Right then, I bought a 2011 Macbook Pro (funnily enough in 2011) which has just keeled over and died from the reported graphic error/fault (it failed on the 18th January 2017). Apple were running a FOC service option until 31st Dec 2016 as they admitted that it was a manufacturing fault ( as described HERE )
I contacted their support who agreed to cover the cost despite being 18 days out of the program, so, at their request, off to Carmarthen I went to be told the part isn’t available. Apple support now say that there is nothing they can do and they wont offer any further solution (despite their addmittance of a defect).
I’ve contacted PC World as consumer law offers me 6 years from purchase. My main queries are:-
A. If Apple have admitted there is a manufacturing defect and told everyone to contact them for repair (not original purchase place) then shouldn’t they continue to take ownership of the issue
B. What the hell happened to all the parts that were available on the 31st December 2016 that are now gone, never to be seen again? Have they fired them into the sun?

I’ll be honest if Apple hadnt offered to cover the repair I would have just gone to PC World and let them decide what to do, but now they offered and are now washing their hands of it i’m a little more beligerent 🙂

Anyway, sorry for the long post and i’m grateful to anyone who offers advice (including weeing in shoes etc)

I took my MackBookPro to the Genius bar, similar failure and out of program, and they ended up replacing the whole thing so that might be worth a try?

As above.

Did you speak with a senior advisor or just the first point of contact…?

Take it to an Apple store, ask to speak to the boss. Explain what they offered you already.

I would suspect (guessing here) that Apple where offering the fix without admitting it was a “manufacturing fault” – they would have had to take that approach in order say there was a cutoff date I think. They also have legal wiggle room around what is the “expected life” of a computer – legally I think that’s scarily short. 5 years may be longer than legally required. 😐

6 years from date of delivery according to this….

Apple Consumer Law Link

Never used it in anger. Interested to hear how you get on.

Unless you’re in Scotland, then it’s 5.

I’ve spoken to two senior advisors. I’d nip to the nearest genius bar but it’s 50 miles away. Apple have published an admittance of manufacturing fault so that’s a bonus, will give them another ring maybe

Credit Card?

if apple have admitted a manufacturing fault, then aren’t credit card company still on the hook if Apple refuse to help?

It was on finance, it’s 5 years ago so digging around for paperwork at the moment

Haha. Weird co-incidence. My late-2011 MBP, bought new as a refurb from Apple in 2012, started showing the exact same symptoms last week whenever i ran a program that used accelerated graphics. Corrupted screen, laptop would hang. The stack trace from every crash dump i managed to take has the Radeon driver in it, GPU failing to acknowledge an interrupt. Diagnostics show no fault.
I found that Apple page [1] (that admits that it’s a known issue & they’ve extended the warranty to end of 2016. Checking the warranty page for my MBP states that i should check the regional consumer law as that might provide additional cover as it’s a known manufacturing defact. To their credit, Apple have a very detailed page that covers that [2], and yes in theory mine is still covered (edit: it’s 6 years from purchase date).

Rather than waste half a day going to the local Apple store only to be told “sorry mate, that offer has expired” i thought i’d contact Apple support today to check that indeed the UK consumer law does cover this. TBH, I was expecting an uphill battle trying to convice them. I was wrong. The woman i spoke to couldn’t have been more helpful. She checked it out with support management & yes, assuming the issue with mine is the fault detailed in [1] then yes i’m covered. So now i have a support ticket with all the details in it that i can use to arrange an appoiintment with the local expert bar to get the mainboard swapped out.

I’d suggest you do similar.

You will need to provide proof of purchase. (If you bought it through an Apple store you should have an email with the purchase order on it).

[1] http://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
[2] http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/

Grahamb , yes Ive pretty much been there, after much discussion and them saying they would repair it FOC it appears that the part in question isnt available anymore. Obviously they stamped on them all on the 1st January.
I think you going to find the same problem when you do get to the store, although if you do manage to get it repaired then both the senior advisors have been lying to me (and Stormfront Ltd) who confirmed that the part is out of stock.
Ive also checked various websites who offer parts for macbooks and they all list the offending part ( logic board) as out of stock with no supply date.
I suspect if the machine had been purchased from an Apple Store not a reseller we’d have more clout but as Swansea doesn’t have an Apple store we resorted to pcworld.
I;ve just fired off an email to their contacts/complaints dept so will see what they say.

So, I’m assuming by your references to PC a World, you bought it from them, and not Apple directly?

Take it up with PC world in that case. Your contract is with them, and it’s up to them to get a result from Apple.

Frankly, knowing PC World and given the time elapsed I think you’re on a hiding to nothing. Better to approach Apple again, in person in a Genius Bar, and ask for a goodwill contribution to a repair. From personal experience, as with most retailers, Apple are brilliant if you bought from them.

A tale of Apple service, our dog stood on my daughters new MacBook Pro one of the new ones and it was just over 2 weeks old, put a small chip in the edge of the screen that ruined a 2 inch bar of the screen, went to a Genius Bar and they said a new screen was £600! As a good will gesture they replaced the whole laptop with a brand new one free of charge, was amazed by the service!

+1 with what bensales said.

As that Apple UK consumer law page says “Under consumer laws in the UK, consumers are entitled to a free of charge repair or replacement, discount or refund by the seller, of defective goods or goods which do not conform with the contract of sale.”. Apple have admitted it doesn’t conform to the contract of sale, so you shouldn’t have to prove that. That Apple text would suggest that the seller (PCWorld) should provide you with “repair or replacement, discount or refund”. Maybe contact trading standards ?.

I’d hope Apple still have spares for that board, even if they’re reworked ones.

