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Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 13, 2004, 02:57 PM

The 17 inch CRT studio display that had a crack in the stand for years finally gave on its own.

Cost to replace one little peace of plastic with no electronics.... $49 shipping and $489 US.

How can Apple justify this cost?

The plastic stand at the bottom is what busted:

shabbasuraj · Feb 13, 2004, 02:58 PM

gorickey · Feb 13, 2004, 03:00 PM

Wow, that sucks...

See if you can rig this to work:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL....14.0.5.0.13.0

fireside · Feb 13, 2004, 03:01 PM

would you have liked it better as 49$ for the part and 489$ for the shipping?

Minty Fresh · Feb 13, 2004, 03:03 PM

That is a bit rediculous. I mean...for about $150 more...you could have had a brand new 17" TFT ASD!!!!

gorickey · Feb 13, 2004, 03:06 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=25448

That is a better deal...

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 13, 2004, 03:09 PM

Originally posted by Minty Fresh:
That is a bit rediculous. I mean...for about $150 more...you could have had a brand new 17" TFT ASD!!!!

A bit! This is Apple spitting in the face of a customer! Way to get us to buy more.

Developer · Feb 13, 2004, 04:37 PM

Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
The 17 inch CRT studio display that had a crack in the stand for years finally gave on its own.

Cost to replace one little peace of plastic with no electronics.... $49 shipping and $489 US.

How can Apple justify this cost?

They can't. In fact this would be illegal. I recently read about the matter.

If you purchase something you enter in implicit contract with the dealer that says that he has to keep replacement parts and that he has to offer you replacement parts at a reasonable price (must not be cheap but fair). The time he has to keep replacement parts is not determined but must be appropriate to the type of product and at least the time of guarantee (2 years in Europe).

So I guess Apple could argue that that CRT is too old (I guess it's older than 2 years) and that they don't have replacement parts any more. And they probably could get away with it.
But apparently they do still have the replacement part. So in this case they have to offer it to you at a reasonable price (which $500 certainly not is).

This was German law, but I guess it is similar in the US.

macvillage.net · Feb 13, 2004, 04:49 PM

I would talk to an authorized repair specialist near you.

I'd bet they can do better than Apple directly. Most can. You'll pay for service, but still will be less.

mitchell_pgh · Feb 13, 2004, 05:00 PM

Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
A bit! This is Apple spitting in the face of a customer! Way to get us to buy more.

Ummm, did you ever thing that they don't have the the part and would have to specially order it... thus the price?

Anyway...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=3695

side note
I found this photo while looking for this on eBay...

It that what I think it is... ugh...

Nebrie · Feb 13, 2004, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Ummm, did you ever thing that they don't have the the part and would have to specially order it... thus the price?

Don't forget the skilled labor involved.

Hasn't anyone here tried to get electronics fixed? It always costs an insane amount of money because of the labor. I'm sure if you laid out a plan on how they could outsource this to Guatemalan sweat shop workers, they could lower the price.

macvillage.net · Feb 13, 2004, 05:25 PM

Problem is mostly parts.

Think about how many parts are in most elctronic devices. Hint: think large numbers.

That's how many they need to keep in stock.

Engineers are able to suggest keeping more of part X than part Y in stock, since part X is under more stress, hence more prone to failure....

But how many in total will ever be needed?

It's a tough call.

Now add up all the parts in all the products. That's one hell of an inventory, even if you only have a few of each device sold in recent history.

That's why costs are so high.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 13, 2004, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Ummm, did you ever thing that they don't have the the part and would have to specially order it... thus the price?

No small part of plastic costs $500, not even on the space shuttle for the love of god.

There is no electronics involved, it is just pop off the plastic stand, pop a new one on.

m_young · Feb 13, 2004, 05:46 PM

I'm gonna come off as an ass here, but oh well... Maybe you should have gotten it replaced when it was cracked, and they probably had more in stock, and it was almost definately cheaper. Maybe it would have been under warrantee. But it's easy to be a monday morning quarterback. I'm sure there was some good reason.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 13, 2004, 05:52 PM

Originally posted by m_young:
I'm gonna come off as an ass here, but oh well... Maybe you should have gotten it replaced when it was cracked, and they probably had more in stock, and it was almost definately cheaper. Maybe it would have been under warrantee. But it's easy to be a monday morning quarterback. I'm sure there was some good reason.

It isn't my computer it is the one at work and they just moved it into my office.

ryju · Feb 13, 2004, 06:51 PM

CRTs are so last weak.

voodoo · Feb 13, 2004, 07:08 PM

I'm gonna buy me a CRT. It's so 80s!

Link · Feb 13, 2004, 07:16 PM

Originally posted by Nebrie:
Don't forget the skilled labor involved.

Hasn't anyone here tried to get electronics fixed? It always costs an insane amount of money because of the labor. I'm sure if you laid out a plan on how they could outsource this to Guatemalan sweat shop workers, they could lower the price.

Dude if you didn't know that stand COMES OFF. You are "doing service labor" when you buy the monitor because it comes without the stand attatched.

No this is very apple to do

ryju · Feb 13, 2004, 07:19 PM

Originally posted by voodoo:
I'm gonna buy me a CRT. It's so 80s!

