Apple Charging Policy

Copey1977

I wanted to check with anyone here regarding Apples Charging policies.

I have to have the hard drive of my Imac replaced as its give up, to replace it is no problem for the Apple Store but was shocked to discover that if i want my old one back i have to put c£70 plus VAT.

i find this extraordinary given its my property and contains my personal data!!!

has anyone come across this and legally are they able to charge me for something that i have already paid for?

thanks in advance

enfield_freddy

umm , the old drive will be wanted back by the manufacturer , if you want to keep it , then a surcharge will apply.


you have probably had a factory refurb unit fitted , your old unit will be stripped and repaired and then used again for another customer, keeping your old drive would mean the factory is a unit short.


this probably does not happen with h/drives , but is common in the motor trade

pmartin86

Is it being repaired under warranty? if so check the T&Cs of your warrantly, presumable "AppleCare" as it will probably satate something like they will rpeair it for freee but retail faulty parts for analasys/refurbishment etc. If your paying for the repair you should be entitled to claim the old HDD back without charge.

In relation to that, if the HDD is dead, why do you want it anyway?

InsideInsurance

Apple are well known for wanting all faulty parts back so that they can test them etc.

You have paid for 1 hard drive, if they replace the one you have then you still have 1 hard drive so have what you paid for. If you want the old drive and the new drive then you will have 2 drives and it isnt that unreasonable to expect you to pay for the extra drive you now have.

Given it hasnt given up the ghost yet then use an application to scrub the drive before going in.

Copey1977

Hi All

thanks for the replies - a few things i probably didnt make clear

"In relation to that, if the HDD is dead, why do you want it anyway?" i want it back as it has 3 years worth of baby photos on there and some real sentimental stuff. Apple are not able to recover the data however there are companies that can quite easily


"You have paid for 1 hard drive, if they replace the one you have then you still have 1 hard drive so have what you paid for. If you want the old drive and the new drive then you will have 2 drives and it isnt that unreasonable to expect you to pay for the extra drive you now have."

i have paid for 2 hard drives - 1 inc when i purchased the MAC and they are charging me £120 plus VAT for the new one inc fitting

JJ_Egan

Copey1977 wrote: »

Hi All


"In relation to that, if the HDD is dead, why do you want it anyway?" i want it back as it has 3 years worth of baby photos on there and some real sentimental stuff. Apple are not able to recover the data however there are companies that can quite easily



That can be very very expensive .

gjchester

Copey1977 wrote: »

Apple are not able to recover the data however there are companies that can quite easily

Be warned this is not cheap, Expect to be looking at the £500 plus mark.

Copey1977 wrote: »

i have paid for 2 hard drives - 1 inc when i purchased the MAC and they are charging me £120 plus VAT for the new one inc fitting

Mac repairs are always expensive, Apple charge a lot for spares and only Apple trained enginners can order parts throught the offical channels. You'll be looking at £75+ VAT as a minimum just to look at it through most Apple certified shop. £120 +VAT inc fitting for a new drive is relatively cheap.
Its possible Apple keep that price lower than it should be as they will return the old drive to the maker and be able to get a spare, so your only really paying fitting charges.


If its off warranty there may be local independent places that can do it for less, opening newer iMacs is hard but not impossible. However if its in warranty any non apple place will blow that warranty

securityguy

Most hard drives comes with a three or five year warranty. OEMs are able to negotiate different terms.

Apple will return the drive to the manufacturer as part of that.

" they are charging me £120 plus VAT for the new one inc fitting"

Given the price of labour at Apple stores, what they are actually doing is charging you £120 + VAT for fitting a drive that they will get for free from the manufacturer in exchange for your failed one. If you want the old one back, they'll have to buy a new one to fit, for which seventy quid is in the right ballpark.

If you don't like that, pay your local Mac specialist to fit a new drive bought over the counter. But the total bill for that job will probably be about £120 + VAT, depending on how the specialist prices his time.

"I want it back as it has 3 years worth of baby photos on there and some real sentimental stuff. Apple are not able to recover the data however there are companies that can quite easily"

Apple helpfully supply Time Machine with every Mac sold since forever. And still people don't bother backing things up. Just think, instead of paying several hundred quid to a data recovery company to have an attempt at recovering the data, you could have had a set of backups for the price of a USB disc. What can be done to get people to keep backups?

Big_Graeme

Buy a new hard drive and fit it yourself, it isn't hard.

tronator

Copey1977 wrote: »

i want it back as it has 3 years worth of baby photos on there and some real sentimental stuff. Apple are not able to recover the data however there are companies that can quite easily

If you didn't bother to back them up for 3 years they can't be that valuable IMHO...

And as for the "quite easily" recovery, it depends on what's wrong with the hard disk.

Why don't you let the company recover your photos first and then let Apple replace the hard disk?

InsideInsurance

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Buy a new hard drive and fit it yourself, it isn't hard.

It is hard on an iMac, have done it myself and the cables that attach the screen to the mainboard are very short leaving you with a tiny amount of space to work in when trying to reconnect them.

Apple have at times also had a propriety temp sensor connection to the HD, if you buy a generic HD without this you either have to short the cable or install fan control software otherwise by having the wire unconnected the case fan will run at full speed all the time.

Its doable, but helps a lot if you have long thin fingers/ hands otherwise its a pig. On the plus side, the SSD I put in my iMac made it absolutely fly.