Since my run-in (literally) with a poseur fixie-rider, I’ve discovered that there was, indeed, damage to the screen of my new sexy thing.
When viewing darker images, there’s a thin whitish line, directly in line with the shallow dent on the outside casing. It’s not visible all the time but it’s there.
And it’s similar to a problem I had on my iBook. I have a pretty good idea what it is – there’s a white backing material on an LCD screen that helps the backlighting reflect evenly. I imagine that the bicycle impact caused the backing material to bunch up or wrinkle and press against the actual LCD part from behind, reflecting more of the backlight, and causing this visible “line”.
You may or may not have an idea how incredibly sad this makes me.
Especially so because Apple’s warranty excludes accidental damage entirely. If a tech suspects abuse or accidental damage they will deny warranty repairs and charge me. And you can only imagine what replacing an entire LCD screen can cost – it might be almost as much as I paid for the whole laptop.
And in my worst fears, I can see a stubborn Apple tech refusing other, non-screen-related problems, on the grounds that I’ve abused the laptop and caused those other problems.
I’ve only had the thing since the end of February. My credit card isn’t paid off yet. And now I’m looking at having wasted the extra money I spent on AppleCare, extending the warranty.
I am kicking myself for not getting the name and contact info on the biker that hit me. Fucker.
But… I was thinking about it, and I remembered that sometimes credit cards include things like warranty extensions on items purchsed on that card. I decided to contact BofA, the issuer of the card I used to buy the new sexy thing.
And as it turns out, yes, my card includes something called Warranty Manager Service.
In reading over the terms, they don’t specifically exclude accidental damage. I do have to contact them within 60 days of the “product failure” but I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem here. Heh.
I’ll update after I’ve gotten off the phone with them…
Update
Damn, the terms of the warranty extension only cover the same things as the original manufacturers’ warranty. Fuck.