Apple broken repair wanting me to pay £700 for damaged Logic board

samboway

I’m after advice really. 

I have a MacBook Pro that needed a repair in November 2019 for a swollen battery. During the repair it turned out they damaged the Logic board (essentially the whole brain of the computer). They replaced this and didn’t charge me for this, obviously as they damaged it. 

The laptop now as of two weeks ago won’t boot up and I’ve been informed this is due to a fault with the Logic board and both Apple and the authorised company who did the repair (Stormfront) both say that I will have to fork out for an entire new board which will be over £700 pounds. What I’m staggered at is that they say that any parts are only covered by a 90 day warranty which is think is absurd especially as it is a part I didn’t actually have an issue with. 

The irony being that if I had the repair done at full cost and then instantly asked to trade it in I would only get £200 for the laptop. 

How is this really justifiable and is there anything I can do here. I’ve tried emailing Stormfront’s customer service for over a week now and have had a solutey no response at all which is very poor. 

Is there anything I can do to try and remedy this situation?

thanks. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I think you'll struggle. As I understand your post, the replacement logic board has worked satisfactorily for 10 months, which suggests it wasn't inherently faulty.  I don't see that Stormfront have any obligation to replace it free of charge.   

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Where did you buy it from OP?

If you can get a report to show the board has failed (rather than being damaged by yourself) you would likely be entitled to some kind of remedy but this may be a reduced refund to account for usage. 

samboway

Purchased from Apple in 2017. I have an email from stormfront stating that during the repair the logic board was replaced after the repair was complete due to faults on the logic board after the repair. 

Stormfront are an authorised Apple reseller and repair service provider. 

Sandtree

samboway said:

The irony being that if I had the repair done at full cost and then instantly asked to trade it in I would only get £200 for the laptop.  

Why is that ironic? Most companies that offer trade ins are not in the market of selling 2nd hand goods and so whatever they give is basically a straight discount on the future sale (rather than say Cex who will then sell the 2nd hand item for a profit too). Apple computers have a much better 2nd hand value than most brands but a 3 year old computer generally is pretty worthless even if it'd cost you an arm and a leg to rebuild the same machine.

Consumer rights against the retailer are going to be hard to argue as there was no inherent fault with the original motherboard but it received physical damage during the repair.

Was the original repair done as a paid job or a warranty claim?

samboway

Hi there it was done as a warranty claim due to the 2017 models suffering from battery swelling issues so the repair was done free of charge. 

I get that most parts are covered by a warranty service of 90 days but even the staff in the shop agreed with me that having the main component of a computer only being covered for 90 days and not 12 months isn’t really acceptable. Plus I’ll never know if my original logic board would have failed or not. I’ve still covered a PowerBook 12” and 2010 Mac Pro which are both still working perfectly and I’m pretty ocd in terms of looking after my stuff. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

I assume the repair was carried out by Stormfront by agreement of Apple.

If so can you take it to an independent shop to get a report done on why the board has failed?

If it shows it wasn't accidental damage then go back to Apple with the report to ask for them to offer a resolve inline with your consumer rights (repair, replacement or refund which may be reduced) and for them to pay for the cost of the report. 

If they refuse letter before action followed by small claims. 

It would be worth looking at the cost of buying a second hand model to get an idea of it's value. 

Another option for you to put to Apple is for the repair to be carried out at £700 minus what they would have to refund you. 

jon81uk

consumer rights would say that after six months you have to prove the fault was there at time of purchase. Therefore it seems reasonable that if it is a manufacturing fault that was there when the logic board was installed, they should replace. But if it is wear and tear or accidental damage that caused it to stop working then you have no rights.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

jon81uk said:

consumer rights would say that after six months you have to prove the fault was there at time of purchase. Therefore it seems reasonable that if it is a manufacturing fault that was there when the logic board was installed, they should replace. But if it is wear and tear or accidental damage that caused it to stop working then you have no rights.

Goods are required to be of satisfactory quality so premature failure due to general "wear and tear" can be covered if the product hasn't lasted as long as it should have. 

jon81uk

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

jon81uk said:

consumer rights would say that after six months you have to prove the fault was there at time of purchase. Therefore it seems reasonable that if it is a manufacturing fault that was there when the logic board was installed, they should replace. But if it is wear and tear or accidental damage that caused it to stop working then you have no rights.

Goods are required to be of satisfactory quality so premature failure due to general "wear and tear" can be covered if the product hasn't lasted as long as it should have. 

I've taken the description on this site to man you are only entitled to something if the fault is a manufacturing defect, not if it is reasonable use.

"When goods are faulty, if you return them within six months, then it's up to the shop to prove they weren't faulty when you bought them. After this, the burden of proof shifts and it's up to you to prove they were faulty when you bought them." from https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/#goods

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

jon81uk said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

jon81uk said:

consumer rights would say that after six months you have to prove the fault was there at time of purchase. Therefore it seems reasonable that if it is a manufacturing fault that was there when the logic board was installed, they should replace. But if it is wear and tear or accidental damage that caused it to stop working then you have no rights.

Goods are required to be of satisfactory quality so premature failure due to general "wear and tear" can be covered if the product hasn't lasted as long as it should have. 

I've taken the description on this site to man you are only entitled to something if the fault is a manufacturing defect, not if it is reasonable use.

"When goods are faulty, if you return them within six months, then it's up to the shop to prove they weren't faulty when you bought them. After this, the burden of proof shifts and it's up to you to prove they were faulty when you bought them." from https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/#goods

The guidance you see on most sites tends to be generic and condensed.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/9/enacted 

Goods to be of satisfactory quality

(1)Every contract to supply goods is to be treated as including a term that the quality of the goods is satisfactory.

(2)The quality of goods is satisfactory if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would consider satisfactory, taking account of—

(a)any description of the goods,

(b)the price or other consideration for the goods (if relevant), and

(c)all the other relevant circumstances (see subsection (5)).

(3)The quality of goods includes their state and condition; and the following aspects (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods—

(a)fitness for all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;

(b)appearance and finish;

(c)freedom from minor defects;

(d)safety;

(e)durability.