[Magicite]

Hey all,

An acquaintance of mine had a problem [non-working USB ports] with their 15" PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, so they took it to an Apple store and had them repair it. The repairs are complete, but the Apple store says that the repair cannot be 'certified' repaired unless the machine has Apple RAM in it.

When the laptop was purchased, it suffered from the lower memory slot failure problem from the start. Because not having the machine for an extended period of time was not ideal, that problem was not fixed until much later [under the extended warranty program for this particular problem]. The 512MB Apple stick was replaced with a brand new non-Apple 1GB stick. It works just fine. Because of the lower memory slot failure, the 512MB stick was useless and was given away.

So a few questions:
1) Is the requirement to have Apple memory installed to 'certify' the fix BS? This may be related to the 90 day warranty on all repairs thing.
2) The Apple store wants my acquaintance to purchase Apple memory in order to certify the fix. A 1GB Apple stick for this laptop costs $300; they have no 512MB in stock. Does this purchase requirement seem unethical to anyone else?
3) If 1 and/or 2 are 'true,' how can we take the Apple store to task on the matter?
4) If 1 and/or 2 are 'false,' anyone in the Minneapolis area have an Apple 512MB PC2700 SO-DIMM they no longer need?

[ibook_steve]

One question: do the USB ports work now?

If the answer is yes, what does it matter if the repair was not "certified?" What advantage is there to say a repair was certified if the end result is what you want: working USB ports? Are you saying that without it being "certified," the 90 warranty on the repair is void?

Did this person have AppleCare? Does that have something to do with this as well?

I wouldn't worry about it or spend the exorbitant fees to buy Apple memory to say the repair was certified.

Steve

[Magicite]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

One question: do the USB ports work now?

If the answer is yes, what does it matter if the repair was not "certified?" What advantage is there to say a repair was certified if the end result is what you want: working USB ports? Are you saying that without it being "certified," the 90 warranty on the repair is void?

Did this person have AppleCare? Does that have something to do with this as well?

I wouldn't worry about it or spend the exorbitant fees to buy Apple memory to say the repair was certified.

Steve

Not sure the USB ports work now; I'd assume yes. From my understanding, yes, the 90 day warranty is NULLIFIED unless you have Apple memory installed. Since this is a PowerBook, I'm guessing that the unit was shipped to to a repair facility, rather than fixed onsite [especially since this was a larger fix]. Since Apple stores are not allowed to place 3rd party memory back into a machine, there's currently no way to test [over the phone] if the fix worked. I'd assume they tested that at the repair facility though . . .

No applecare, this is all out of pocket.

From what I understand, if apple memory is not put into the laptop before it leaves the Apple store, there is absolutely no warranty on the repair. So, if when the machine is booted up at home [with the 3rd party memory reinstalled] it does not work, you're out of luck.

[ibook_steve]

I used to work for Apple, and this just sickens me. The qualification process we did for memory was probably exactly the same as anybody else. Obviously, you'd rather use big name components like Micron, Hynix, or Samsung, but more often than not, non-apple memory uses these same components as well. I'd verify, in-store, that the USB ports work (there's enough USB devices in an Apple store to make this simple) and then leave with my working computer.

Steve

[Magicite]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. The only problem with that would be if the repair accidently broke something else [as sometimes happens with repairs] that may not be noticeable from a quick check. Not that Apple would fess up to such a thing if it happened anyway, of course.