
15-Inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program - mindgam3
https://support.apple.com/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recall
======
jmull
1-2 weeks for the service is brutal and effectively means a lot of batteries
will not be replaced.

You'd really need a loaner for that, and to spend some extra time to set it up
(and later to clear it out and return it).

I think they need to figure out how to turn these things around a lot faster
at least in the great majority of cases.

~~~
pfranz
I had my keyboard replaced a few months ago on my MBP--it sounds like a
similar process since they replaced my battery, too.

It was going to be like a week to make an Apple Store appointment. I was able
to walk into a local Mac shop on Apple's list of official service centers. At
that time they sent it to the same offsite shops for service and they said it
would take 1-2weeks. I asked about a loaner or if Apple had any sort of
program since I need something in the meantime (even with different specs). I
know Apple has a 14day return policy on new hardware, but I hate to abuse
that. That local Mac shop was able to work something out with me with some
refurbs they had on hand, but I don't think their supervisor was happy about
it.

I got my computer back 5 days later. Since then, I've heard theres been a push
to do more of these kinds of repairs in store to decrease the turnaround time
by a lot.

A lot of this has to do with the original design. Old cars had oil filters you
could take off with your hand, then you needed a special tool, then a stick
thing with a strap, then you needed to take something off before you can use
that tool. Apple keyboards used to lift up to expose the RAM, the batteries
could be removed by sliding a tab (this was when the battery life was only a
few hours and the life of the battery was like 200 cycles). Personally, I was
much happier when maintenance was somewhere between that and what we have now.

~~~
mulmen
I get your point but I've never seen anything to support your oil filter
claim. My 2010 BMW has a cartridge style oil filter which _should_ be
removable by hand. My dad's 1948 Oldsmobile also has a cartridge style oil
filter but it requires a wrench to remove the bolt holding it together. Both
the BMW and the Oldsmobile put the filter in an easily accessible place under
the hood.

In between we had canister style filters (like on my old Toyota) which may or
may not require tools to remove depending on the incompetence of your
mechanic. I've never seen an oil filter that needed to be installed so tight
you need a tool.

~~~
pfranz
I don't think the increased difficulty in changing the oil is malicious
intent. Just much less space under the hood. I'm not a big car guy, but for
every car I've seen it has been recommended to hand-tighten, but you often
need a tool to reach an awkwardly placed oil filter or loosen it.

------
anonfunction

      The serial number you entered may be eligible for this 
      program. Please choose one of the service options below.
    
      Choose one of the service options below to have your 
      battery replaced. In all cases, your device will be 
      sent to an Apple Repair Center for service. Your MacBook Pro
      will be examined prior to any service to verify that it is
      eligible for this program. Service may take 1-2 weeks.
    

It doesn't even tell me if my computer is actually affected, just to lose my
work computer for up to two weeks, when it might not even be eligible for
replacement.

~~~
pfranz
I feel like that's the standard language they've used on these pages
previously. I imagine that's just room for them to deny you in case you had
swapped out the battery yourself or otherwise disqualified yourself. But I'd
love to hear back from others. I'm sure talking to someone at Apple could also
clarify.

1-2 weeks sucks even if they had an option for a loaner (which they tend not
to)...especially for "pro" equipment.

Also, I tend not to trust repair shops in general. I backup and often wipe my
equipment before handing it over. This also means I don't have to hand over
passwords.

------
asadkn
This is possibly what triggered it - MBP in flames:
[https://twitter.com/whitepanda/status/1133847982317723648](https://twitter.com/whitepanda/status/1133847982317723648)

------
mindgam3
> Customer safety is always Apple's top priority, and we have voluntarily
> decided to replace affected batteries, free of charge.

Cool!

> Service may take 1-2 weeks.

Wait, what?

~~~
clay_the_ripper
If you live in the US, Apple has a no questions asked 14 day return policy.
When my computer goes in for service I just buy one, restore my machine from
time machine onto it, and then return it.

Works great.

~~~
ceejayoz
This is the sort of abusive bad behavior that kills things like LL Bean's
once-awesome return policy.

~~~
ben1040
There are people who have been told to do exactly this by Apple's own staff,
according to a quick search on Twitter.

[https://twitter.com/arno_app/status/1056943680249061383](https://twitter.com/arno_app/status/1056943680249061383)

[https://twitter.com/dogslime/status/966026523579994114](https://twitter.com/dogslime/status/966026523579994114)

[https://twitter.com/caseyhelbling/status/1113486373191704576](https://twitter.com/caseyhelbling/status/1113486373191704576)

[https://twitter.com/FatBodyPolitics/status/95158147758154547...](https://twitter.com/FatBodyPolitics/status/951581477581545473)

~~~
ceejayoz
With tens of thousands of retail workers involved, that's hardly surprising
that some would suggest the technique.

