In a recent video, Canadian Linus Sebastian from popular YouTube Channel Linus Tech Tips has shared his experience of reaching out to Apple as well as an Apple Authorized Service Provider, both of which refused to service his damaged iMac Pro over ‘policy’ issues (via MacRumors).
The iMac Pro got damaged when Sebastian and his team tried to reassemble it after taking it apart for a video review they did back in January. When they reached out to Apple to inquire about repair options, the company declined to service the iMac Pro.
While an Apple support advisor blamed limited availability of replacement parts, the actual reason seems to be related to Apple’s repair policy for products that have failed due to “unauthorized modification”, including “faulty installation, repair, or maintenance by anyone other than Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider”.
Sebastian and his team then contacted an Apple Authorized Service Provider in Canada, who also declined the repair for apparently the same reason. All Apple Authorized Service Providers are permitted to deny service for any product that has been opened or modified by a customer, regardless of warranty.
Check out Sebastian’s video below as he walks through the whole experience, and share your thoughts in the comments section.
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That sucks that they denied the repair. In a perfect world, they should charge him extra but they should still repair it, especially considering how expensive the product is.
That being said, obviously Apple is within their rights to deny him. He’s using the iMac Pro to make himself rich, so I don’t exactly care or feel sorry for him.
Thing is, if the first party damaged more than immediately visible, the Apple / Apple Authorized repair facility ends up wearing it, not the guy who broke it.
wow… this post on MacRumors has more than 1000 comments…
that said, I think that third party providers should be allowed to buy parts at their own risk… and do the repairs themselves.
Posts are from all the Apple fanboys. Standing by their brand. Very similar to when BlackBerry was big
If Honda refused to fix my car because I replaced the tires myself, they would be within their rights. But they would also suck.
Your analogy would work if replacing your tires voids your warranty with Honda (which it doesn’t).
A) Not a warranty issue, he wanted to get it fixed — if this was a warranty issue it would say “warranty issue”, not “policy issue”
B) The point is that it’s another cash-grab from a company who tries their hardest to be the only people providing you with computer services.
Why is everyone so fucking stupid.
Because Apple marketing made them that way.
>Apple won’t take linuses money to fix the computer that he broke
>IT’S A CASH GRAB I TELLS YA!!
Which is it?
Well who do you think makes up the rules for the warranty? Honda could say replacing the wheels voids their warranty if they wanted to. But they would suck if they did.
Again, this isn’t a warranty issue. Lets say you got a crack in your windshield (never covered by warranty). If Honda, BMW, or anyone refused to sell you a new windshield because you did an oil change yourself, you have to admit there is a problem. Read, my man. Read.
My guess is it does stem with a warranty issue. Apple puts a warranty on their repairs. I ran into it when trying to get an iPhone battery changed (the sensors inside showed water-damage). The manager-like person explained when they do repairs, the parts and/or labour have additional time-limited warranty following the repair. If they get a device where they see something ‘off’ has happened, it’s their policy to refuse to do the work. If they did the work and the device failed the next week, they would normally fix it no-charge. When there are extenuating circumstances, they get into a sticky situation. It would be difficult to know what caused the failure. So that’s their policy.
That being said, I was totally angry when I hit this situation, and was on my third person to strongly complain to. I think this general issue is a communication problem more than a service/parts issue. (They recommended I should call into the customer complaints number, but I never did.)
You guys are both talking about parts that are all external to the machine. Linus took his machine apart and fried the logicboard and PSU. Which are inside his computer. It’s not a simple ‘cracked windshield’. If Linus hadn’t taken the computer apart and trashed 90% of the internals and it were only a cracked screen, then Apple probably would have fixed the screen for about a thousand dollars or so.
OK, you should be smarter when comparing products. Apple is like a luxury car (BMW, Audi…). Honda is like an Android device. With a luxury car, the car company refuses to fix your car if you modify or fix it yourself and you damage it.
I think you mean it could void your warranty. I did some googling and didn’t find any evidence that they would refuse to fix it out of warranty.
And if BMW or Audi actually did refuse, they would suck. They would have every right to suck. But they would suck.
All warranties have a provision that stipulate that if you break the product yourself or the product breaks due to anything but manufacturer defect, it voids your warranty. Also, this is more than simply changing the tit]res. Linuses employee essentially broke the whole computer. It’s like buying a mercedes Benz, breaking the whole car and then going to mercedes all like “fix this”.
Well, I believe they were just upgrading the memory in standard memory slots. So, to be fair, it would be like Honda building the car so that you weren’t able to change the tires without disassembling the car and taking the body off of the chassis.
No, it would be like you buying a Tesla, taking it apart down to the bolts without knowing what you’re doing, calling yourself changing the fuses or whatever and destroying it in the process.
It doesn’t matter if the ram slots are standard or not. It’s super obvious that the thing isn’t made to be opened up like that. If you’re going to open it up, then you better know what you’re doing because it’s a $5000 workstation that’s not designed for you to open up like that and even if it were, linuses employee shorted the whole system out. If he shorted out a Mac Pro, which is made to be opened up, then Apple still wouldn’t toig]ch it with a ten foot pole.
The ram slots are just about the only “standard part” in the thing, so it’s not a standard computer like a Honda would be a standard car.
Yeah, but if Honda glued shut access to your tires the way Apple glued shut access to your RAM slots, they would suck.
Apple isn’t the Honda or computers. They’re the Tesla of computers. The mercedes Benz of computers. Expecting Apple to be Honda is way off base. Also, ram isn’t comparable to tires at all. It’s a bad analogy.
