Misdiagnosis from an Apple-certified repairer leading to the unnecessary purchase of a new macbook

bbjdfgd

Claiming a violation of Part 1 Chapter 4 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

I had brought in my Macbook Pro (2015) into the service of Jigsaw 24 for diagnosis following the failure of the laptop to switch on as they are the nearest Apple-certified repairer to my location. It was agreed between Jigsaw 24 and I that there was no evidence of external damage that could have been inflicted by myself. Later that day, I received the response from that there was a logic board fault that would cost £548.04 including VAT to repair.

I decided it would be more economical to buy a brand new Macbook Pro for £1304.40 from Apple than to spend £548.04 on repairing a 3-year-old laptop. So I paid the £36 diagnosis fee to Jigsaw 24 and then proceeded to take the Macbook to an official Apple store and they created a full analysis report of the problem. They concluded that ‘After running all diagnostics on the machine there has been no issues present on both software or hardware of the device therefore no repair needed accept [sic] from the display which had a coating issue (which is part of a quality program therefore no cost required).’

This means that I have unnecessarily spent £1304.40 on a new Macbook because of Jigsaw 24’s misdiagnosis. I am a university student who lives away from home in London in a rented accommodation and I rely on a bursary of £84/month to fund my lifestyle. This purchase has significantly affected my financial circumstances but was unavoidable as the item is a key tool in the organisation of my life and education.

In my formal letter of complaint, I have demanded two solutions. As the service provided by Jigsaw 24 clearly was not done with ‘reasonable care and skill’ ergo breaches my Consumer Rights and has resulted in the gratuitous purchase of a new Macbook Pro. I demand financial compensation to the amount of £1340.50 which makes up the cost of unnecessary purchase of the Macbook and the (mis)diagnosis fee. My second demand is that Jigsaw 24 loses its accreditation as an Apple-Certified repairer. They have lost my trust in ANY Apple-certified repairer to provide me a satisfactory service and I will be reporting this case on my various social media platforms so that this mistake is not made by future customers of this provider. One of the key appeals of Apple is that when things go wrong with their products, you have to comfort of trusting them to reliably rectify the issue. This is why I strongly believe they should lose their status as an Apple-certified repairer as this case has demonstrated a conflict with Apple’s ethos.

unholyangel

Its going to be up to you to prove they failed to carry out the service with reasonable care & skill.

And anyone with any degree of intelligence is going to ask, if the item wasn't faulty....then why wasn't it turning on/why did you need to put it into them in the first place?

Fosterdog may be able to give some insight as I believe this is his area of expertise.

But as for your claim, you have absolute no chance of claiming the cost of the new laptop. You say yourself that you chose to buy a new one rather than repair a 3 year old one (and the repair didn't have to cost you, you could have went back to the original retailer who - if the "fault" was inherent, would have to repair or replace at no cost to you).

Plus, even if they were negligent and breached the requirement to carry out service with reasonable care & skill, that breach did not cause the loss of £1300. At most it caused the loss of a 3 year old macbook pro - which goes for around £450 on ebay.

waamo

It wouldn't turn on but no repair was needed? That either doesn't make sense or you couldn't find the on button.

Which is it?

TuppenceWorth

The purchase of new computer and your second opinion request were done in the wrong order.
This was your choice/mistake.

I wonder how I got my degree without a personal computer at all, never mind not having access to one or a few days.....

The switching on question is a mystery.
Since when is a £600 repair more economical than a £1300 new device?

You have made mistakes here. Hope it works out for you.

TuppenceWorth

I got part of that the wrong way round....

timmy963

I think the best you could ever hope to claw back would be the £36 (mis)diagnosis fee and even then I would say 'good luck' because you would have to prove it.

