[threeseed]

I just had my 14" M1 MacBook Pro screen crack a few days ago and it was replaced for free.

Be curious about your circumstances whether it was repaired at an Apple Store and when this happened.

Perhaps there is a policy that isn't being disseminated around properly.

[vineyardmike]

My partner used to work as an apple support person. People break their shit all the time and try to pretend it wasn’t their fault because they don’t want to pay for a repair. How you ask and call has a huge impact on your success.

Another big impact: your purchase history. If you’ve owned every iPhone for the last decade and purchase it as soon as it comes out they will be much more lenient when you tell them it was cracked in box than if you have a single second hand iPhone SE that is cracked and the crack “totally happened on its own”. They want to protect their valuable customers.

But also as other commenters have said, it’s possible that apple knows this is a real issue and is addressing it differently now.

[asdff]

That seems like a scandal if they are looking at purchase history then basing repair protocol on that history

[Crosseye_Jack]

I've seen it happen outside of Apple, heck I've seen it outside the tech world. Company deems the damage to be out of warranty however after looking at the purchasing history/power of the customer and deeming them as "someone they don't really want to piss off" they will then offer a no cost repair/replacement as a "goodwill gesture".

Think of it like this:- You have 2 clients you sold widgets too that have come in for repair. Both widgets are beat the hell up like they were using them to hammer in nails and are both clearly out of warranty repairs.

One customer as other than this widget has 0 purchase history with 5 followers on twitter and the other has been buying goods since you were a start up and has a million followers.

Who would you be more inclined to make sure they are happy and who would you say "yeah I'll fix it, but its gonna cost you" to?

(For examples of something like this, see examples of people going virial on social media because something broke / got banned, timed it right, and suddenly it was magically fixed, within 24 hours, but your avg joe is stuck speaking to a chat bot for months on end).

[asdff]

It just seems like you are wide open to legal broadsides working with a policy like this. Basically you are turning your repair program into a class based program. Poor people are disadvantaged relative to your whales but that isn't clear to anyone using the service. IANAL but it seems like it could be easy money for a law firm on discrimination grounds if they had this sort of stuff on record from an apple employee.

[Crosseye_Jack]

If you make your warranty terms perfectly clear you will be fine, there is nothing stopping you from going above and beyond the terms at your own discretion.

You would have issues if your warranty said "we will cover you for (random thing plucked out of the air) battery replacements for the first 2 years" but would only replace batteries for your whales as you are in breach of contract with your non-whales.

You have to stick to what you agreed to with your customer in your warranty terms, but you are free to go beyond those terms at your own cost as you wish as customers were aware of your terms at time of purchase.

[namecheapTA]

Car dealerships do favors constantly for repeat customers that don't haggle to death during the purchase process.

[ricardobayes]

The fact we compare Apple repair to car dealerships says a lot

[bozhark]

Sounds like Apple might be aware it’s their fault now.

Perhaps they were intending on keeping that a customer responsibility for the comment above yours.

[millzlane]

The warranty has always covered a single hairline crack.

If there are multiple cracks, chips, or a POI on the outside of the glass. It's clear as day what happened to the screen.

I can't count on my hands or toes how many people will say they don't know what happened to the physically damaged machine. Maybe someone else broke it and they didn't know. But I can tell you that we fix more physically damaged machines than we do single hairline cracks. So I would say this isn't a huge issue that people make it out to be.

I think it's more plausible that people are surprise that their really expensive super thin and sleek computer breaks when it's physically damaged.

[Crosseye_Jack]

To me the super thinness out right screams to being part of the cause.

Without taking one apart to confirm it for myself, going off past patterns I would guess Apple have thinned the lid and the display past its limits under every day use (not lab conditions). Pair that with People having got used to using a single hand to open/close their screen, heck even Apples marketing pushed one finger lid openning/closing. So people are not closing their screens "carefully" from both sides with two hands any more (and haven't been doing so for many years, as its easier to close a laptop lid than open it).

But with thinness comes lack of rigidity, so closing the screen with a single hand unless you do it smack bang in the middle I would guess is putting more strain on one side of the lid leading to a premeture screen failure.

Basically "Bendgate" all over again.

But its not the first time we seen screen issues on macbooks come to light once the devices where in the hands of real world people. Look at the stage light defect which for the longest time Apple denied as a fault https://support.apple.com/en-gb/13-inch-macbook-pro-display-... which turned out to be that the flex cable was just a smidge too short and repeated normal use damaged the flex cable.

I'm not saying the customers are not at fault. <edit>Heck I've seen plently of dropped devices and the customer swears on their first born they didn't do nothing. Until you point out the impact damage and suddenly it all comes flooding back to them.</edit> I just see a repeating pattern and would like to dig into it more before I dismiss the customer saying they don't know what happened.

[volkl48]

The tight closure with just about zero clearance and no bezel is a significant part of the difficulty.

Anything in there, even being closed gently and you notice at the first sign of resistance and correct it - has probably cracked the screen.

Charger/cable/pen tip is common, but even a paper clip could be enough. There's no audible crack and you think nothing of it until the next time you take it out of your bag and the display is broken. That said, this sort of thing will typically have a point of impact/multiple cracks, not just one straight line.

Plastic webcam covers will also do this, just less consistently - they hold the display open a bit and concentrate all the force of the closed lid there.

[TacticalCoder]

> I think it's more plausible that people are surprise that their really expensive super thin and sleek computer breaks when it's physically damaged.

Oh common: I've got four laptops here. They all work fine, including two ten years old MacBook Air (non M1): mine and the wife's.

I know how to take care of a laptop. Our M1 MacBook Air screen died overnight. Oh: and it had a protective cover.

[volkl48]

The magic term is this: "single hairline crack".

If there is one continuous crack with no point of impact or other obvious damage, it will generally be covered under warranty (assuming you are under warranty) and not considered accidental damage. That was policy in the past and I doubt it's changed.

If there is more than one, in any way - not covered unless someone's being nice to you.

[judge2020]

There would be consistent policy if an official recall was put out, but that looks even worse.

[madeofpalk]

How many years did it take for apple to issue their 'recall' (Service Program, in Apple parlance) for the butterfly keyboard woes?

[Phlarp]

2 years I think? But there was more pressure being applied in the media. I remember multiple articles like this one (0) that circulated at the time.

[0]https://theoutline.com/post/2402/the-new-macbook-keyboard-is...