That doesn't change the fact that these sorts of abuses of a return policy
cost everyone else money, and risk getting the policy shortened/restricted for
all.

~~~
alistairSH
Agreed, if your MacBook is critical to your job, shouldn't you have Apple Care
or some sort of insurance policy to ensure you get a timely replacement?
Relying on Apple's goodwill seems like risky business.

~~~
selectodude
I have AppleCare+ and my keyboard replacement required the store to send it
in. Makes no difference.

~~~
ceejayoz
Being in their "Joint Venture" business program does, though.

[https://www.apple.com/retail/business/jointventure/terms.htm...](https://www.apple.com/retail/business/jointventure/terms.html)

> Equipment Loaner Service. If the issue with your Mac Computer requires us to
> keep it for more than twenty‑four (24) hours, you will be provided the
> option of borrowing a similar Apple product from our pool of loaner products
> ("Loaner") based on availability at your local Apple Retail Store. Apple is
> not obliged to provide a Loaner that is the same as, or of equivalent or
> better functionality or appearance to your Mac Computer; nor does Apple make
> any representation that a specific software program is or will be installed
> on your Loaner. Please see below for additional terms and conditions
> relating to this Equipment Loaner Service.

~~~
sneak
Joint Venture is $500/year, IIRC.

~~~
alistairSH
Sure beats an idle software developer.

~~~
sneak
I agree; I have it and I don’t even write software full time (and have 2 other
laptops). Its main advantage to me is that it lets me cut the line for getting
service appointments in-store.

~~~
RealWorldPolice
How did you even find out about its existence to begin with?

------
black_puppydog
Seriously? Nobody points out the obvious "don't fucking glue batteries into
laptops it's a stupid idea?" Instead everyone complains about the long
processing times? That time should have been the time it takes the clerk to
reach under the counter for your new battery pack!

~~~
scblock
Even when you can swap a battery out in 5 minutes you may have a long
processing time. I had to wait over 4 weeks for Dell to get me a replacement
battery this year for a similar issue because battery supply itself was
constrained.

~~~
baroffoos
At least you can still use your computer while you wait for the replacement.

------
henryfjordan
The UX on that site is horrible. I put in my serial number and a bunch of red
text appears.

> The serial number you entered is not eligible under this program

Is that supposed to be a bad thing? Why is that red? Would it be happy green
text if I needed to stop using my laptop right now and send it in?

~~~
ballenf
Valid point, but you would probably get a lot of people showing up to the
apple store believing they needed a replacement. Because the text was green
(or just not red) and no one really reads anything.

And then they'd be really pissed off customers who would really believe that
the website response changed since the first time they checked it.

At least I've had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of those kinds
of interactions (not in Apple stores but in software support in an earlier
life).

------
kjhughes
Related: Here's last year's 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Battery
Replacement Program:

[https://www.apple.com/support/13inch-macbookpro-battery-
repl...](https://www.apple.com/support/13inch-macbookpro-battery-replacement/)

 _The program covers affected MacBook Pro models for 5 years after the first
retail sale of the unit._

~~~
ArmandGrillet
To be precise: only computers manufactured between October 2016 and October
2017 are affected. I think that apart from the now standard keyboard
replacement program no MacBook made since 2018 has a replacement program yet.

~~~
olliej
And only specific serial numbers, so presumably they've identified the exact
batches of batteries that were involved?

------
Shank
Honestly the worst thing about it is that you have to manually check to see if
your battery is affected. A proactive email might be better than telling
people to enter their serial on a site to check.

~~~
inlined
I can’t imagine Apple, a champion of privacy, wants to keep a mapping of
serial number to user emails. Even if harmless or if it already exists, it
might taint Apple with a creepy vibe.

~~~
bluedino
My iCloud account shows all my devices

~~~
reaperducer
iCloud ≠ email. I have an iCloud account with a non-functioning e-mail
address.

~~~
tillinghast
LOL, you're one step away from writing a cautionary Medium post.

~~~
saagarjha
I believe you can set up an iCloud account with just a phone number.

------
dawnerd
Interestingly if you've had your keyboard serviced it looks like they replaced
the battery already.

