Right To Repair

[Randy B. Singer]

The "right to repair" means that you should be able to open, repair, modify, customize, and change the items you own.

In modern times many companies, especially tech companies, have been designing their products and gearing their service and support, to make it very difficult or impossible to repair the products that you purchase. They have also been fighting very hard against consumer advocates trying to advance the right to repair.

You may have noticed, especially, that your Apple products have become more and more impossible to repair yourself, or by a third party.

The fight now seems to be nearing it's conclusion, and consumers have won!


FTC delivers death blow to anti-repair lobbyists & their disingenuous arguments

The Federal Trade Commission enters the fray over the 'right to repair'

Tech companies have made it nearly impossible for consumers to fix many of their products.

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Repair Preservation Group - Preserving Repair for Everyone, Everywhere

www.fighttorepair.org

European Parliament give “right to repair”

European Parliament give "right to repair" - The ITAM Review

As the European Parliament vote to give the "right to repair" to encourage the repair and reuse of hardware - we look at what it means.

www.itassetmanagement.net

 

[MacInWin]

Not sure that is a "victory" for everyone. Right to repair sounds good but will come with some serious unintended consequences, I think. Counterfeit parts, substandard replacements, unscrupulous shops, dubious quality work, who knows what sort of mischief is out there. Does RtR mean that Apple has to make M1 SoCs available for anyone who wants to put one in their machine? RtR may motivate Apple to start putting more stuff "inside" the SoC and leave less on the logic board to be repaired. Tighter integration of components into single, very expensive and difficult to manufacture, chips to reduce what can be repaired would satisfy the "right to repair" while at the same time actually make repair more difficult and dicey.

I wonder if it is time for consumers to stop thinking about repair/modification of personal computers and start treating them as "appliances" that work or don't. And when they don't, you dispose of them responsibly and get a new one. Here is an interesting take on that: Are We Heading Towards a Forever Mac? - The Mac Security Blog

 

[lclev]

Not sure that is a "victory" for everyone. Right to repair sounds good but will come with some serious unintended consequences, I think. Counterfeit parts, substandard replacements, unscrupulous shops, dubious quality work, who knows what sort of mischief is out there.

I wonder if it is time for consumers to stop thinking about repair/modification of personal computers and start treating them as "appliances" that work or don't. And when they don't, you dispose of them responsibly and get a new one.

With any repair there is the chance for the substandard - even with an Apple repair. My issue is not if I can send something out for a repair or even repairing it myself but that it will most likely invalidate any warrantee - which I do understand from the manufacturer’s standpoint. If it is out of warranty then let the repair information be public and the public beware when it comes to picking who does the repair.

As for treating a computer as an appliance…. I have my appliance repair service on speed dial and they are excellent.

Lisa

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Not sure that is a "victory" for everyone. Right to repair sounds good but will come with some serious unintended consequences, I think. Counterfeit parts, substandard replacements, unscrupulous shops, dubious quality work, who knows what sort of mischief is out there.

If you are paranoid about such things, nothing says that you can't use only the OEM to do all of your repairs.

I go to my neighborhood mechanic to fix my car. He charges less than the dealer, and he is more convenient. Same for my washer and dryer, and my other major appliances. Allowing third parties to do repairs isn't an open invitation for everyone to indulge in "mischief". There *have* been instances historically of lower quality replacement parts and unscrupulous third party repair persons, but the marketplace has always been one where consumers should be wary. I've seen plenty of OEM's do shoddy work. But by and large, competition in the marketplace is almost always a good thing. Consumers influnace quality and outcomes by taking their repeat business to shops with a good reputation.

I wonder if it is time for consumers to stop thinking about repair/modification of personal computers and start treating them as "appliances" that work or don't.

The "right to repair" is more about allowing things that OEM's routinely repair to be opened up to third party repair organizations, and only in some cases end users. If companies want to make products that are absolutely non-repairable, they can. But if those products aren't supremely reliable too, consumers will opt for more reliable/repairable products. Once again, it's all about competition.