Wait wait YES I have some left over! YES! *queue Saturday Night Fever

Vader�s Pinch of Death · Feb 13, 2004, 07:58 PM

Originally posted by Link:
Dude if you didn't know that stand COMES OFF. You are "doing service labor" when you buy the monitor because it comes without the stand attatched.

No this is very apple to do

So I take it off and then what?

Stogieman · Feb 14, 2004, 01:49 AM

Why don't you just superglue the busted piece?

Vader�s Pinch of Death · Feb 14, 2004, 02:14 AM

Originally posted by Stogieman:
Why don't you just superglue the busted piece?

No way would glue hold that 30 pound monitor up. No way in hell.

Yose · Feb 14, 2004, 02:35 AM

Originally posted by Vader�s Pinch of Death:
No way would glue hold that 30 pound monitor up. No way in hell.

What about some epoxy that chemically melts the contact points sort of making a new fused connection... or something along those lines.

But anyhow...

It was mentioned before but Apple buys a ton of spare parts.. and as they start to run out it gets classified as a vintage product and after more parts run out it's classified as obsolete and whatever is left is usually left to people who have contracts Apple has to keep.

So maybe there are no more and that's the cost to have one made.

Maybe...

It's a work machine... your IT department should've done a better job and had that repaired in warranty.

Sucks though.

Scotttheking · Feb 14, 2004, 03:25 AM

Apple wanted something like $250 for a power supply, and another $100 to install it. I contacted the corporate office. Never got a better deal. Gave up and replaced the $1 fan inside, myself.

Stogieman · Feb 14, 2004, 03:31 AM

Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
[B]Cost to replace one little peace of plastic with no electronics.... $49 shipping and $489 US.

welovemacs.com has the exact same stand. $22 shipping and $130 US.

Will an eMac tilt and swivel stand work with that monitor? You could buy one of those for about $60 US.

Vader�s Pinch of Death · Feb 14, 2004, 03:46 AM

Originally posted by Stogieman:
welovemacs.com has the exact same stand. $22 shipping and $130 US.

That is still crazy high considering you can get the WHOLE monitor for $80 off ebay.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 16, 2004, 05:47 PM

I found the replacement part for $95 CAN plus $15 shipping. Still nuts but I think work is going to go for it.

Ah well, Apple wanted to charge over $500 US for the same thing, idiots.

iWrite · Feb 16, 2004, 06:51 PM

I'm going to be an ass here and say this:

How long do you really expect something to last? Forever? Seriously, how old IS that thing -- honestly? BE HONEST.

Your post/rant reminds me of the idiots that take up the time of the Mac Geniuses as the Apple Stores nationally: They come in with their 1998 G3 iMac in Blueberry, hoist it up on the counter, it has 64mb of ram, and then they bitch about how the OS "doesn't work the right way." They'll go on and on about how it's "Apple's fault."

Then, the real kicker is that they DEMAND that Apple provide them with a new iMac -- current model even!

Seriously -- ask your local Mac Genius about this because it happens ALL of the time.

I buy AppleCare for everything we own (Macs.) Why? Because, for instance, it's relatively cheap when compared to the cost of the system and the benefits are GREAT.

I find that most of the people bitching are the ones that are cheap and never bought AppleCare and still expect Apple to babysit their systems for 20 years.

Give me a break, you know?

AuPhalanx · Feb 16, 2004, 06:57 PM

iWrite!

Amen, sister. Amen! I could not have said that better than you did.

Have fun... Tony.

Originally posted by iWrite:
I'm going to be an ass here and say this:

How long do you really expect something to last? Forever? Seriously, how old IS that thing -- honestly? BE HONEST.

Your post/rant reminds me of the idiots that take up the time of the Mac Geniuses as the Apple Stores nationally: They come in with their 1998 G3 iMac in Blueberry, hoist it up on the counter, it has 64mb of ram, and then they bitch about how the OS "doesn't work the right way." They'll go on and on about how it's "Apple's fault."

Then, the real kicker is that they DEMAND that Apple provide them with a new iMac -- current model even!

Seriously -- ask your local Mac Genius about this because it happens ALL of the time.

I buy AppleCare for everything we own (Macs.) Why? Because, for instance, it's relatively cheap when compared to the cost of the system and the benefits are GREAT.

I find that most of the people bitching are the ones that are cheap and never bought AppleCare and still expect Apple to babysit their systems for 20 years.

Give me a break, you know?

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 16, 2004, 07:04 PM

Originally posted by iWrite:
I'm going to be an ass here and say this:

How long do you really expect something to last? Forever? Seriously, how old IS that thing -- honestly? BE HONEST.

It is 3 years old, hardly a dinosaur. And one peace of plastic does not cost $500 even on something from the 60's in a museum.

MindFad · Feb 16, 2004, 07:19 PM

Originally posted by iWrite:
I'm going to be an ass here and say this:
Give me a break, you know?

It is a piece of ****ing plastic. Give *me* a break.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Feb 16, 2004, 07:33 PM

Interesting thing is Apple wanted us to ship the whole monitor for $100 US shipping plus the $500 replacement cost. I called an Apple store, they said the part comes off and they could order a new one.

olePigeon · Feb 16, 2004, 09:52 PM

I would suggest talking ot an Apple manager and complaining. Tell them you're thinking of never buying another Apple products because of crap like that. You never know, they might do it for free.