Apple ends mail-in repair service in the UK - report [updated]

Apple Computer has quietly discontinued its mail-in repair service in the UK without notifying its customers or resellers, according to a report.

UK-based Ping Wales said it stumbled upon the news when one of its contributors contacted Apple to schedule a repair for a PowerBook that had been registered with the company's AppleCare extended protection plan.

Instead of going through the usual procedure where Apple would dispatch an empty box with prepaid shipping labels and packaging material, the customer was told to take the notebook to the nearest Apple authorised repair center.

"Apple declined to comment on the matter, but a call to the company's tech support call centre confirmed that the mail-in repair service had been discontinued just over a month ago," the report states.

Apple resellers reportedly told Ping Wales that they hadn't been informed of the change either, but added that the report may explain why they have seen a sharp increase in the number of repair requests at their stores in recent weeks.

"I recently had cause to ring Apple to get my MacBook serviced, and was informed I'd need to take it to Cardiff," wrote one customer, who at press time had posted the lone comment on the report. "I asked the tech support agent if Apple could reimburse me for the expenses incurred by getting to and from Cardiff and was told no, Apple can't do that."

Update:

A tipster informs AppleInsider that Apple has temporarily halted its mail-in repair service in the U.K. due to the impending closure of Celestica's Telford, England repair facility.

The facility specialized in repair services for clients such as Apple, IBM, Sony, Dell, Fujitsu, Kodak, Blackberry, Telewest and Sun — all of which are now seeking replacement providers.

Its closure later this month will reportedly result in the loss of 665 jobs right around Christmas time.

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25 Comments

neiltc13

said about 17 years ago

This is illegal.

By law in the UK a company must provide a warranty on the goods and if the goods are faulty then you have the right to either return the goods to the place of purchase for a full refund (ie, return them to the online apple store within the first year) or if this is not possible, have a free repair carried out.

The definitions of a free repair are set out in this OFT document.

If you can reasonably prove that you incurred significant expense in returning the goods to Apple, they are required to reimburse you.

A good idea may be rather than taking the computer yourself, call a courier and have it delivered to the repair center and then ask for the goods to be delivered back to you - an extra step but you'll then have two receipts which will be good enough to make copies of and send to Apple for refund.

It's somewhat disgusting to hear of this.

ecking

said about 17 years ago

Wow apple that's bs! Fix this!

robin hood

said about 17 years ago

I live in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, and yet my nearest Apple authorised repair centre is only 40 miles away. In fact, there are two! What's the problem?

jeffdm

said about 17 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin Hood

I live in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, and yet my nearest Apple authorised repair centre is only 40 miles away. In fact, there are two! What's the problem?

Isn't that an additional two hours round trip travel time, plus fuel + mileage (or fare) expenses to get there? Do you have to go back to pick it up after it's fixed? That adds up.