feedback pertaining to my issue and that might help to get this problem better known.  I guess if enough people leave feedback perhaps Apple will acknowledge the problem and make it part of their

Exchange and Repair Extension Programs

http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/

Hi Guys, this thread is so unnerving and troubling, I do feel the pain of all those cut short. Am I right that none of the latest iMacs (e,g, 5K retina) has been affected so far? If so, does anybody know whether this is because it is "too early" or because Apple has changed the design? Just trying to brace myself for the worst should that happen (just got a 27" 5K retina...)