OK, if Tesla glued shut access to your tires the way Apple glued shut access to your RAM slots, they would suck. RAM modules are, you know, modular. Like tires.
Tires are not even remotely comparable to RAM. RAM is more like an internal component to a machine. Not an external component like tires. Tires are more like a keyboard or mouse.
There are lots of “modular” parts in a Tesla. That doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea for you to go in there and take the car apart to get to them.
I can swap the RAM in my Thinkpad a heck of a lot faster and easier than the tires of my car. I only need a screwdriver and a few minutes to swap the RAM as compared to needing specialized tools such as a jack, lug wrench, patch kit, air pump, maybe even a wheel balancing machine if I want it done right. I would say that car manufacturers would be well within their rights to seal off the tires since they are such important components needing specialized tools to fix or replace correctly. But you can replace them yourself because, well, they haven’t realized they could be that evil yet. But with Apple leading the way…
Here, let me help you out…
1) You don’t have to open up your car to change a tire. You need to open up your computer to change the ram.
2) Your tires are not an intrical part of your cars engine, drivetrain or electronics. Your cars motor will operate normally even if you have no tires on your car. Ram is an intrical part of your computer’s functionality. Your computer will not even turn on if you don’t have ram.
3) there’s nothing EVIL about making a closed system. Is Microsoft EVIL for making the Surface line, Xbox, Xbox 360 or Xbox one? Is Sony EVIL for making playstation? No. Anyone with two brain cells understands that those things are what they are. The iMac Pro is an a-plain experience computer. It’s something that you put on your desk and use for work. There’s no need to open it up and screw around with the internals.
Lol so you believe you should never fix or replace anything that you need to “open” – even if it has a door for that very purpose. Hope you never need new furniture because you’ll have to open the door.
>Lol so you believe you should never fix or replace anything that you need to “open” – even if it has a door for that very purpose.
Holy strawman, batman! I never argued that at all.
Yeah you did – “You don’t have to open up your car to change a tire. You need to open up your computer to change the ram” So your reasoning is that it’s ok to change a tire because it’s “outside” but it’s not ok to change your own RAM even if it has a little slide-out panel for the purpose, because it’s ”inside”
I was drawing a distinction between tires, which are external to your car, vs RAM, which is always internal to your computer.
My reasoning is that changing your tires is DIFFERENT and NOT COMPARABLE to changing your ram because TIRES are ALWAYS on the OUTSIDE OF YOUR CAR while RAM is ALWAYS on the INSIDE YOUR COMPUTER. I also drew other disctinctions that you completely ignored. My point is that they are different things in concept, so your analogy doesn’t work.
Changing your tires is more akin to changing your power cord or changing your keyboard, mouse, external HD, printer or whatever that’s external of your computer’s case.
I never fucking said that changing your tires was/wasn’t ok. I openly pointed out that it is different in concept from changing an internal component.
Look, you’ve been condescending and now you’re reduced to writing words in all caps and swearing. I don’t think we need that here.
1) Hmm, I see other people swearing and cursing in the thread.
2) condescension is just how I respond to poor arguments and strawman attacks.
3) the caps are to help you read what I’m actually writing because that seems to be a problem here.
Wow, just wow. Get over yourself
You broke it Genius! YOU fix it. In this case Apple is right to say FOAD – Genius!
So if you drove over a pot hole and broke your axle, you should be expected to fix it yourself and never be able to take it to the dealer and pay for them to fix it?
That’s very different from what happened here, which is more akin to purposefully taking your car apart and completely breaking the entire drivetrain and lord knows what else because you didn’t know what you were doing.
Besides, the cost to repair his iMac Pro would likely be more than just buying a new one since parts for brand new Macs are pretty crazy. This isn’t a quick stop at Best Buy to pick up a couple off the shelf parts.
Why do news outlets completely miss the point? If Apple declined service due to a company policy, they would have explained that instead of saying they don’t have parts, and sending them to a third-party repair shop. The truth wouldn’t be so hard to see if Apple news outlets weren’t misleading their readers because the warranty had absolutely zero relevance to the story.
Linus took the iMac Pro to the Apple Store knowing it was their fault they broke it and were more than willing to pay for the repair. They knew it was out-of-warranty. The Apple Store could not get the parts in to fix their iMac Pro. They contacted a third-party repair shop who couldn’t repair it either becuase nobody had any certification to repair “Pro” products. That’s the truth, and you would only know that if any of you watched these “idiots”. Before you reply, look up the definition of “ad-hominem”, and answer me this: If Apple really declined them for a policy, why would they have taken the iMac in to begin with, and why would they give them a completely different reason for not being able to repair it?
Now here’s my opinion. It doesn’t matter what the policy states. If they didn’t want to repair it for another reason, that’s the reason why. The whole warranty spiel is just smoke and mirrors.
Apple should not have the power to refuse parts orders from customers who are willing to pay and do their own repairs.
If you are too stupid to open up an Apple product, then perhaps you should not be a smart ass. I don’t have sympathy for this guy at all. There are many people out there who don’t know squat but posting videos to make money. Lesson learnt!
I do not believe this is a case of unacceptable customer service or policy. This is a case of Apple giving these particular guys the middle finger.
The question is why? For the most part the only information we have access to is a carefully crafted video. There is no telling what other issues or communications this group has had with Apple.
For example who is to say they just did not try and get service using some other story and just got busted. So, now they take things in a different direction and record everything.
Ether way, would you buy a mac from this guy on Craig’s List? Do you think this guy would tell you that the mac you were buying had been completely tore down?