Is Apple’s own repair service a rip-off?
Apple iPod stuck on repeat? iPhone all hung up? Maybe your iPad is more a case of iWon’t? But why should we pay Apple so much for an official branded repair, when we can get the same fix for less elsewhere?
Like many big brands, if your Apple gadget flatlines, you’ll probably turn to its in-house repair service. And while the gadget medics will put your iDevice on life support, it’s likely you’ll pay through the nose for the privilege.
Apple’s official repair service isn’t cheap – and using it feels a little like being forced to use private health care.
Shop around for a better deal
Of course, you could find a cheaper option, but letting a repair shop that’s not approved by Apple tinker with your iPhone could lead to warranty problems.
Yet the prices are revealing: it can cost nearly £140 to get an iPhone fixed with Apple (or £146.29 for its mail-order service), compared to just over £40 for a similar repair from the non-Apple route (£45 to replace water damaged parts for example). Ouch – and it’s enough to make you sick.
Apple’s in danger of being seen to rip-off its customers. The company – and other electronics manufacturers – are using a worrying mark-up for the ‘privilege’ of their official repair services. So, not only do you have to pay a huge price for the latest iPhone, if it goes wrong (like the screen cracking) Apple is willing to lift an extra hundred notes from your pocket.
And if smaller repair shops can resurrect an iPod for much less, Apple needs to explain why it gouges consumers for going through its official channels. The materials used and the time spent are similar, if not identical, surely.
High repair price to force re-buy?
Maybe it’s a case of brand reassurance? Perhaps shoppers, having paid a princely sum for their beloved iPhone, are unwilling to trust anyone but Apple with repairing it. Fair enough, but could Apple have a more sinister motive?
By charging a high price – and Apple isn’t alone in its approach – could it be actively putting people off getting a repair to sway them towards a new model?
High cost repairs certainly make sense for the brands themselves, but for everyone else it pays to shop around. At least get various quotes before handing over your gadget – and hard-earned cash – to official repair services.
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Emily
Not only that, but in-house Apple repairs also take forever… I just got my MacBook back yesterday after they spent more than two weeks repairing cracks in its casing. This is a known fault for my model, so the repairs were free… but having to go without my laptop for a fornight was far from ideal. Especially as when I dropped it off the clearly clueless Apple employee said it would take a week to fix (and at the time I’d thought that seemed unreasonably long for a known fault that is fairly straightforward to fix)… I will not be taking it back to Apple for any future repairs, that’s for sure.
renata
I love apple , I love them so much that’s evrything who will get the brand apple I will never buy again !!!. I’ve got a years old iphone 3 g after 11 months something got wrong . the iphone shut down automatically and I had to press the home button and the sleep button together to start it again . I send my iphone to applecare and this is the answer :
“Your IPHONE 3G has been inspected by Apple technicians, who have determined that it has been subjected to accidental damage or misuse, which is not covered by the warranty, the AppleCare Protection Plan, or other Apple repair program. Therefore your original product is being returned to you unrepaired. You should expect to receive it within two business days along with a letter that gives details of this assessment. ”
I call the customers department , two options was offer to me :
-£146 to change the iphone completly for a new 3g iphone ( who will maybe get the same problem after a year)
-to discuss with a technician from apple in leceister (uk) that I am not happy with them diagnostic
please note that apple didn’t offer me any repair for my old iphone or any cost for a repair !!!
I like the word “accidental damage or misuse” okay .. it’s like you speak to one doctor :
patient : I am sick doctor
doctor: let me to give you a diagnostic
patient : ( 2 days later)
doctor : hum… definitely you are sick
patient : so what’s my sickness doctor??
doctor : I don’t know but you are definitely sick
apple is doing the same , they accused me of accidental dammage or misuse but they are not capable to tell me what I have done and I swear I done nothing wrong to my iphone
John Dickson
I have been pleased with my MacBook Pro since migrating from PC this April. I moved becasue I had a sense of Apple being the kind of company that is evolutionary. This is certainly true of its products, but despite its success and growth, it is sad to see such an organisation to be so un-evolved that it feels the need to fleece its loyal customers with pricey add ons, maintenance/repairs and dare I even mention the immaturity of its handling of the iPhone 4 . I think Apple’s leadership is missing a trick – to position Apple as a customer-enlightened organisation. I wonder if this is what is now beginning to disappoint its followers. We all hoped and deserve more. As history shows, if an organisation can’t evolve it’s customers lifetime experience it will eventually be replaced by someone who will – and being big in the market isn’t protection. It’s just part of the process of evolution.
Philip Roberts
You Can get your Apple iPhone insured for 2 years for £63 with Apple. This is much cheaper than the £15 per month that I know at least 2 people, known to me have. They signed up for it when they got the phone from the O2 shop. If you register Apple computers with them you have a 90 day warranty. I admit that the 3 year Apple guarantee based on the value of your computer is very steep.
John W
I’ve used Apple’s repair service a couple of times – both under warranty. First time (several years ago) was pretty good, though it did take a little longer than I would have expected. Second time was brilliant – very friendly, helpful person on the phone, replacement part (mains adapter) arrived in the post the next day. Couldn’t ask for better!
Patryk
I’ve had great success with AppleCare repairs. My MBP stopped working; I took it to an “authorised service provider” and had it back two days later, with no charge for the repair.
