Our intern Alex’s lemony MacBook Pro finally went out with a spectacular graphical display of what it looks like when a robot’s brain dissolves. Fortunately, Apple made good on the promise they gave him last month when he asked about their replacement policy, and a new replacement MacBook Pro is on its way to him. They’re also refunding a portion of his AppleCare. Is this just typical Apple follow-through or above and beyond treatment because Alex’s story was posted on Consumerist?

Here’s Alex’s story:

I have a follow-up to my Apple replacement story from last month. Last week, my adapter melted. I called Apple, they replaced it on Sunday, and all was well for a day, then my logic board got all kinds of f@#!*d up.

And I called them back yesterday through the regular Apple Care number, they had me do basic stuff like zap the PRAM and repair disk permissions, and that would fix it for ten minutes after I hung up, then it would go back to being messed up

Two techs did that, and it didn’t fix it, so I called the corporate number just now

I got an extremely nice person named Julia. I referenced my call to corporate with Jeff last month, then she looked at my case file and recited all the failures my MBP had had (logic board, hard drive, battery, optical, logic board, hard drive, adapter).

After reading the failures to me, she immediately offered a replacement.

She even told me she’d refund a prorated portion of what I paid for AppleCare because this new one would come with a year of warranty, and my AppleCare would only last a few months after that.

She sent out a replacement, and she also gave me the option of either not sending it out till they received my unit, or giving her my credit card number so they can charge me if they don’t receive it in a certain amount of time.

Alex suggests if you have a similar problem, try calling Apple rather than going to their in-store Genius Bars, because then you can sit in front of your computer and look up helpful information (for example, on Consumerist) while you’re talking.

RELATED
“Apple’s Semi-Official Computer Replacement Policy”

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.