Apple seem to be quite happy if you go straight to them rather than back to the place you bought it from. I did that with my iPhone once (bought from CW) and they just gave me a new one there and then.
One of the reasons I’ll still buy their stuff!

I get all the go to pcworld stuff, my argument revolves around them agreeing to do it if the part was available and the fact that if it failed last month, under their own terms they would have sorted it out. What if the part wasn’t available in December when the foc offer was on? No one at Apple will answer that

Not an expert in consumer law by any means but surely PC World are the retailer and the warranty rests with Apple? Certainly when I had a Mobile Phone store we were expressly instructed by Apple to refer any handset issues directly to them. Look at any electrical items in Tesco etc, they usually have a massive sticker saying to contact xxxx in the event of issues instead of Tesco.

Pc world would be the normal first port of call, but this all rests on that link in my first post which encourages you to contact apple as they feel best equipped (and after the court ruling that led to this solution) to deal with it to the customers satisfaction

Similar thing happened to me; 2011 15″ MBP, through November graphics issues started worsening (blank screens, blocks through screen etc) then the device just started shutting down randomly.

Called Applecare on the 22nd Dec to enquire about getting it repaired, they made me aware of the AppleCare extension program referenced by the OP and made me an appointment at Stormfront in Stirling for the 5th Jan, I noticed the cutoff date was the end of Dec so asked the AppleCare technician if there would be any issues with an appointment in Jan, they said it would be fine as the call was logged prior to the extension end date. Arrived at the store with the laptop to be told that the extension had expired and the parts required for the repair are no longer availible.

Wrote a letter of complaint to Apple (apparently the only way to escalate issues is by posting a letter to Hollyhill Ireland), I was a little dissapointed to receive a support lifecycle statement in response.

Ive had really decent experiences with Applecare in the past but am far from delighted with they way theyve handled this.

The new 15″ MBPs are £2300 and arent any faster – they are thinner lighter etc but in terms of CPU / memory etc they are still around the same spec (16GB quad core 2.3 i7 etc) if the new ones were better in terms of performance I would probably just upgrade, dont really want to buy a used 2011 – 2013 as they can be affected by this issue and later ones appear to be going for crazy money since the price hike when the touch models were released.

Can you guys let me know if you get anywhere with this?

After another call to Apple (as I’d emailed them and they instructed me to do so again) which came to nothing apart from being advised of the comsumer law ( 6 years from delivery- so pretty much any 2011 macbook pro falls under this). I duly trotted off to PcWorld to be told that the shops dont deal with it you have to call our customer care number (0344 561 1234).
The pleasent young man explained to ask for the “out of warranty dept” and all would be dealt with there. Phoned them explained the problem and my dealings with Apple to be told that the team would arrange to collect it, there would be a charge of £60 which would be refunded after the repair/replacement (if it is under the fault that Apple acknowledge).
They know the problem with the Macbooks and, whislt being a bit coy are quite helpful so im hopeful that it will be resolved soon.

gavtheman, where did you purchase yours from? If isn’t one of the Apple official stores then the above will apply just in a different way.

Think I bought directly from Apple, will look at my credit card statements to work it out, consumer law wasnt something I’d considered thanks for the tip. On a positive note I had a random call from Apple Executive Relations saying they were attempting to locate a replacement motherboard, the service may not be as gash as I’d originally stated… Fingers crossed they find a logic board.

When I spoke to them the second time they tried to find a logic board and failed but you never know. If you go down the consumer law route you just have to take it to the store and let them deal with it, don’t take no for an answer though. Once they have it , its up to them to either source the part or if unavailable to replace it 🙂

And thats it, PC world’s useless Know How helpline finally got back to me to arrange collection and changed their minds completely, told me to take it to the local store. There I had to have it tested by a staff member (didnt want/know how to do this), so we phoned the CC department (again) and finally got a solution. Under SOG they offered a depreciated value of £280(which is pretty much what the SOG guidance says so cant complain too much-I did but to no avail), initially in vouchers for their store but after vowing never to shop there again (due to the shoddy “customer” care) they are crediting my bank.
Not happy at all but that’s all i’m likely to get out of em.
You may have more luck but I doubt it. PcWorld and Currys now added to Amazon as shops I’ll not use 🙂

PCWorld should be on that list by default. I assume Amazon are only on there due to tax/treatment of employee reasons, as chances are they would have given you your money back.

Anyway. At least with the £280 you have enough for a deposit on a new MacBook 😉

Pcworld and Curry’s are hard to avoid if you want to look at stuff before you buy it, but yeah they should have gone on the list a while ago. Amazon are on for those reasons and a whole bunch more.

Wtf is a logic board, lol!

I finally got around to taking mine in to the local genius bar. It refused to fail their VST (video stress test) diag, but once warmed up would crash under OSX as soon as it did any intensive work on the external GPU. They told me that it had to fail VST for them to replace it under the program, but given the fault symptoms in OSX suggested a GPU fault, they agreed to take in to the workshop for more extensive tests.

I got a call from the technician looking at it. He was managing to get it failing consistently under OSX even though it was still passing VST. He agreed that it was the external GPU at fault, and management have agreed it can be replaced FoC. \o/

(Someone told me that only keep stock of FRUs like this logic boards for 5 years after they’re withdrawn from main production, which covers most extended repair programs. 5 years is now up for my model MBP. What happens going into the 6th year with the England & Wales buyer protection cover will be interesting).

mattyfez – Member
Wtf is a logic board, lol!

motherboard, the bit of the mac that breaks fairly regularly, they’ve had problems with them on various incarnations of macs for as long as I remember.