Butterfly keyboard repair - anyone had any recent experience?

Minstadave

Minstadave

Minstadave

Caporegime
Joined
8 Jan 2004
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Rutland
My wife's 2018 Macbook Pro is coming to the end of the window for the keyboard to be replaced so I've booked it in in the Leicester store. Anyone know if they do it on the day? It's annoying you can't just post it in as it's a 2+ hour round trip each time.
 
Feek said:
I had my MB done twice under this scheme, each time they had it for about a week.

/edit - I think with the MBP that the part with the keyboard also contains the battery so you might get a replacement battery as well.
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That would be nice!

What do they do on the initial assessment? Just take it off you or do you have to demonstrate the problem?
 
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Feek said:
When I had the first one done, I had one key that was intermittently not working and on the day I took it in, it was OK. The second time a key didn’t work so it was obvious. The first time they gave me two options, clean it and let me take it away the same day or keep it for a week to replace it. Naturally, I chose the latter.

If I were you, I’d be sure to mention the couple of intermittent keys you have ;)
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I'm told it's pretty obvious so should be easy to show if they need me to, just dont want to drive all the way to Leicester to be told its fine. Thank you for all your help!
 
dirtybeatfreak said:
The official strategy is to attempt the individual keys first, which they should have a kit in store for. If any pins/catches on the actual board are damaged, or the rubber dome is gone, then it will require a whole Top casing. If the top casing is required, you might have a 2/3 day turnaround time unless where you go stocks them.

It might be eligible for the repair extension program, you have four years since the day you purchased it to claim. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-notebooks
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Do they need proof of purchase or do they just use the registered date?

I picked this up second hand and it was a warranty replacement of an older model (Looking back at the MM thread its less than 4 years old). The my support page doesn't have any info about purchase date or warranty - think I'll see if Apple Support can tell me.
 
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dirtybeatfreak said:
They wont need proof of purchase or anything. It should them the original sale date when they enter your serial in the GSX system and they'll go 4 years from that. It'll go by that, just don't mention you bought it second hand (not that it would matter mind you). There wont be any warranty unless Applecare plus has been applied to it. However, this is a repair extension program, which is separate from your warranty. If it's one of those models listed in that article and within the 4 years, Apple will pay :)

I can check for you if you'd like, if you're comfortable sending a stranger your serial through trust maybe?
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Thank you for the offer, sorry I missed your reply.

Took it in today. Apparently in the store system it said it was ineligible for the extended repair programme but Apple Support had told me online that it was eligible so they're going to do repair it regardless. It was good the store could see the online support discussion. Hopefully a fresh battery included aswell.
 
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The rep said it would depend where the repair was done. Because of the issue with Apple online support saying it did qualify but the Apple store saying it didn't it might have to be sent to the repair centre rather than it being done in store. If sent away they'd easily be able to post but if done in store then it'd need picking up seemed to be the deal.

I'm not too fussed either way, if it gets fixed I'm happy. Not many manufacturers would give this level of support to an older device to be fair to Apple.
 
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Feek said:
I don't see how the store could even think of claiming it's not covered. It's pretty obvious from here what's covered and what isn't.

Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro - Apple Support

Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro
support.apple.com
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Not sure, the guy was just "computer says no" as he put the serial into his iPad and it said not eligible. I wonder if its because there was no purchase date for the laptop as it was a warranty replacement from what I gather so there was no way to tell if it was over 4 years old.
 
dirtybeatfreak said:
It's really likely there was a date and it was over four years. I don't think I've ever seen one without a purchase date and is something I always check as it's crucial to know for things like warranties, APC+ and consumer law etc. It's super rare for a whole Macbook to be replaced under warranty as they always want to repair with as little parts as possible so I'm not 100% if the purchase date is carried over or the refurb date is used.

You could now take it anywhere authorized and get it repaired if you wished as what they've done is applied a code to the serial/machine due to their mistake. This specifies the keyboard should be repaired free regardless of warranty and eligibity provided the customer hasn't modified it or something. They're really good at owning up to their mess-ups or giving a bit of leeway if you were a few days out or something :)

You can also insist that you want to use the mail-in repair strategy (send to the repair center) and have it delivered back to you if you'd prefer that. The fact you're having it repaired under a code should be irrelevant to what strategy they use.
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Thank you for the detailed info.

They repaired it in store and have let my wife know its ready for pickup so I'll go get it tomorrow.

All a bit odd but a good outcome.
 
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