Faulty Macbook from eBay

Mr_Shift

I purchased a Macbook from eBay 5 months ago from a seller and it has now gone faulty. Some of the laptop keys are now not working. I rang Apple and they advised me to go into an Apple Authorised repair centre local to me. After I had took the item in they contacted me with a report. He explained the laptop had been opened previous and that there is significant damage to the logic bored connecting to the keyboard and that it would cost £1000s to put right. I contact Apple to confirm this was correct and they agreed with him.

I contacted eBay but they seem unsympathetic as it is past the 45 day cover they offer. I have tried to contact the eBay seller but the website will not allow me to message the seller regarding this item due to the item ending and been past the 45 day return mark.

Is there anything else I can do?

texranger

Mr_Shift wrote: »

I purchased a Macbook from eBay 5 months ago from a seller and it has now gone faulty. Some of the laptop keys are now not working. I rang Apple and they advised me to go into an Apple Authorised repair centre local to me. After I had took the item in they contacted me with a report. He explained the laptop had been opened previous and that there is significant damage to the logic bored connecting to the keyboard and that it would cost £1000s to put right. I contact Apple to confirm this was correct and they agreed with him.

I contacted eBay but they seem unsympathetic as it is past the 45 day cover they offer. I have tried to contact the eBay seller but the website will not allow me to message the seller regarding this item due to the item ending and been past the 45 day return mark.

Is there anything else I can do?

it wont let you contact the seller if you use the link for the item. go into the sellers feedback area ( click on the feedback number next to sellers username) and you will then see a contact member link, use this to contact the member or look for the emnail confirmation you got when you purchased then item this should have seller email address

forgotmyname

Was the seller a business? If not then there isnt a lot you can do.

If i was a business then you should be able to find the sellers details on his current listings if they are
still going.

Part of the risk in buying 2nd hand though. Very limited warranty if any.

Mr_Shift

It was bought from a private seller. I will try contact him but I doubt he won't be interested now that it's 5 months on.

agrinnall

How can it cost £000s to repair something that probably cost less than £2000 in the first place? Didn't the Apple reseller (or Apple themselves) give you a proper estimate for the repair cost? If not I'd go back and tell them that's what you want, at least then you'll know exactly what the cost is and you can decide whether it's worth paying, or if buying another one is a better option, given that you have no chance of getting anything out of the seller.

Leo2020

You might also want to get a quote from an independent Apple repairer as they maybe cheaper. The logic board is just Apple's name for a motherboard. A motherboard replacement shouldn't cost £1000s to put right. Unless it is not just the logic board that is damaged, for it to cost £1000's to put right I would imagine they would be replacing everything in the laptop - which if that is the case it wouldn't be worth repairing.

InsideInsurance

An Apple Logic board is by far the most expensive part and proportionally is much more expensive than a PC motherboard. Dont know why, guess its because Apple love soldering parts to them like CPUs and GPUs more than PC manufactures do but it is how it is.

What is the exact model of your MacBook?

pulliptears

yep, Logic Board is usually catastrophic failure and not worth replacing. My suggestion would be to sell it as spares now and save for a new one as even independents are very expensive for that particular part sadly.

veyrongirl

I had the logic board replaced in my Macbook recently and it cost around £350, significantly cheaper than a new Macbook. I was also given a quote in advance and the choice to accept and get it fixed or just collect it with no charge. This was at an Apple store

pulliptears

veyrongirl wrote: »

I had the logic board replaced in my Macbook recently and it cost around £350, significantly cheaper than a new Macbook. I was also given a quote in advance and the choice to accept and get it fixed or just collect it with no charge. This was at an Apple store

Thats interesting as most online sources are saying £500 - £650 from Apple themselves. Which store was it out of interest? Worth bearing in mind as we have 3 here so always good to know!