~~~
ceejayoz
Yeah, it's all one piece. I had my battery replaced a few months ago and it
came with a new keyboard (basically, the entire body except the removable door
on the bottom.

They also threw in a new monitor section for kicks. I was pretty happy with
that.

~~~
cronix
Yep, it's why they're so expensive to repair. Everything is basically a single
piece, so if a $2 part goes out you replace basically the entire system.
Sounds economical, and consumer friendly!

~~~
sigjuice
What a terrible waste. All this just so they can brag about how thin they are
for a couple of minutes during a keynote while customers suffer the
consequences for many years after.

I remember the time time when a key became defective on my 2013 MacBook Air. I
brought it to an Apple store and they replaced the problematic key and sent me
on my way in 5 minutes.

~~~
olliej
A lot of it is also the structural rigidity and cooling.

That said I suspect it is more cost effective and _fast_ for them to just pull
out the known functional core and put those in a new shell, then use the old
shell as all/part of a refurb system.

It makes the customer happy: They get a whole bunch of new stuff, and they get
it quickly. It also means the store doesn't have to stock some arbitrary
amount of each component - they just have a single heap of shells come in, and
a bucket the goes out to be refurbed/recycled as appropriate.

As for replacing individual keys I'm still not sure if that can be done easily
now (I've not had any problems with the butterfly keyboards, but it's clear
that a couple of people might have ;) )

~~~
keldaris
Except it's not fast - apparently it takes 1-2 weeks and if this thread is
anything to go by, the customers seem not happy at all. Gluing batteries is
just crazy, I didn't even know they do that these days (old Thinkpads for
life).

Still, people keep buying useless shiny things for exorbitant prices, so Apple
must be doing something right. I just don't know what it is - maintainability
or easy repairs definitely isn't it.

~~~
olliej
I assume that that's to give them leeway if anything goes wrong. I think the
bigger issue that it's a mail-in repair, so you end up burning a bunch of days
on that:

    
    
      * First they send you a shipping box.
      
      * Then you put your laptop in it, and get it to a drop off, then you have a few days shipping (I can't imagine they're doing overnight), plus weekend delay.
    
      * However long it takes their receiving to get the delivery to wherever they're doing the repairs/replacement
    
      * the repair - I suspect that's going to be measured in minutes, but you have a latency due to volume of repairs, which I assume depends on how many machines need to replacements.
    
      * I assume some technician puts it back in a box, and it gets sent to their shipping facility
    
      * a couple of days for shipping.
    

Put that together, 2 days to ship there, 1 day processing + repair, 2 days to
return. So you easily hit the weekend, so now you're at 7 days. If anything
goes wrong you've exceeded one week.

Which means saying "1-2 weeks" gives them a buffer to ensure it doesn't take
longer than they've stated.

If they did it in store I imagine it could be same or next day, but by doing
it as a ship in/out repair makes it absurd.

(I don't think they're exorbitantly priced, yes they cost more, but it's not
like the old PPC prices)

------
morcutt
I have the 2016 15" MacBook Pro model and the battery won't take a charge. I
have to keep it always plugged in. Apparently I'm not in this recall.

It is a total bummer because it takes Apple 3-5 days to fix this. The batter
has 476 cycles on it and Apple rates it at 1000.

------
asadkn
I have a MacBook Pro Mid-2015, bought in 2015 and had (a) swollen battery (b)
green pixel on screen (c) bad sectors on SSD, in early 2017 - that's just 1.5
years. Got everything replaced after under Apple Care in late 2017 as they
wouldn't acknowledge all the faults so it took multiple visits and having to
wait for things to get worse. The repair took ~15-16 days too, since that's
how it goes in third world and I had to arrange a backup for work.

Now I have the swollen battery again, but Apple Care has expired and I have to
shell out $500-750 (quotes from different authorized partners) and have to
arrange a backup for another 2 weeks.

I wonder if they dump low quality hardware for the third world or is it really
that bad globally. Two of my friends have also had the battery issues, though
none with display or SSD.

Unfortunately, it seems like I don't qualify for this recall program (as it's
from July 2015), but I am sure they have had battery issues all over.
Batteries failing in 1.5 years with just 40-50 cycles is not okay.

