Usually I dread having to go to the Apple Store. Why? Because it always seems that the 'Genius' you get is a bearded hipster know-it-all fanboy with a holier than thou attitude. However, this time I had no choice, my Retina MacBook Pro was starting showing permanently lit pixels and had quite noticeable signs of the ghosting/burn-in. To add to that, my iPhone 5's battery would not keep charge for longer than half a day, so reluctantly I made a Genius Bar appointment.

I was greeted by a very nicely mannered and professional lady, she calmly listened to all I had to say about the problem I've been having with my rMBP, but then informed me that she had to test it for herself. No worries. She shutdown my Mac and booted it over the network to load some diagnostics tools, started the test. This is a 10 minute burn-in test, so while that was running, I asked about my iPhone, she tested it at the same time and confirmed within a minute that my battery was holding less than 50% charge and that it will be replaced immediately! I was in awe, didn't have to fight for it at all, I did have Apple Care for the iPhone however, so no big surprise there.

Once the burn-in test finished, she confirmed that my screen is broken. To my surprise she informed me that it will get replaced for free even though I do not have Apple Care for the rMBP. The Australian Consumer Law does cover you in situations like this, but I was expecting it to be an uphill battle, instead it was a very pleasant experience.

So I'm quite happy with what Genius Bar has become at Apple now, not a dreadful experience and they deliver results, quick.



-i