[Michael T. Doyle]

While I'm happy with my brand-new MacBook, my boyfriend -- a PC switcher -- just had a nasty experience with purchasing a refurbed MacBook Pro from the online Apple Store. I've never had a problem with an Apple refurb (I've owned several in the past 12 years), but his experience really gives me pause.

He purchased a refurbed 1st-gen MBP last week from the AS online. It arrived...bent in half. Apparently, it had the swelling battery issue, and the problem had literally bent the lower right-hand corner of the book upwards by about 15 degrees. When closed, the 'book looked like it was smiling, and on a flat surface, it rocked back and forth. How on earth something like that gets sent out as a refurb is beyond me. My suspicion was that it had gotten sent back originally for that problem, and just got dropped into another box and shipped back out.

I thought, "no", that couldn't be it. Until his replacement refurb arrived with a punishing case of flicker that rendered the display unusable. We brought that one into the local Apple Store here in Chitown, and they told us it was a faulty logic board that needed to be replaced.

Two broken refurbs in a row through the online AS is bad enough, but not outside of the realm of the acceptable. But two broken refurbs with problems so obvious that no refurb tech could possibly have missed them (an epileptic LCD and a 'book in the shape of a comma) is truly unbelievable.

Has anyone else had a similar recent experience with online AS refurbs? It made the two of us seriously doubt Apple's quality control, and worse, made my PC-switching boyfriend seriously doubt Apple, which is truly not how to win over new customers.

[Michael T. Doyle]

UPDATE: This sordid problem just gets worse. Today my bf got his MBP back from being serviced at the Apple Store on N. Michigan Avenue here in Chicago. This is the second of the two MBP refurbs noted in the above post that arrived broken.

It's still broken. It was sent back from the service department, after a week away in shipment, unfixed. Totally unfixed. No work done. No replaced logic board. Nothing.

At this point, I would strongly caution anyone from purchasing a refurb MBP, much less relying on Apple to service one. In the 12 years I've owned Macs, I've never witnessed such a run of poor service. I expect my bf to just get his money back and go back to Windows before the week is out.

There's a switcher story for you.

[ibook_steve]

You do realize that the two problems you mention could have happened during shipping or storage after they were checked out for refurb, right? As for getting the machine back without anything fixed, there should be an explanation as to why nothing was fixed. If service somehow couldn't replicate the problem, they'd have nothing to fix. There should be a note or you should call for an explanation.

Steve

[Michael T. Doyle]

No, I would let the Apple Store manager call and find out. They were responsible for having the computer fixed once we brought it in, and they verified the problem.

Moreover, given the turnaround that these refurb units go through from in to out at the online Apple Store, I doubt these two problems suddenly cropped up without warning while the computers were turned off in a box somewhere. Especially not the failed logic board.

As far as replicating the problem with the display, in order to do that all you have to do is turn on the computer. That was obvious to the Genius in the Apple Store last week. My suspicion is that some mid-level manager somewhere is trying to protect the profit margin on these early, problem-laden MBP's by letting as little service or replacement work get done as possible. As it turns out, work was done on the computer: they replaced the display cable, a far cheaper option than replacing the logic board. Presto: the problem remains, but at least it "looks" like work was done.

Either way, the manager in our local Apple Store was so taken aback at this string of events, that he's ordered a new MBP for my bf to replace the refurbed first-gen MBP once and for all. That's a wonderful thing for him to do, and pretty much saved Apple from losing a switcher entirely.

But after watching the whole thing I have no confidence left at all in the potential for buying a refurb through Apple. I used to sing the praises of Apple refurbs--half of the Macs I've ever owned were refurbs. But never again. I just find it too hard to believe that this was all just one big coincidence without something more at work behind the scenes.