Macbook air 2014 wine spill, back to life

Question

Hello
I'm not sure if anyone would have any experience of this, but in July, after 8 weeks of owning my macbook air, it was in the firing line after I knocked a glass of wine over.  Only a very small amount went on the mac, however by the time I'd got the carpet under control my Mac was off and not showing any signs of life.  (yes i am an idiot)
I took it to a storefront retailer who took it off to look over it and was advised that it needed a new motherboard and keyboard to the sum of around £900, naturally I couldn't afford this after only just splashing out on the laptop.
Flash forward 4 months and I get my mac out of its box where it's been since being sent back and I go to list in on eBay for spares.  I plug it in while i'm taking pictures in case of a miracle, and low and behold it starts charging, then springs to life with all my data still intact.  It appears to have charged fine and is holding the charge well, the backlit keyboard and all the keys work fine and it survived in sleep mode over night......it simply is working like it should and doesn't feel sticky and not a whiff of red wine.
Does anyone have experience of this?  I'm thinking that the store didn't take a decent amount of time to look over it and it was send off the day after the incident so was not fully dry and wrote it off based on my description of what happened, likely?

Answer 1

Not entirely sure what the quality of the wine has to do with the justification for repairing the machine but I suppose everyone goes about repairing things differently.
First Question: Do you have renter's or homeowner's insurance that covers damage to personal technology? If so, give them a call to see what (if anything) is covered, the deductible, etc. For example, I have a rider for personal electronics that in the event of loss, damage or theft I'm covered for the replacement cost of my machine and a very small out of pocket coverage.
Second Question: Did you use a major credit card to purchase the machine? Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express? Some of them, based on the type of card offer additional options for replacement or repair coverage. It takes a 5 minutes to call and find out and it may save you some out of pocket money.
Third Question: How old is the machine? If it's a newer machine it's cheaper to fix it then replace it, if it's an older machine and based on how old it may potentially be a wash (value vs. cost of replacement).
In the event that you decide to fix it, Apple can fix it (out of warranty) but it'll run several hundred dollars (something like $700 or so USD) but you can't replace a MacBook Air for that price in the form of buying a new one. As AA suggested, selling it for scrap parts is also an option but you're looking at a couple of hundred bucks in your pocket, at best.