Caz3121

bbjdfgd wrote: »

following the failure of the laptop to switch on

official Apple store and they created a full analysis report of the problem. They concluded that ‘After running all diagnostics on the machine there has been no issues present on both software or hardware of the device therefore no repair needed accept [sic] from the display which had a coating issue (which is part of a quality program therefore no cost required).’

could Apple explain why a machine with no issues would not turn on? or do you mean they could not find the same issue you had seen?
I just upgraded a 2012 macbook pro with new battery - runs like new and although over 6 years old doesn't need replaced
If your old machine has no issues, get the coating fixed then sell it or keep it and sell the new machine...you won't need 2 working machines

Potbellypig

bbjdfgd wrote: »

In my formal letter of complaint, I have demanded two solutions. As the service provided by Jigsaw 24 clearly was not done with ‘reasonable care and skill’ ergo breaches my Consumer Rights and has resulted in the gratuitous purchase of a new Macbook Pro. I demand financial compensation to the amount of £1340.50 which makes up the cost of unnecessary purchase of the Macbook and the (mis)diagnosis fee. My second demand is that Jigsaw 24 loses its accreditation as an Apple-Certified repairer. They have lost my trust in ANY Apple-certified repairer to provide me a satisfactory service and I will be reporting this case on my various social media platforms so that this mistake is not made by future customers of this provider. One of the key appeals of Apple is that when things go wrong with their products, you have to comfort of trusting them to reliably rectify the issue. This is why I strongly believe they should lose their status as an Apple-certified repairer as this case has demonstrated a conflict with Apple’s ethos.

Absolute zero chance of these 2 things happening.

LilElvis

You seriously expect the repairer to be penalised by losing their accreditation for (possibly) making a single diagnostic mistake?

You better hope that when you enter the world of work that your employer doesn't take such a hardline stance or you will be changing jobs with some frequency. Everyone makes mistakes.

bbjdfgd

unholyangel wrote: »

Its going to be up to you to prove they failed to carry out the service with reasonable care & skill.

And anyone with any degree of intelligence is going to ask, if the item wasn't faulty....then why wasn't it turning on/why did you need to put it into them in the first place?

Fosterdog may be able to give some insight as I believe this is his area of expertise.

But as for your claim, you have absolute no chance of claiming the cost of the new laptop. You say yourself that you chose to buy a new one rather than repair a 3 year old one (and the repair didn't have to cost you, you could have went back to the original retailer who - if the "fault" was inherent, would have to repair or replace at no cost to you).

Plus, even if they were negligent and breached the requirement to carry out service with reasonable care & skill, that breach did not cause the loss of £1300. At most it caused the loss of a 3 year old macbook pro - which goes for around £450 on ebay.

Firstly thank you for your response, I do appreciate you POV and your thoughts.

The reason why the laptop failed to switch on is because the battery had become disconnected somehow and Apple reseated the battery and it started working again. This is why I feel like I have been hard done by. I completely agree that the service doesn't cost £1300 but the result of the misdiagnosis is costly. I trusted an Apple-certified repairer to make a correct diagnosis which is why I went to them and not any old repairer on the high street. If they have made a mistake, I strongly believe that they should be accountable to it and that includes the repercussions of their mistake. The fact is that if they had done the service that Apple have done, I would not have spent £1300.

With regards to repairing the laptop instead of buying a new one, since my laptop is out of warranty being 3 years old and also from Hong Kong (therefore I cannot claim under the Consumer Act even though it is still less than 6 years from purchase), my only option would be to pay £548. I made the judgement call to pay more for a brand new macbook instead of paying such a large amount of money for a 3 year old - I don't think this was a mistake, I still think that is probably a better value-for-money choice.

bbjdfgd

TuppenceWorth wrote: »

The purchase of new computer and your second opinion request were done in the wrong order.
This was your choice/mistake.

I wonder how I got my degree without a personal computer at all, never mind not having access to one or a few days.....

The switching on question is a mystery.
Since when is a £600 repair more economical than a £1300 new device?

You have made mistakes here. Hope it works out for you.

Thanks for the reply mate. I agree in hindsight, I really wish I did it in that order. But i TRUSTED an apple-certified repairer to make the correct diagnosis. The only reason I didn't go to Apple directly was because there was not a store in my city. In truth, it was not even my decision to take the Macbook to an official Apple store after diagnosis, it was my brother's so the findings were completely incidental.

See my response below about the details of the power issue. You may disagree with my choice to buy a new laptop but you also have to account for the age of the laptop. I managed to get some free Beats with the new Macbook which I sold on consequently for £150 so I accounted for that too when making the decision to buy a new Macbook.
Again, thank you for your reply and I appreciate the good luck!