Rob Sammons
This article isn’t correct if you take an iPhone out of warranty either the 1 year or 2 year apple care then they will charge you £140 to completely replace your phone, this is the same as water damage. I’ve seen it happen before at my local genius bar.
Also apples mac repair service has given me £2000 pounds worth of issues with an iMac and Macbook Air it cost me a 10th of that to cover
George Allen
Just before Xmas my 2 year old MacBook Air screen hinges broke – the screen came totally detached. I took it to the Bluewater Apple store, and three days later it was ready for collection, cleaned and repaired… totally free. Yes, I’d bought a warranty; why doesn’t everyone? Oh, and a while back my (old!) 500gig TimeCapsule stopped working; the warranty on my MacBook covered it; and Apple gave me a NEW one!
I really, really appreciate Apple’s repair service.
Peter Skellern
At one time you didn’t need to buy warranty extensions on Apple products as they were so well made and reliable. Looks like things have changed…
digitalgenius
I refer to the last comment byPeter Skellern about apple products being well made. I bought an ipod toch in late Feb this year after 4 weeks the battery decided not to hold the charge and was replaced by the retailer because I liked the product. The replacement was worse than the original it crashed virtually every day though the battery held the charge. Abroad this year in mid June the battery started acting up by going flat if left on standby. Off I went to the local genius bar at the Apple shop which was a wednesday afternoon they said a software upgrade might cure the problem which I agreed to. That worked for a day, then the same problem occurred so back I went and they repaced it. At present it works fine, I shudder to think what apple would charge if it goes faulty after the 12 months are up.
bigblenderoftech
Just to be clear here, the Applecare plan only extends the warranty with defects etc. It does not cover you for accidental damage. You’ll need to get a third party insurance policy for that. In the same way, the insurance policy won’t cover you manufacturing defects.
I have both the Applecare and third party policy. I’m covered
Will ryan
I have my ipad currently in krcs apple store in the uk because of a pressure crack, it’s still in the basic one year warranty as i got it in august so it’s all good i hope, but how much would it cost to repair? I’ve searched everywhere for the actual repair price but it’s nowhere :S can someone tell me please? Cheers
Matt Bath
Hi Will
Hope I can help? Without knowing the specifics, I checked with a few iPad repair specialists, and the cost of a new glass front (am assuming the crack is there?) is around £95, including pick-up. If the screen *beneath* the glass is damaged, then that is more expensive.
If I’ve guess wrongly about the location of the problem, post back with more details and I’ll see if I can help…
Thanks
Matt
richard
Well ….. This is interesting.
The reason I never went with apple years ago was I preferred the build and mechanical design of the Generic PC – I’ve built a few from scratch – many items were easily replaced with generic parts at low price – they could usually also be cheaply upgraded. The Apple did have better graphics – but not sufficiently better.
The reason I gave up on the old BBC was the inability to repair easily
Danny
My mum always told me ‘an Apple a day keeps the Doctor away’
I love Apple and am definitely a devotee. I can put my hand on my heart and say one of the main reasons I love my Apple products is because I’ve never had any problems with them and find them very reliable.
Perhaps my own little idiom could be ‘An Apple a day keeps the repairman away’ ??
renata
just get a new answer to my email :
Dear Renata,
Thank you for your reply.
We do not guarantee the Leicester store will grant you a free replacement, however, we do recommend you still set up a Genius Bar appointment with them to see if any exception may be made.
Visit the following site to set up an appointment time online:
dave c
On y new iphone 4s, less that 30 days old, I cracked the screen. The Apple store told me $200 for a new phone and Applecare for another $100. I went to a repair shop in Brooklyn, Inson on Avenue O. They repaired the glass and LCD, like new, for $60.00 tax included. Apple told me the phone was not repairable. I suspect that Apple charges for a new phone, says it unrepairable, then takes the broken phone and repairs it for resale or someone else’s warranty. What a rip-off!!!!!!
Get it repaired elsewhere and make Apple change their unethical practices; I found those guys on e-bay and it was close so I drove over from Staten Island.
charlie
I must say how shocking apples repair policy and more importantly their ludicrously high prices are. Iv been apple fanatic ever since the launch of the first I pod, given my clumsiness have had to seek out many repairs. To begin with i went through apple but soon moved to independent repair specialists, i have had far better and cheaper service from these. Most recently i have been using Rotten Apples, whose prices are extremely reasonable for the great service they offer.
charlie
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Bloubum
Do any off you remember a time where there was no extended warranty. EXTENDED WARRENT?!?!?! Give me a break. Not to mention apples over inflated prices. Besides the topic is not about getting an over priced product with an over prIced extended warranty. It’s about paying for an over priced repair. All the money I saved not buying those warranties, I saved enough to buy another over priced ripp off Mac pro. It’s the same as with most companies. Success means they always have to find ways to make even more money to feed public market on the stocks. Get a load of Mountain Lion not working on 5K Mac pros and at the same time they speak of being environmentally friendly. Microsoft makes its money based on how many computers their OS will run on while apple makes their low prIced OS cause they want us suckers to buy new over priced computers. In any other industry, this is called a conflict of interest and I don’t understand why there are no laws preventing planned obsilence. Please don’t argue about the quality cause I know this. But it’s not that reason their prices are so high for EVERY THING. it’s their bottom line.