Authorized service provider vs. mail to apple

Tech Support
1

I bought a 15 inch MacBook Pro 2018 6 weeks ago. Yesterday the left, front port went out. It does not recognize anything plugged in to it, even the charger. I called apple and they set me up an appointment with an authorized service provider. Is there any main difference/reason to use the ASP vs. requesting to send it in to apple?

I replaced a 2010 MacBook Pro (which ironically never had an issue where I needed to get it repaired by apple) with this device and use it every day. I want to try to be away from it for the least amount of time.

2

I’ve had good luck with a couple of repairs to my 2012 MacBook Pro at an Apple Authorized Service Provider (replacement logic board and battery).

3

As far as I understand, they end up sending it to Apple if they can’t repair it.

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4

I think most Apple repairs are outsourced, even if you “send it to Apple.”

5

I was using an authorized service provider in Nashville for several years before Apple opened their first store.

And I continued to use them for both my personal & company computers because of their excellent service.

6

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend Simply Mac. The one near me sells returned merchandise as new. I’ve also overheard interactions with customers that weren’t great.

7

Sorry to hear that. The company I referred to in my post was MacAuthority and I had been a customer of theirs since 2003 before they were purchased by Simply Mac a few years ago. This particular SM gave me good service the two or three times I used them after the acquisition.

8

Thanks for the input! I went ahead a took it to the local service provider.

9

Let us know what happened.

Out of curiosity, before Apple made the service appointment did they have you perform an Apple Hardware Test, or did they do one remotely?

10

For completeness: recall that Apple doesn’t manufacture most of its own products, Foxconn does.

11

Results: I got the computer back yesterday. They replaced the I/O board only.

They did not do a hardware test remotely or have me do one before making the appointment.

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12

I find that a little strange. A simple AHT should have been suggested - at the least to potentially save Apple some money before having to deal with reimbursing an ASP.

If you’d asked here first, I’d have recommended resetting the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM, which sometimes fixes these issues.