Louis Rossmann
1 HN recommender · recommended in 11 months, 2018–2023
12:44 · 9.2M views · Oct 9, 2018
Louis Rossmann reacts to a CBC News segment in which an Apple Genius Bar quoted a costly logic board and display replacement for a MacBook that had only a bent pin. He explains why the repair is simple and what the case shows about Apple's repair practices.
Used repeatedly in right-to-repair threads as a concrete example of Apple overcharging for repairs that independent shops fix cheaply.
16 comments from Hacker News
Watch some of his videos. He has a lot of insight about the subpar quality of Apple devices, about the outrageous lies of Apple Genius Bar quoting people thousands of dollars for repairs that take him 5-10 minutes, for apple’s efforts to make the devices non serviceable, withholding schematics, controlling access to replacement parts etc. Here’s a televised CBS report. this video He is extremely good at repair while despising the company’s despicable practices - and warns people about them.
> Apple laptops and phones objectively last longer than the competition. I'm not sure if you've spent much time watching Louis Rossman's youtube channel, but it is full of examples of Apple telling customers a device needs to be replaced when simple repairs are possible. [1][2][3] Apple worked with US Customs and Border Patrol to seize replacement batteries for laptops that apple will no longer service. [4] Rossman has a lot of videos so I did not find original sources for the following, but he has also called Apple support about replacing a charging port on a phone. Apple support told him the charging port was soldered to the motherboard and the phone needed to be replaced. But that charging port on that device is attached via a cable and is not soldered to the board. It can be replaced for a few dollars in five minutes. Rossman also says that apple prevents third party chip manufacturers from selling to repair shops. So Rossman could repair certain macbooks with a $6 chip from (I believe) Intersil, but Apple (being an 800lb gorilla) has asked Intersil not to sell those chips to anyone else. So apple won't replace that chip on your motherboard but they also won't let anyone else do it. It's great that apple will replace batteries, but I seem to recall there was significant consumer (or government?) pressure to offer those replacements. And I would be curious if they do that worldwide or only where legally required. But watching Rossman's youtube channel, it is clear that rep
I don't know much about the X since I stopped at the iPhone 7 and I am probably not going to buy any of their exorbitantly priced phones. That being said, in their pursuit of thin phones they ran into design issues with boards flexing so that BGA components will eventually fail. They became aware of the problem and then proceeded to make the same mistake again in later models rarther than fixing the problem. (The flexing problem isn't that they will break after one "bending event", but rather than they fail over time as your phone is subject to mechanical stresses of what is within the range of normal use. Typically because the tiny balls under BGAs will let go) I'm mostly talking about their laptops and their iMacs. The USB C connectors are of course inconvenient, but I actually like them. Again, the problem is that in their pursuit of thinness they ended up designing keys that are very sensitive to dust (and not very nice to use). In subsequent models they kept at it, so the quality of keyboards doesn't seem to be a priority. Some laptops have a tendency to develop display problems due to bad design. For instance blowing hot air on parts that can't take hot air or laying out connectors so that they will fail more easily. Now these are design flaws, which brings us to the "abusive and fraudulent" part. If you want to get these things fixed under warranty you _may_ be okay. Except the process appears to be entirely decided by chance. For instance they have put moisture indica
The diagnosis of the first repair case is a Macbook Pro that has had liquid spilled in its internals. [0] From a business and service perspective, Apple repair must first fix the liquid damage that may be causing the dim screen. Replacing the screen without first fixing the liquid damage may simply reproduce the issue and/or damage a new screen. The customer balks at the quoted price asks the Apple Genius Bar rep if there are other options. The Genius Bar rep hesitates and informs the customer there are no other options under Apple repair. Of course there are other options outside of Apple authorized repair, but it is likely against Apple policy to recommend an alternative (i.e. assuming indirect liability for poorly executed 3rd-party repairs). That said, in this case it seems entirely reasonable for Apple repair to proceed by first fixing the most obvious damage that may be causing the issue. While this approach may be more expensive than is necessary, it's also more likely to produce the desired result if the issue were not caused by the screen itself. Paying money for premium service is anathema to many consumer advocates, but Apple is well known to meet their obligations for devices protected by AppleCare while only doing the bare minimum for devices outside of warranty. From a practical standpoint, buying AppleCare is highly advisable given the likelihood of device failure inside of 3 years, the cost of repairing such failures, and (most importantly in my opinion) the e
OK, some people downvoted this, so let me explain: Overcharging: Apple tends to replace whole assemblies rather than individual parts, and don't do board-level repairs or anything. Apple staff are generally just following a procedure and aren't allowed to/aren't trained to solve problems in the best way. Here's an example of them charging for a whole motherboard replacement when the issue was a bent pin: this video Some people might be OK with this, but not everyone; competition is important! About the self/independent repair program: The self repair program allows you to order one part at a time and you have to have the device to do it. Realistically, almost no one will do it themselves, and will use a repair shop. The program is impractical for repair shops, because they can't stock parts in advance. The other option is the independent repair program, which effectively turns you into a shipping centre for Apple; it bars you from doing anything but the most basic repairs without sending it to sending things off to Apple and they will do random inspections on your store and fine you if you're actually offering good service like board level repair or using cheaper aftermarket parts. So it's likely that both are mostly just PR stunts to get ahead of regulation while also not making a significant change to their business