No offering for people who need their machines to work every day
I have one of the machines in question, and the keyboard (whole top-case in fact) needs replacing. They quote 3 to 7 working days turnaround for the repair. I have the AppleCare extended warranty so cost is not an issue in my case - but being without a machine for a week or so is very much a problem for me. I have discussed this at some length with both Apple Store retail staff and "premium resellers".
Naturally, replacing the top case does not take 3 - 7 days. The issue is that when you hand over your Mac it goes into a queue. The turnaround time will depend on how many others are queuing ahead of you. I asked why the machine couldn't remain in my possession while it is queuing, but "that's not a service we offer".
I am able to work in the meantime by using an external keyboard but this is not always convenient. I now think I'll have to take it in for repair the day before I go on my summer holiday, then hope it's fixed by the time I return. This isn't straightforward either - you cannot book in for a repair more than 7 days in advance, and sometimes you'll find that all repair slots in your nearby stores are already taken.
A chap working in a London Apple Store suggested that I should buy a new MBP, use it while my old one is being repaired, and then return the new one "no questions asked" so long as it's within 14 days. Remarkable that they would tolerate this, but I won't do it anyway because it feels a bit too risky.
For the price of my AppleCare extended warranty, I could have added next-day onsite repair to a Dell laptop, and I'm sure that's true of many other brands as well. I like my Mac (apart from the keyboard issue), but for work I mainly run Windows on it. Next time I choose a new laptop for work, I cannot possibly buy another Mac because they have no "keep you working" service option.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
