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Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

support.apple.com

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Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#31

Post by t3rabytes »

8draco8 wrote: post #15
ramijames wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My time isn't free. The fact that I have to deal with this at all makes me never want to buy another Mac and I have been a heavy user for at least 20 years. Super annoyed.

Companies like Dell and Lenovo just ships fault element if it's possible to replace it yourself and in many cases it is possible to replace keyboard without to much hustle. Not to mention their on premise warranty which usually cost somewhere around AppleCare plan. If I am working on a hardware, 9 hours a day 5,6 or even 7 days a week I don't have time to sit in Apple store for hours. Even worst, in country where I a…

They do that if you paid for the premium warranty options, it's not included by default -- it's typically depot service for everything by default.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#32

Post by dsego »

jacknews wrote: post #5

Add to that, that the keycaps break. They have teeny-tiny clips on the top edge, which just break after a while, and they just lift off, sticking to your finger, or just shift slightly, enough not to 'click' when you press them. I'm not a particularly heavy typist (though it sounds like it on the butterfly keyboard, compared to my previous 2013 macbbok pro), but I've now had about 8 keycaps replaced in the lasst year…

This happens to me as well. In time those keycaps become loose and start falling out. And it's way to easy to snap them off when replacing.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#33

Post by Fnoord »

breck wrote: post #26
52-6F-62 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of refurb 2015 MBP's on the market since many people upgraded to newer machines. They're the last run before the butterfly keyboard, you can find up to 16GB memory and 512GB storage—some of them with dedicated video as well (if the 15" size is what you're after). And substantially cheaper than new models. Mind you I think this is t he run with the battery issue.....

I didn’t know there were 16GB options. I thought I got the best last generation MBA at 8gb and 512. It’s my primary machine and I still love it.

I have a MBP 13" 2015 with 16 GB RAM and a MBP 15" 2015 with 16 GB RAM. The 13" was actually bought in begin of 2017.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#34

Post by qaq »

vuln wrote: post #8

Ugh. I really want to upgrade my 2014 mba. Four gigs of ram doesn’t cut it anymore and my eyes have grown tired of the screen. I love the size, battery life, I just don’t know what to get next.

If one believes the rumors the 2019 Air that will ship this fall will be first macbook with new keyboard type.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#36

Post by pault »

Jakob wrote: post #29
mtrpcic wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar experience. Struggled with several keys either "not pressing" or "double pressing". After a while I took it in, they gave me an estimate of 5 days for repair, and called me after 4. No charge, no fee, no questions. Once I got used to the butterfly keys I didn't mind the low travel distance, and now that my keyboard is in proper working order, I have no issues with it. Still wish there was an escape ke…

You can set caps lock as escape key in System Preferences since one of the last OS versions. For me this works even better than the original escape key position since it’s on the home row.

I don't know if it's possible with third party software (I use a hardware programmable keyboard running QMK), but I map it to tap for escape, hold for ctrl. If you use vim keybindings for your editor it's glorious.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#37

Post by kolbe »

rogerhoward wrote: post #10

After months of suffering with this, with an out warranty 15" MBP 2016 that was relegated to desk duty with an external keyboard, I heard about this program. I made an Apple Store appointment for the next day (a Tuesday); they checked it, warned me it could be a week or more because of a holiday that week. Thursday morning I had a call that it was ready. Total cost: $0 (according to the invoice the parts were over $8…

Apple really is good about taking care of problems. It's easy to complain about the price, but when my Samsung screen stopped working, I had to buy a new phone. When my iPhone screen started glitching, I got it fixed for free in less than two hours. Things like that make paying the "Apple premium" a little more palatable.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#38

Post by delfinom »

iamnotacrook wrote: post #24
cced wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I have 7 distinct repairs so far. Every one of these involves a back up, checking in at the Apple Store, explaining what the issue is, having the staff run “diagnostics” only to find nothing wrong with the computer, my having to tell them that this has become routine and that I want them to take my computer in for repairs, having them call me back a few days later with a repaired computer, retrieving the comput…

It sounds like the "diagnostics" are faulty. If they ended up fixing your problems (as suggested by your "distinct repairs" comments, so they can't have just sat on the device for a phone days then said "yep, we fixed it") then it sounds like they do further tests once they've accepted it for repair, and where those tests highlight a genuine problem, in which case they should probably do those tests initially instead…

The goal of their diagnostics is to a.) upsell/make you pay up for "repairs" you may or may not need b.) avoid doing work under warranty

Same shit for car dealers and other places involving consumer goods. This all driven by corporate setting quotas for employees to meet (knowing full well they can't be met unless certain non-spoken shortcuts are taken...).

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#39

Post by pault »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #35

I'll be holding on to my 2012 MacBook Pro until they switch to a different kind of keyboard. If they don't, then I'm getting a Surface instead.

If you don't care about the default telemetry and ads, switch to Windows 10 with WSL. I was a die hard Mac user for a decade and since switching I haven't looked back. Windows is a different beast than it was 10 years ago, and having the whole ecosystem of hardware and software at your disposal is fantastic.

Re: Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

#40

Post by denzil_correa »

avree wrote: post #21
rogerhoward wrote: post #10

After months of suffering with this, with an out warranty 15" MBP 2016 that was relegated to desk duty with an external keyboard, I heard about this program. I made an Apple Store appointment for the next day (a Tuesday); they checked it, warned me it could be a week or more because of a holiday that week. Thursday morning I had a call that it was ready. Total cost: $0 (according to the invoice the parts were over $8…

I made the mistake of paying the $800+ for the bottom clamshell replacement needed to fix the keyboard one week before they announced this program.

The Apple Support page says

> If you believe your Mac notebook was affected by this issue, and you paid to have your keyboard repaired, you can contact Apple about a refund.

I'd say you have a good chance to get your money back.

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