If anyone can help me or give me advise i will be so greatful. thank you in advance....
So here is the problem.. I went to purchase a used 2.4ghz macbook pro 17in 2007 (non-unibody) from somebody i found on craigslist for $800, when i set up a time to meet with him he then told that it doesn't turn on but it is still covered under warranty until 11/2010 and he gave me the serial number, he just doesn't have the time to repair it and needs the money. I called apple support and told them i was about to buy this laptop and wanted to verify it was under warranty and described the situation, when i gave the serial they said that yes it was still under the warranty until 11/2010 and apple will fix anything that is non-accidental damage (water/dropped) they said i should take it to an apple tech to have it checked for those things before i buy it just in case and they recommended a tech in my area. I had the guy meet me at the store where the apple tech was to have the laptop checked out, when we got there and explained to the tech what we were doing he tried to turn it on and only the power light would come on, he took out the battery and reset the pram, and it still wouldn't turn on, and he said that THE SERIAL NUMBER WAS MISSING from under the battery... The guy i was buying it from had the serial number written down and said that he wrote all the information down for the computer in the "about this mac" section under the advise of apple support when he finally got it to turn on one time before, but it hasn't come on since.
The apple tech said that he wouldn't be able to look at the laptop any further for a few days because he had other customer's jobs ahead of us, unless we paid him $90 to "expedite" the service order, I asked him if he would be able to then tell me 1. if there was any accidental damage and if the repairs would be covered under warranty... and 2. if he could verify the serial number of this mac book pro and prove that this computer indeed has the serial number that the guy had written down... The apple service tech said yes he will be able to do both of those right away if we pay him the $90. The seller told me that he wouldn't be able to wait a couple days and if i paid $35 he would pay the other $45 to make the $90 to have it done now...
4 hours later when we came back the apple tech said he was still waiting on an answer from apple to verify if that serial number belonged to this laptop (which i thought was weird because he said he would be able to do it himself), he did say that the serial number given does have a warranty until 11/2010 and is registered to the seller's name, there doesn't appear to be any accidental damage, and he diagnosed the issue to be a failed logic board, and as soon as apple called him back we would be all done... about 30 min later he came out and said that the only two places the serial number can be found are under the battery on the case and in the firmware/bios, without the logic board working it is impossible to verify, and apple says that they will only cover under warranty with a proof of purchase.. The seller said that he doesn't have one because he had bought it from someone else and was never given the original receipt... The apple tech said that if it were to be repaired w/o the warranty it would cost around $450 to fix everything that is wrong with this machine including the logic board but once the logic board is replaced THERE WILL NEVER BE A WAY TO VERIFY THE ORIGINAL SERIAL NUMBER and the warranty will be attached to a "dead" serial number because the laptop will now have a blank serial number in the firmware...
After all this I ended up (possibly a very bad idea) buying the laptop anyways from the guy for $450, now the laptop is still at the apple tech as i left it there until i decide what to have them do. When i got home i talked with apple support and explained the whole situation, I gave them the serial number that was written down and they once again verified that it was the seller's name that it was registered to, i asked them if they could find the name of the original owner so maybe i could get a proof of purchase, they told me that the name couldn't be found after it had been re-registered to the seller but they could see that it had been reported LOST / STOLEN just before the seller's name was registered to it, but they did explain that it doesn't really matter because the warranty goes with the product and not the customer. I also asked if maybe they could cross reference the serial number of another part inside the macbook to the "main" serial number to prove that this was in fact that laptop and they said no they dont record parts serial numbers in the laptops they only do that in the desktops. Finally the apple support told me that because the serial number had been removed that if i sent it to apple to fix this would void the warranty anyways... NOW WHY DIDN'T THE APPLE TECH KNOW THIS RIGHT FROM THE START!!!! but the apple service did say that as long as i found an apple tech that would do the repairs "in-house" and they didn't mention this then it could still be covered under the warranty (as long as i could some how prove this laptop does have the serial number i provided)......
SO SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ANY FURTHER FROM THIS POINT... my worst case (hopefully) will be that i paid $450, it will cost me another $330 to repair, $90 for labor, and $90 "expediting" the service so i will have a $960 used 2007 2.4ghz 17in macbook pro with no warranty and only a 90 day parts warranty... I also feel that the apple service tech lied to me because he told me that he would be able to find out what the serial number of this laptop was and couldn't, as well as the fact that he should have been able to immediately notify me that the serial number being removed voids the warranty.... PLEASE HELP....
