07-13-2008, 06:01 AM

I've had my black macbook 18 months now and this afternoon it, for want of a better phrase, started to fall apart.

From the pressure of my palm resting on the top while i was typing a piece of the palm rest has started to splinter off about a inch in from the corner.

I've not bashed it or accidently damaged it in any way, I keep it in a sleeve and have a Pakuma bag with a padded pouch for carrying it around.

what do i do?

Im in Jakarta (I got it the UK) and the nearest apple store is Singapore, and im not spending $600 on a flight because apple couldn't make a product to withstand the act of someone typing.

is there any way to get it fixed or replaced

07-13-2008, 06:44 AM

It's a common issue actually.Do you have Applecare or are you out of warranty?

You can get the top case replaced (not sure how much that costs if it's out of warranty) or get the part and DIY (but that means Apple will never repair it for you again, and it will void any warranty you do have).

I'm on my third, which is now cracked.

07-13-2008, 07:21 AM

My family have 3 macbooks and two of them have had replacement tops due to the cracking problem. Unfortunately the keyboard is part of the top as is the trackpad so the cost is increased BUT I know of several macbook owners who have managed to get the tops replaced outside of the warranty period due to this being a known product defect.

07-14-2008, 11:21 PM

I'm out of warrenty. I got it about 18 months ago. Although this does not excuse poor build quality.

I went into the local authorised apple repair place and the guy was about to do the "oh you must have dropped it, its not covered, I've never seen it before spiel" and I showed him a whole load of articles I printed out in advance showing that apple know about the problem and they are fixing it for free even if its out of warranty.

All hail the internet in hard copy!

He asked to keep the print outs and is contacting apple about it. He says he will contact me when he has news but I think I will swing by later this week.

Would it be quicker to contact apple myself?

07-15-2008, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by disco_jim

I'm out of warrenty. I got it about 18 months ago. Although this does not excuse poor build quality.

I went into the local authorised apple repair place and the guy was about to do the "oh you must have dropped it, its not covered, I've never seen it before spiel" and I showed him a whole load of articles I printed out in advance showing that apple know about the problem and they are fixing it for free even if its out of warranty.

All hail the internet in hard copy!

He asked to keep the print outs and is contacting apple about it. He says he will contact me when he has news but I think I will swing by later this week.

Would it be quicker to contact apple myself?

Their customer support is very good I would leave it with them and see what happens. Soumds like it could be a good result.

07-16-2008, 08:56 AM

I wasn't too sure about what Customer support would be like so I kinda skipped a few steps and emailed sjobs@apple.com.

I got a reply this afternoon from the 'executive customer services' guy for Asia, Oz, Japan and so will be calling him tomorrow. Hopefully will be fixed by the end of next week.

Must remember Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Jakarta.

07-18-2008, 02:10 AM

UPDATE

Things are on a roll.

The man from Apple has sorted me with a repair code and my local AAS has put in the request. Should take 2-3 days to get here from Singapore, a day or two repair time.

Hopefully by this time next week I will have a complete macbook.

I've just got to figure out how to reduce the chance of this happening again.

07-18-2008, 04:05 AM

I'm glad you are managing t get it sorted. See I told you they were responsive to discussion! They are pretty fair like that.

07-22-2008, 05:08 AM

Oh FFS.

This can only happen in a city where there are almost as many apple retailers as pc shops in an electronics mall

Ok, so this is the timeline.

Sunday. case cracks. go to store A to find out will they repair it. service bit is closed, I leave my email & number.

Monday. No email from store, go in after work. talk to service guy. I ASK if apple will cover the costs of repair. he doesn't know. he takes down my serial number and email. says he will contact me when he knows.

Wednesday. no news from store A. Contact apple direct and store B.

Thursday. get email from nice man at apple and from store B (who say they wont repair out of warranty). Talk to apple man on phone who says apple will cover the costs. Go to store B and argue about money with service guy.

Friday. Apple man talks to store B service guy, problems resolved. give store B my serial number and details.

Sunday. Email from store B. part ordered. will be contacted when it gets in.

By this time I have forgotten about store A.

Tuesday. Email from store A saying they have my part and can I come in and get my macbook repaired (I don't know it they would be charging me or not)



Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

07-22-2008, 06:44 AM

DOH....

Oh and now my wife's Macbook top has just cracked again !!!

07-22-2008, 07:49 AM

I've been following this thread and I want to know if the cracked case top is a problem for the Mac Book only or is it a frequent problem for the MacBookPro? Thx. (I have only had my MBP about two months)

07-22-2008, 07:54 AM

It is just the macbook. My theory is that it is because there is a minute gap between the lip of the lid and the bottom case. Resting your hands on the top puts a tiny pressure on the plastic and over time the flexing breaks the plastic along this.

I have just rung Apple and the have agreed to replace the top of my wife's 18 month old macbook because they replaced the top in November and the repair is less than a year old.

My advice for anyone with a macbook under a year is to buy applecare. You can pick up one on the cheap on ebay US (even if you are in the UK) and then it will be covered for 3 years. The cost of the Applecare is less than the cost of the new top and it extends the warranty on the rest of the computer!

I'm just off back to the O2 shop now to return my one hour old 3G iPhone due to a dead pixel !!

UPDATE: Replaced.....

07-22-2008, 09:38 AM

This is getting VERY silly, now been told by my other daughter that hers has gone again too!!! This one is still in warranty though so its going back tomorrow with my wife's one

07-23-2008, 06:55 AM

UPDATE
watching the tech fix it right now in store B
oh the joy of mobile interweb on my Nokia 9300 is hard to beat.
EDIT - now i need a way so strengthen the plastic of my nice and shiny new case top. all the apple shops here have garskin protectors which are quite snazzy. but i looked at a demo unit in shopB and the skin had dents where the plastic presses down.

anyone figured out a good way to stop this (i know cowasaki hasn't :-) )