[dadder]

Last night I broke the hinge area on my PowerBook. My PowerBook got knocked from the table and I reached to grab it and in doing so, the left hinge area snapped. My PB is still under warranty, but I called and talked to an Apple Rep and they said only 'normal wear and tear' is covered. It seems to me this should be covered under normal wear and tear... any ideas? Should I call again and talk to someone else? I'm going to bring it down to our local Apple Authorized Dealer today and see what they have to say. I can't tell you how bummed I am. Here are some photos of the broken area:

[benb]

Ah, sorry, but you are basically screwed. There is no way that this qualifies as normal wear and tear, unless you normally knock your book of the table throughout your day.

[ChrisF]

Originally posted by dadder:
Last night I broke the hinge area on my PowerBook. My PowerBook got knocked from the table and I reached to grab it and in doing so, the left hinge area snapped. My PB is still under warranty, but I called and talked to an Apple Rep and they said only 'normal wear and tear' is covered. It seems to me this should be covered under normal wear and tear...

Product warranties are not insurance policies. As the previous poster stated, there is no way that Apple will cover this under warranty as impact damage is not a manufacturing defect.

[slimmy]

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT have Apple fix this (it'll cost you $1,300. They replace the entire LCD and bezel).

There are plenty of places that will do it for about $400. That's a lot, but $900 less than Apple and any "authorized" repair places (like Tekserve, who used to be good).

Slim

[romeosc]

It would be free no deductable if you had Safeware.com insurance about $60 per year..... never go anywhere without it!

[Tomster]

Whether or not apple will repair the hinge depends sometimes on what you say.

Scenario one.
"I dropped my Powerbook and while grabbing for it, cracked the hinge." - Sorry, no way is that normal wear and tear.

Scenario two.
"This morning, when I opened my Powerbook to check my email, my hinge just snapped off." - That's happened to others before.

Now are there dents and cracks on rest of your Powerbook, or is it just pristine? In any case, this is all hypothetical because if you already phoned in with your serial number and told them scenario one happened, no way are they going to go for scenario two.

If you are indeed out of luck, don't send it to Apple for repair - they will charge you over a grand. Try these guys. They have after market hinge mounts made of stronger stuff that the oem ones. You need to figure out what broke - If it is just the hinge mount, $80 bucks. Hinge cover, obviously $30. And if the screen hinge broke - an additional $160 (ouch). But this is MUCH cheaper than Apple service.

Good luck.

[dadder]

Thanks for the input, guys. Luckily, when I first phoned in to Apple I did not mention the scenario... however, when I went to our local Authorized Apple Rep, I mentioned the scenario to him and he said 'Don't tell me that, now I cannot cover it under warranty.'
So, taking my knew knowledge of how things operate, I called Apple back and told them just like Tomster stated that in my normal morning ritual, when I opened it up, it snapped. The rep said, after a little pause, they would cover it under warranty. But being the 'fairly' honest guy I am, since my warranty is up in December, I went ahead and purchased the Apple Care Protection Plan for $349 so if for some act of Satan I am struck by a horrid situation like this again, I won't be up the crick without a paddle.
To answer Tomster's mention about the dents and cracks, luckily in my grab to save the PB, I was able to save it from hitting the floor... just call me sticky fingers So yes, it is still in pristine condition. Whew!

[dadder]

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