 

[MacInWin]

Here is a story about repairability. Years ago a man bought a new Rolls-Royce. A few weeks later he was in his garage and decided he wanted to see what was under the bonnet (hood, for us Yanks). But he couldn't find anywhere to open the bonnet. Nothing outside, nothing in the cockpit. Nothing. So he called the dealer and asked how to open the bonnet. The dealer asked why he would want to do that. The man replied he was just curious about the engine. The dealer assured him the engine was fine and that he did not need to open the bonnet. The owner started to insist on being told how to open the bonnet and the dealer finally disclosed that the bonnet required a special tool that only the dealership had to open the bonnet and that the tool was not for sale at any price. The owner started to get a bit huffy and asked what he was supposed to do if the car died on the side of the road and he had no way to open the bonnet. The dealer replied that the proper response to that highly unlikely event was to call the dealership and they would immediately bring a replacement vehicle to him to be on his way and arrange for the car to be brought back to be repaired in the shop. The man was slightly satisfied with that answer as the dealership had been very accommodating during the sales process. Once the issue was resolved, the dealer closed the discussion by saying, "Imagine how disturbing it would be to the general population to see a Rolls-Royce beside the road with the bonnet open!"

Apple is, for now, the Rolls-Royce of laptops and desktops to some people. If your Apple breaks, Apple can and will fix it under warranty and under AppleCare+, which is now renewable. How that gets done is immaterial to me. I once had to have a repair done on my MBP under warranty and the total time from when I shipped it to Apple and it arrived back at my door, fully repaired, was 5 days. At no additional cost to me.

I'm not "paranoid" about repairmen. It's just that I don't think this right to repair is going to have the impact that the proponents of it are claiming.

We'll see.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Your story about the Rolls Royce is apocryphal. I can tell you from personal experience that anyone can open the hood of a Rolls Royce and no separate tool, and especially no special tool, is required.

The "right to repair" pertains to all goods, not just personal computers. When companies stop selling repair persons, and others, shop manuals and spare parts, it's really bad for consumers. It's anti-competitive and it should be illegal. The products we purchase are "ours". They don't belong to the manufacturer. We should be able to repair them, modify them, or do whatever we want with them as we choose.

 

[pine man]

For many years I have, routinely, carried out repairs to my (wife's) washing machines, cookers and other domestic appliances as well as her PC, with parts readily available on line and installed making considerable savings.

It does seem odd to me that, in theory, when my 7 year old 21.5 inch iMac suffers a mechanical breakdown the only option is the dustbin!

Still, as the 'Rolls Royce' of computers, I look forward to many more years of trouble free motoring

 

[pigoo3]

It was around 2012 when Apple started releasing computers that were less "repairable" or upgradable than they used to be before that time (namely end user being able to upgrade/replace RAM & upgrade/replace internal storage).

As time marched on...it was found users could upgrade/replace the "blade SSD's" in these 2012+ computers...when 3rd party companies (like OWC)...came out with replacement/upgrade blade SSD's...yeyyy!

But RAM in many Apple computer models since then is now soldered in place...this makes things extremely difficult for the average user to replace/upgrade (basically impossible). But some very skilled users have done it.

And since about 2015/2016...Apple stopped using "blade SSD's" for internal storage...and now internal storage in a lot of Apple computers is soldered in as well (and non-replaceable/non-upgradeable).

We can still get parts to repair our Apple computers (new parts from various vendors & used parts via www.ebay.com or www.powerbookmedic.com for example)...and then swap the good parts for bad parts...kinda like we have always been able to do.

Unless parts become 100% unavailable to the average user...I think we will still be able to repair our computers ourselves...and independent repair shops will as well...since they certainly have access to the same parts sources we DIY repairing users have access to (and probably a lot more).

Nick