Apple Mac

Loanorcredit

I have a 4 year old Mac computer bought on credit card.

Apple recognise that there is a problem with the keyboards and have scheme where they replace the keyboard free of charge regardless of how long you have the computer.

I about to go and report my 3 keyboard replacement.  I'm fed up with this and feel that for £1,300 I spent on this computer it shouldn't keep on happening.

Where do I stand with getting a replacement or do I have to keep getting my keyboard replaced.

Am I covered under any laws about the quality of product, if so what one?

Thanks for any help.

Aylesbury_Duck

It's the Consumer Rights Act.  What outcome are you after?  You're not entitled to a brand new replacement, and surely a like-for-like replacement will have the same inherent fault?  You could ask for a refund but it would be depreciated to take into account the four years of use to date.

You need to weigh up a depreciated refund against the ongoing inconvenience of keyboard replacements.

DullGreyGuy

Did you buy it direct from Apple?

Loanorcredit

Yes it was bought direct from Apple.

TadleyBaggie

I presume you mean this Apple service program:

https://support.apple.com/en-lamr/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-notebooks

If so it only covers the unit for 4 years after purchasing, not for ever.

Undervalued

Annoying as it is, given there is apparently a known issue with certain keyboards, quite frankly I'd buy a second hand one of a trusted reliable vintage and put the brand new replacement potentially problematic keyboard on eBay / Gumtree and move on!

DullGreyGuy

Undervalued said:

Annoying as it is, given there is apparently a known issue with certain keyboards, quite frankly I'd buy a second hand one of a trusted reliable vintage and put the brand new replacement potentially problematic keyboard on eBay / Gumtree and move on!

Or buy a newer model, Apple moved away from the scissor keyboard a couple of years ago

Undervalued

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:

Annoying as it is, given there is apparently a known issue with certain keyboards, quite frankly I'd buy a second hand one of a trusted reliable vintage and put the brand new replacement potentially problematic keyboard on eBay / Gumtree and move on!

Or buy a newer model, Apple moved away from the scissor keyboard a couple of years ago

I like Apple in many respects, but not all!

One gripe is the wildly overpriced keyboards (and mice).

If you can put up with the @ key and " key being transposed any PC keyboard, quality or bargain basement) will work fine, as will any mouse.

You can also get some decent (as well as cheap and nasty) clone keyboards with the correct layout.

At one point in Preferences you could simply tell a Mac that you were using a PC keyboard but that option seems to have gone.

Given the crazy pricing I can well understand the OP's frustration!

TadleyBaggie

Undervalued said:

Annoying as it is, given there is apparently a known issue with certain keyboards, quite frankly I'd buy a second hand one of a trusted reliable vintage and put the brand new replacement potentially problematic keyboard on eBay / Gumtree and move on!

Not that simple, the actual keyboard mechanism is riveted to the top cover, which also has the battery glued to it.

I once managed to change just the keyboard mechanism on an older MacBook Pro but it was extremely fiddly and required the 100+ rivets being replaced with tiny screws.

DullGreyGuy

Undervalued said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Undervalued said:

Annoying as it is, given there is apparently a known issue with certain keyboards, quite frankly I'd buy a second hand one of a trusted reliable vintage and put the brand new replacement potentially problematic keyboard on eBay / Gumtree and move on!

Or buy a newer model, Apple moved away from the scissor keyboard a couple of years ago

I like Apple in many respects, but not all!

One gripe is the wildly overpriced keyboards (and mice).

If you can put up with the @ key and " key being transposed any PC keyboard, quality or bargain basement) will work fine, as will any mouse.

You can also get some decent (as well as cheap and nasty) clone keyboards with the correct layout.

At one point in Preferences you could simply tell a Mac that you were using a PC keyboard but that option seems to have gone.

Given the crazy pricing I can well understand the OP's frustration!

I dont think the Magic Keyboard ever used the scissor keyboard. I suspect they are talking about the built in keyboard of a laptop which is a very different beast and I suspect the majority of laptop users, irrespective of brand, have no idea of the replacement cost of the built in keyboard. 

As you say, Mac will support any keyboard and you can set the layout in the OS as you'd expect. The irritation I've found is that with Mac cmd + tab switches applications not windows whereas cmd + ` switches windows within an application. Even Mac keyboards in non-english layouts dont necessarily have a conveniently placed ` key. The rest comes down to convenience. Having gotten used to TouchID to unlock a computer it's hard to go back to entering passwords and reaching across to the laptop's own keyboard is just not as natural as using the external keyboard. That said the last Apple keyboard is  16 years old and still going well so hopefully the new one lasts something close