So here is the problem.. I went to purchase a used 2.4ghz macbook pro 17in 2007 (non-unibody) from somebody i found on craigslist for $800, when i set up a time to meet with him he then told that it doesn't turn on but it is still covered under warranty until 11/2010 and he gave me the serial number, he just doesn't have the time to repair it and needs the money. I called apple support and told them i was about to buy this laptop and wanted to verify it was under warranty and described the situation, when i gave the serial they said that yes it was still under the warranty until 11/2010 and apple will fix anything that is non-accidental damage (water/dropped) they said i should take it to an apple tech to have it checked for those things before i buy it just in case and they recommended a tech in my area. I had the guy meet me at the store where the apple tech was to have the laptop checked out, when we got there and explained to the tech what we were doing he tried to turn it on and only the power light would come on, he took out the battery and reset the pram, and it still wouldn't turn on, and he said that THE SERIAL NUMBER WAS MISSING from under the battery... The guy i was buying it from had the serial number written down and said that he wrote all the information down for the computer in the "about this mac" section under the advise of apple support when he finally got it to turn on one time before, but it hasn't come on since.
The apple tech said that he wouldn't be able to look at the laptop any further for a few days because he had other customer's jobs ahead of us, unless we paid him $90 to "expedite" the service order, I asked him if he would be able to then tell me 1. if there was any accidental damage and if the repairs would be covered under warranty... and 2. if he could verify the serial number of this mac book pro and prove that this computer indeed has the serial number that the guy had written down... The apple service tech said yes he will be able to do both of those right away if we pay him the $90. The seller told me that he wouldn't be able to wait a couple days and if i paid $35 he would pay the other $45 to make the $90 to have it done now...
4 hours later when we came back the apple tech said he was still waiting on an answer from apple to verify if that serial number belonged to this laptop (which i thought was weird because he said he would be able to do it himself), he did say that the serial number given does have a warranty until 11/2010 and is registered to the seller's name, there doesn't appear to be any accidental damage, and he diagnosed the issue to be a failed logic board, and as soon as apple called him back we would be all done... about 30 min later he came out and said that the only two places the serial number can be found are under the battery on the case and in the firmware/bios, without the logic board working it is impossible to verify, and apple says that they will only cover under warranty with a proof of purchase.. The seller said that he doesn't have one because he had bought it from someone else and was never given the original receipt... The apple tech said that if it were to be repaired w/o the warranty it would cost around $450 to fix everything that is wrong with this machine including the logic board but once the logic board is replaced THERE WILL NEVER BE A WAY TO VERIFY THE ORIGINAL SERIAL NUMBER and the warranty will be attached to a "dead" serial number because the laptop will now have a blank serial number in the firmware...
After all this I ended up (possibly a very bad idea) buying the laptop anyways from the guy for $450, now the laptop is still at the apple tech as i left it there until i decide what to have them do. When i got home i talked with apple support and explained the whole situation, I gave them the serial number that was written down and they once again verified that it was the seller's name that it was registered to, i asked them if they could find the name of the original owner so maybe i could get a proof of purchase, they told me that the name couldn't be found after it had been re-registered to the seller but they could see that it had been reported LOST / STOLEN just before the seller's name was registered to it, but they did explain that it doesn't really matter because the warranty goes with the product and not the customer. I also asked if maybe they could cross reference the serial number of another part inside the macbook to the "main" serial number to prove that this was in fact that laptop and they said no they dont record parts serial numbers in the laptops they only do that in the desktops. Finally the apple support told me that because the serial number had been removed that if i sent it to apple to fix this would void the warranty anyways... NOW WHY DIDN'T THE APPLE TECH KNOW THIS RIGHT FROM THE START!!!! but the apple service did say that as long as i found an apple tech that would do the repairs "in-house" and they didn't mention this then it could still be covered under the warranty (as long as i could some how prove this laptop does have the serial number i provided)......
SO SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ANY FURTHER FROM THIS POINT... my worst case (hopefully) will be that i paid $450, it will cost me another $330 to repair, $90 for labor, and $90 "expediting" the service so i will have a $960 used 2007 2.4ghz 17in macbook pro with no warranty and only a 90 day parts warranty... I also feel that the apple service tech lied to me because he told me that he would be able to find out what the serial number of this laptop was and couldn't, as well as the fact that he should have been able to immediately notify me that the serial number being removed voids the warranty.... PLEASE HELP....
