MacBook HD Malfunctioned....

I am new here and would love to get your views on something that happened to me with my MacBook. Right before Xmas, my 18 month old MacBook's HD malfunctioned. At the time I didn't know that so I took it to the Apple store. They recommended that I change the HD. I am a student struggling to pay for my classes as well as previous loans so I told them I need some time to come up with the money and I'll come back. The guy that worked there and was helping me out told me I can keep the MacBook here until I save up the money. Thinking that might motivate me to get the money quicker I agreed but told him STRICTLY and many times to NOT do anything to the MacBook until I tell him so and he promised me he won't. I went home that night and realized all my school projects as well as many very personal and sentimental pictures were in the MacBook and I have to in every way get them back. AS you know Apple's policy is that once they replace the HD, the old HD becomes their property. So I was more concerned but thought they won't do anything before I tell them to. Well the next day right after I woke up, I sent my brother to get my MacBook back. 1. they told him if it isn't fixed, he has to pay $100 which the guy never told me by the way and 2. they have already fixed it.

So they clearly went against my orders and took my old HD and now I Have to pay for something I didn't want them to do in the first place. I was wondering if there's anything I can do resolve the problem? I just want my old HD back.

ideally, when you had any idea it was a hard drive, you should have done it yourself.

since that's in the past now, i would demand they put everything back the way it was and refund your money. you may want to suggest you'll be calling the better business bureau as well. make sure you talk to a manager.

if somehow that does work for you, which i think is a slim chance if any, you'll still need to get your data back. a tthe very least you're going to need a new hard drive, which is very easy to install. your recovery media that came with your macbook to reload the OS.
now, the other thing to keep in mind is that the drive has failed. if you have access to an external enclosure, you can try swapping your bad drive in to see if it works at all. sometimes letting the drive sit in a freezer for a while before mounting it can help here depending on the failure.
if nothing you do works, there are data recovery services, but i'm thinking they are going to be far out of your price range.

if you take nothing else from this, learn to keep backups of anything even remotely important.

Clearly some misinformation between you and the tech at the Apple store occurred. You should have received an estimate of repairs in writing and a receipt if you left your machine with them.

Anyway, it appears it's too late for that.... I recommend you speak with the store manager and explain the situation to him\her. One of the first things an Apple tech will normally do when swapping out a hard drive is to copy the information\data\programs from the old drive to the new one. Even if you don't get your old drive back, the new one should contain all your school papers and so forth.

If you speak with the store manager, do so politely and state that you did not want the repair done until you could afford to do so and that the repair was accomplished without your permission. A good store manager should write the repair off to their mistake and allow you to keep the new hard drive. Also make certain even if you do get to keep the new drive at no cost that it contains all your data copied from the old drive. Of course that depends if the data could be copied - assuming the old drive was accessible.

Regards.

I also agree, this should be a simple matter to take care of.

Just be as polite and calm as possible with the manager (speak to no one but the manager).

If the manager says "o well..." cant do anything, ask for the contact information for his boss. And if that doesnt work. contact your local BBB, that will get some swift action from them.

If you did not sign any paperwork authorizing the work on that laptop then you are in the right. If you signed something to authorize work but you were told otherwise then you have a mess on your hands..

Good luck, Keep us updated!!