~~~
gurkendoktor
> I have to shell out $500-750 (quotes from different authorized partners)

That's crazy. I have the same Mac and just got a swollen battery replaced, and
had them also clean up the machine and replace the thermal paste ... for a
grand total of €258 (taxes included), at a random third party shop in Germany.
And I thought we were being ripped off vs. US prices!

~~~
asadkn
I was expecting ~$250 from what I had read on internet. But I suppose it's the
same in places where there's no official Apple presence - we have these 3rd
party "authorized service providers". Or perhaps it's something to do with
local customs/duties on imports.

------
mrguyorama
I miss user serviceable laptops

~~~
dahfizz
There are still plenty if you don't buy from Apple.

~~~
baroffoos
I was actually shocked to see how easy it is to repair dell XPS laptops
considering they are just as thin as macbooks (I think even thinner)

The battery is secured with a few screws and a metal bracket. Also the ram was
socketed.

~~~
brokenmachine
The thinness is a red herring but people who don't know better believe that.

Apple is clearly doing these things in order to make their products
unserviceable so they can upsell.

------
somehnguy
My 2015 MBP battery ballooned up about 6 months ago. I just bought a
replacement battery and swapped it out myself. Looks like my serial is
included in the recall, guessing they won't touch it anymore though..

~~~
msbarnett
> I just bought a replacement battery and swapped it out myself.

How much of a pain in the ass was separating the glued-in battery from the
chassis? iFixit makes it look infuriating

~~~
michael_michael
I did it a couple of months ago and it was an evening's worth of work with
Netflix on in the background. Not infuriating at all, but there were
definitely a couple of sweaty palm-inducing moments. That said, iFixit's
instructions and pictures were faultless. If Apple doesn't release a MacBook
Pro refresh that addresses some of the widespread concerns (touchbar and
keyboard, notably), I would have no hesitation about swapping the battery
again in another few years.

------
hinkley
Yeah, and what if I've already paid to have my bulging battery replaced?

Three months ago I did this, and the repair center charged me full price for
the thing because Apple covered jack all.

~~~
pathartl
How much did they charge you? Do you have a receipt? Can you try running your
serial number through the form?

~~~
FireBeyond
If the repair center wasn't Apple/authorized, the result is likely to be "Oh
well. Sorry".

------
mettamage
> Our records show that your device has already been serviced as part of this
> Program.

Hmm... I bought a new Apple Macbook Pro via the Apple store. It was a MBP 2015
which I bought in 2017 (I didn't want the touchbar), but I find this
particular message weird from Apple.

This is not a refurbished MBP, why is Apple treating why it is?

~~~
dpkonofa
Did you have anything else serviced during that time? This was automatically
flagged if you had a logic board or top-case/keyboard replacement done. In
some cases, it was also done for trackpad replacements so it's possible it was
already completed during another repair. If you haven't had another repair,
you may want to check with Apple.

------
graeme
I bought mine in early 2015, before the start of their program. I entered the
serial and it said it may be eligible. Is the form wrong or their date range
wrong?

~~~
Someone
FTA: Affected units were sold _primarily_ between September 2015 and February
2017 (emphasis added)

Given that, ‘early 2015’ still feels early to me, but it isn’t necessarily
impossible (certainly not if you mean April or May)

~~~
graeme
Oh, thanks, missed that. That could explain why I got the notice. Yes, it was
April.

------
nraynaud
It's not been mentioned here, but there was a program to replace those
batteries for a fee before, it has been transformed into a recall.

~~~
pathartl
Is there any page (possibly archived if need be) that displayed this? It's
completely not out of character for the company when it comes to this sort of
thing.

------
josephjrobison
My mid-2017 15" MBP battery life is atrocious if I have 10 Chrome tabs open.
Doesn't last more than 3-4 hours. Huge disappointment, but thankfully it's
plugged in 95% of the time. Checked my serial number and it's not part of the
recall but still got major quality issues.

------
supernes
I have that exact model, website says it's not eligible and/or already fixed.
Manufacture date is listed as 8 May 2015, 84% health at 615 cycles. Still not
feeling very reassured, though.

------
bocklund
I bought a refurb i7, 16GB in summer 2016 that site says the has already been
serviced. Too bad because I really need a battery replacement and I'm
otherwise completely happy with the computer.

~~~
stevewodil
Say you're having problems with the keyboard, and have them replace it. I
think that they are replacing the whole top case in these instances which
includes the battery.

I'm sure someone will correct me if that's not the case

~~~
bdcravens
If it has already been serviced, that may be due to a keyboard replacement
already. Do they do unlimited keyboard replacements?

~~~
stevewodil
Yep

------
nullbyte
I have this exact MBP 2015 model and my battery is in the process of dying. It
has about 45 minutes of usage from full charge to zero.

Looking forward to a free replacement ;)

~~~
FireBeyond
Looking forward about two weeks, to be precise... ;)

