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I think it's worth relating my experience with a HDD hardware crash on my 27" iMac last week here in Perth, Western Australia. I took the unit to an Apple-authorised repairer, one that's been around for almost 20 years, and was quoted about $300 to replace the crashed drive with a 2 terabyte Seagate HDD, plus transfer of everything from my Time Machine backup to save me the trouble. My iMac is about 18 months old and out of warranty.
They installed the HDD but the iMac sensed the temperature was too high and the fans would have been on most of the time. The repairer then conceded that Apple only provided replacement HDD drives to machines in warranty, but the Seagate HDD is, of course, exactly the same drive that Apple uses. The repairer was frustrated that it was impossible to contact Apple for advice and they suggested there is a firmware setting causing the overheating. They had to uninstall the drive and suggested I go to the Apple Centre in Perth. Before doing so I contacted another major third party retailer/repairer in Perth, explained the problem, and they agreed that they couldn't help and I had to go to the Apple Centre since I'm out of warranty.
Apple doesn't provide a phone number for the Perth store in our telephone books but provides it on their website, which is pretty ridiculous for people whose Macs have crashed and can't access the web. However, I was able to track down a Mac helper by phone in America, I think, who gave me the number. I made a booking at the Apple Centre in Perth, lugged my iMac in there and the Genius Bar also told me that overheating would happen to drives not provided directly by Apple.
The replacement 1 terabyte HDD installed by Apple Centre cost just under $600 - half the drive for twice the price compared to what the third party repairer had unsuccessfully installed. And unlike the third party repairer, there's no way the Apple Centre was willing to do the Time Machine transfer for me. It took about 16 hours to repair and when I went in to pick it up I debated the absurdity of it all to the guy taking my money. He argued vehemently that third party repairers can install Seagate HDDs not provided directly by Apple for machines out of warranty, and said he used to work for a third party repairer that did it. That place was the second repairer I'd contacted who had told me they couldn't take my business because it's out of warranty and the HDD might have problems.
So I have two repairers not wanting the hundreds of dollars I'm offering as a customer, plus the Genius Bar, saying that a Seagate HDD will overheat if it's not provided by Apple. In fact the Genius Bar told me the extra 4 gig of RAM I'd had my initial repairer instal the day before might cause problems because it wasn't provided directly by Apple.
My iMac is now back where it should be, I've transferred from TM myself, the extra 4 gig of RAM is working fine, and I'm patching up the damage to my business caused by the extra couple of days I was without a computer because of the repair shambles.
I'm relating this story because my experience and the advice from three sources, including the Genius Bar, is that if you live in Western Australia and your out-of-warranty iMac has a HDD hardware failure, there is only one place you can take it for repairs that work - the Apple Centre at 790 Hay St, Perth. Western Australia covers 2.5 million square kilometres and that's quite a challenge if you don't live in the capital city.
In light of trade practice and consumer law, I'm puzzled as to why there are third party repairers in the first place licensed by Apple and brandishing the Apple logo. If they can't repair the heart of the computer using a HDD produced by Apple's same manufacturer (according to my experience and three out of four contacts including the Genius Bar), how/why is the Apple Centre getting away with a monopolistic repair service that charges twice the price and is very inconvenient for Mac users?
They installed the HDD but the iMac sensed the temperature was too high and the fans would have been on most of the time. The repairer then conceded that Apple only provided replacement HDD drives to machines in warranty, but the Seagate HDD is, of course, exactly the same drive that Apple uses. The repairer was frustrated that it was impossible to contact Apple for advice and they suggested there is a firmware setting causing the overheating. They had to uninstall the drive and suggested I go to the Apple Centre in Perth. Before doing so I contacted another major third party retailer/repairer in Perth, explained the problem, and they agreed that they couldn't help and I had to go to the Apple Centre since I'm out of warranty.
Apple doesn't provide a phone number for the Perth store in our telephone books but provides it on their website, which is pretty ridiculous for people whose Macs have crashed and can't access the web. However, I was able to track down a Mac helper by phone in America, I think, who gave me the number. I made a booking at the Apple Centre in Perth, lugged my iMac in there and the Genius Bar also told me that overheating would happen to drives not provided directly by Apple.
The replacement 1 terabyte HDD installed by Apple Centre cost just under $600 - half the drive for twice the price compared to what the third party repairer had unsuccessfully installed. And unlike the third party repairer, there's no way the Apple Centre was willing to do the Time Machine transfer for me. It took about 16 hours to repair and when I went in to pick it up I debated the absurdity of it all to the guy taking my money. He argued vehemently that third party repairers can install Seagate HDDs not provided directly by Apple for machines out of warranty, and said he used to work for a third party repairer that did it. That place was the second repairer I'd contacted who had told me they couldn't take my business because it's out of warranty and the HDD might have problems.
So I have two repairers not wanting the hundreds of dollars I'm offering as a customer, plus the Genius Bar, saying that a Seagate HDD will overheat if it's not provided by Apple. In fact the Genius Bar told me the extra 4 gig of RAM I'd had my initial repairer instal the day before might cause problems because it wasn't provided directly by Apple.
My iMac is now back where it should be, I've transferred from TM myself, the extra 4 gig of RAM is working fine, and I'm patching up the damage to my business caused by the extra couple of days I was without a computer because of the repair shambles.
I'm relating this story because my experience and the advice from three sources, including the Genius Bar, is that if you live in Western Australia and your out-of-warranty iMac has a HDD hardware failure, there is only one place you can take it for repairs that work - the Apple Centre at 790 Hay St, Perth. Western Australia covers 2.5 million square kilometres and that's quite a challenge if you don't live in the capital city.
In light of trade practice and consumer law, I'm puzzled as to why there are third party repairers in the first place licensed by Apple and brandishing the Apple logo. If they can't repair the heart of the computer using a HDD produced by Apple's same manufacturer (according to my experience and three out of four contacts including the Genius Bar), how/why is the Apple Centre getting away with a monopolistic repair service that charges twice the price and is very inconvenient for Mac users?