Computer has fried due to an ill repair!

Question

Hello all,
I have an older MacBook Pro, my keys kept coming off and it so I took it in to the Apple Store and even though I was outside of my 3 yr. Apple Care they said that they would fix it for free since I was only about 3 weeks out of the warranty range. Not long after the computer consistlently shutoff while I would be typing. If I wasnt typing it would be fine, but right in the middle of typing..boom! nothing. Many times this happened and then I left for a travel around Mexico and brought my computer with me. One day like most days it died..I alwyas thought it was a battery problem so I bought a brand new one right before I left. So there was no light on the power cord and no power getting to the machine. I took it to a Mac specialist here in Guadalajara, they opened it up and had found that when the keyboard was replaced several screws were not correctly tightened. They had blown out of their holes and left burn marks. The screws were loose in the computer. The motherboard is fried. So my question is, is Apple is responsible for this? Is there any chance of them repairing the damage? If they fixed my computer outside of warranty, will they then fix it outside of warrant if it is indeed there mistake? Thanks a bunch from Guadalajara

Answer 1

It sounds like your free keyboard cost you a mother board.
Since Washington store did your work out of your warrantee period really does not matter. If they did the work freely then they are responsible for any damage they might have done. It is just a matter of you taking it back to them and telling your story and hoping they buy it. They can still look at the loose screw situation and say they did not cause it. There is a lot of unprovable stuff when it comes to working on anything. It very often is one persons word against another. The Apple store will ultimately make a decision on whether they want to treat you good and keep you as a customer or do the opposite.
Considering how inexpensive it is to keep a record of ones work procedure using a camera. It would be a very good idea for repair shops to document as much as is possible the work they do with pictures, that they keep one copy of and give a copy to you. Why do you think that they don't do that? It would be a great selling point for a shop that does good work and it would be just the opposite for a shop that does poor work.
I do it when I work on my own stuff so if after I reassemble there should be some problem I can look at my pics to see if I forgot something, rather than try to remember if all the screws are in or all the cable connectors. Pics will show if cables are pushed in all the way. And never stop with a given module, metal sheild etc. when putting in screws until all are in and tight. Let the phone ring.