I had an MBP with a fried motherboard, out of warranty and paid for it to be replaced out of pocket (400 eur or so). Some months later Apple contacted me and WIRED money to my bank account to compensate the cost. This was for an Early 2011 MBP and they had GPU replacement program for it after a lot of reports about issues.

All of this in North Macedonia, with no Apple stores (but the fix was done at an authorized reseller). To be honest I was kind of amazed they did that and definitely left a lasting good impression of them.

Given I have some hardware trouble with my current MBP. Can you tell me what the process for the refund is? (I'm being quoted $800 for a battery repair).

Apple offers battery replacement at a fixed price for MBP at their service centres, and the price is $129-$199 in the US depending on which model.

https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service

    MacBook Pro                               Out of Warranty
    16-inch MacBook Pro                             $199
    15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display         $199
    13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display         $199
    15-inch MacBook Pro                             $129
    13-inch MacBook Pro                             $129
    17-inch MacBook Pro (Vintage)                   $179

    MacBook Air                               Out of Warranty
    13-inch MacBook Air                             $129
    11-inch MacBook Air                             $129

    MacBook                                   Out of Warranty
    12-inch MacBook                                 $199

I'm not in the US.

I wonder who downvoted.

I'm not in the US either.

Where I live Apple offers the same fixed-price battery replacement service but in local currency.

But if I go to a non-Apple store, but an "approved seller" of Apple products, they will quote a much higher price. I challenged them about this once, and they said it wouldn't be cheaper anywhere else, so I showed them the Apple page and they admitted that was much cheaper and I should go to the Apple store.

I told you about the Apple service in case you were being ripped off and would appreciate knowing about the Apple fixed price service, if you are in a country where they do that.

US $ prices were provided because you quoted $800, presumably US $. Other country prices are on the Apple website with a bit of searching. Look up battery service.

Refund method was asked for, which is rather dependent on country. If you're in a less-likely-for-HN country and asking how to get a refund it would make sense to say which country.

If your device is old they consider it “legacy” and won’t fix. Legacy I think is 5 years.

That's a shame. I'm very happy with my 2013 rMBP, but would like to replace the battery. That's the only thing wrong with it.

People are still recommending second hand 2015 rMBPs as the "last good" ones. It would be a pity if they can't have batteries replaced.

You can DIY or get an independent repairer to do it. How to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lue6lVWhh4o batteries available on ebay, amazon.

I wonder how much a keyboard replacement is.

I think your fix would have to be eligible for some program of theirs like the one they had for the GPU issues [1]. Best to check with an authorized reseller/service and have a look at their current Repair Extension programs [2].

[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/20/apple-ends-2011-macbook... [2] https://support.apple.com/exchange_repair

$800 for a battery??? how can a price like that be justified. I recently replaced the battery in my XPS13 myself for $90.

There is no "battery repair" for $800. Can you give us more of the story please?

new 2018 MBP battery can't be repaired and you have to replace the whole casing.

The price of the battery is like $250 and it includes the whole top case. It's the exact same part where the price depends on the CompTIA failure code selected by the technician doing the work.

Yeah but the OP is talking about a 2011 MBP.

One of my laptop speakers broke. They replaced the entire top of the laptop. Didn't ask for an invoice because they saw the laptop was covered by warranty. I went to the apple support page, scheduled an appointment and had my laptop fixed at no cost in a week. This happened two years ago, in Argentina. The laptop was bought in the US.

They replaced an iPhone 6 bought abroad (on their store) by a new one in an Apple Store when it had a problem (which didn’t even warrant remplacement and I think the problem was actually fixed but the staff nor I recognize it at that tule). Whole operating took less than half an hour. Honestly that’s what I call stellar service.

You say that, from what I've experienced their support is far inferior in the UK to what you'd get in the US.

That's true. I live in a country that only recently got an Apple store. Prior to that, the 3rd-party Apple vendors were making a killing with upgrade costs and replacement parts and so on.

Was a definite change in the local market when Apple Store arrived.