Getting An Accurate Macintosh Repair Diagnosis Is Important. You’ll Always Get One At MacMedics, And Never For More Than $99
Recently, a MacMedics client showed me an on-line review of another Apple Authorized Service Provider that shares the Metro area with one of the MacMedics offices. To keep things as fair as possible, I won’t name names or locations.
Here’s a copy of the review that was marked 1 out of 5 stars:
“Let me fill you in on my story. I’m a sophomore in college, and I own a MacBook Pro. One day the display just stops working. External displays don’t even work. So I bring it to an Apple store nearby. They tell me they can’t cover it under the warranty because of the “external damage” (really nothing more than a few scratches and a small bump or two). So, they want to charge me $1300 for repairs. I figured I’d just take it to an Authorized Service Provider, and have them fix only the parts that aren’t working. Little did I know that about a week later I’d get a call saying they couldn’t do anything for me and that they’d have to charge me $125 for “Diagnostics” when they can’t even tell me what’s wrong with the thing. Overall, if it’s a hardware problem, I’m not even sure if it would be worth trying to save the computer. You may as well just buy another one?”
Let me tell you why this type of situation never happens at MacMedics:
1. If you bring in a unit that is obviously beyond our help or obviously not worth a repair, we won’t try to entice you to check it in for a diagnostic if we don’t think it’s going to be worth fixing. In many cases, if you stop by with your sick Mac, we’ll be able to tell pretty quick if we think it’s worth fixing or even worth looking into. We’ll often plug a unit in to see what’s up with it while-you-wait if we have the open bench space when you stop by. We know that nobody wants to be without their computer, and in many cases if we find out your issue is a simple problem like a bad power adapter, bad battery, corrupt power manager, or a bad stick of RAM it can often be repaired right on the spot.
2. If we do have to open up your MacBook or MacBook Pro to look inside for trouble, and we deem that it needs a repair that is either too much for you, or just to expensive in general our fee for the diagnostic and surgery is only $99. That fee is only charged IF you decide NOT to fix your Mac laptop. Otherwise that $99 diagnostic fee is 100% applied to whatever repair is needed, if you choose to have one performed.
3. If you bring us a Macintosh computer for service, we will usually have an answer for you the same day and always within 24 hours of drop off at the most. Never a week or more as was the case in the review mentioned above.
4. If your unit is super sick (like it needs a $1200 repair) it may still have salvage value. A. We’ll help move you into a new Mac and transfer all of your data (if your data is healthy) for a flat fee of $99. B. If you unit has any value to us, we’ll offer a trade-in value for it. (That’s not something Apple does or anyone else we know of.)
5. If your MacBook laptop has suffered a liquid spill, we offer a $150 “estimate” service, which will get you an estimate on the total repair, and 1-way take apart on the laptop. We’ll remove the logic board, look under the hard drive and even try some basic cleaning and testing to see what is wrong with your MacBook. Unlike our $99 fee, the $150 liquid estimate is work we have to perform, so it’s really like the first leg of the repair, so any needed repairs and parts are in addition to the $150 estimate fee. See this MacMedics Blog post for more info.
6. Our in-lab techs will be honest with you. We will try to find the cause of your computer’s issue, and report back to you with ALL of your options. If we can repair your Mac cost effectively, we’ll go in that direction. If your repair is more than 50% the cost of replacing the unit, we’ll most likely recommend replacing it.
In some cases of a major hardware failure, MacMedics, might be able to move you into a pre-owned Mac. We often can move over your upgraded hard drive and/or RAM to try and maximize the value of what you have already paid for. We’re flexible, and we’ll do whatever we can do to help you get your Macintosh repair (or help you buy a new Apple computer) completed as cost effectively as possible.
We really do love what we do, and no matter what your situation is, we would LOVE to talk to you about your problem. Give us call, send us an e-mail, or just stop by either of two Apple Certified Mac Labs in Millersville or Lanham, Maryland.