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HomePod Repairs Cost Almost as Much as a New HomePod (theverge.com)

This may not come as a huge surprise, but it's going to be pricey if you break Apple's fully sealed and densely packed new speaker. From a report: Repair pricing for the HomePod was posted to Apple's website this week, and the number is high enough that it's clear you should invest in a warranty if you're worried about breaking one: an out-of-warranty repair from Apple will cost $279 in the US, which is 80 percent of the price of a brand-new HomePod. So you're not so much repairing it as getting a small discount on a new one.

16 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Please explain to me ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Interesting

    why there is a fixed price to the repair. Surely the cost of repair depends on what is wrong, so I can only suppose that the charge for repair has a lot of profit baked in.Yes: I understand that repair will include a charge for labour, but it was put together in the first place. All the more reason for 'right to repair' legislation that forces a vendor to provide spare parts.

    1. Re:Please explain to me ... by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Repair is a fixed price because the factors in "repair" are always the same.
      1. support call and approval of "repair"
      2. shipment of a refurbish unit from inventory
      3. recovery - added to refurbished inventory

      It's unlikely that you get your same unit back from any sort of business like this. In some cases the unit may be opened up and the main board(s) are swapped out. In other cases the unit is put into a recovery pile and customer receives an equivalent refurbished unit. This is usually the case for warrant service, but it can happen in cases where customer is paying for repair.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    2. Re:Please explain to me ... by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most likely reason, given the fixed price? Because they know it's not viable to repair the thing and they're planning to simply replace any faulty units at cost - including any admin/diagnostic/handling fees, etc. - so the price of doing so is pretty much a constant. I'm fully expecting this to set a new low on repairability when iFixit does their inevitable teardown. Ease of repair, or even a reasonable capability to recycle, electronics has taken a back style to looks for a long while now and this is just the next step along that path. Besides, there's still plenty of places to use for landfills for all the faulty electronics that it's not economical to repair, right? Just as long as it's not in *my* backyard, of course.

      "Right to Repair" can't come soon enough in my view, but I just don't see much support from Trump's government or the Democrats in the states where Apple, etc. are based, and the lobbying opposing it from the consumer electronics companies is likely to be fierce too. The EU might get something passed, however, at which point it's going to be interesting to see whether Apple et al apply that globally to retain economies of scale, or take the path of EU-specific models that can be repaired.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    3. Re: Please explain to me ... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

      They don't ship them individually, they just fill a couple shipping containers and send them to some shithole 3rd world factory where the workers get paid a nickle a day. In the end, they make a huge profit.

      Do they really? Let's look at the raw numbers. According to the United States Mint, a nickle weights exactly five grams.

      According to a search on Google, Foxconn assembly-line workers will make as much as $400 a month, based on location and passing a probationary period. That's for 160 working hours a month, so the hourly pay is about $2.50.

      According to the same search, Foxconn has 1,000,000 workers.

      To make $400 you need 8000 nickels. Multiplied by 12 months, that's 96000 nickels per worker per year, multiply by 1,000,000 workers and you get 96000000000 nickels. Multiplied by 5 grams equals 480000000000 grams, or 480000000 kilograms, or 480000 metric tonnes.

      I don't know which shipping company you're using, but I know that sending 480 thousand metric tonnes to China every year can't be cheap.

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      #DeleteFacebook
  2. Re:You probably get a new one anyway by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    Why bother even repairing them? Apple will do just as well to throw them in the shredder and ship you another one.

    Exactly. And I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what they do.

    I cut out the middleman by going to the Apple store and throwing one directly into the trash bin.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  3. Re:You probably get a new one anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bullshit. They fix it at a cost of $30-$50 and send you a bill for $279. This is the business plan that has made them the richest company on planet Earth.

  4. Why buy anything like this in the first place? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Makes no sense. Just spies on you anyway. Why would you want that? Don't even say 'convenience'. Too many of you give up too much for 'convenience'.

  5. iThings by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 2


    I know I'm supposed to give some sort of insightful comment but today I will be giving a loosely poetic, haiku-inspired rant instead.

    To discourage the frivolous repair requests and pay for all the "hassle free" returns repair costs must be high.

    You do not really care that the costs are high because a Home Pod belongs in the home. The proof is in the name.

    You will own one, you will pay for it when you buy it, when you repair it and when Apple monetizies whatever clever data collection they have on you, anonymously or not.

    It's quite a recent iThing and you already own many iThings and you know old iThings get "battery optimised" to slow down so you might as well buy.

    Also, poor people cannot afford to pay a repair bill that is near the amount of the original item, assuming they can even pay for the original. You, you are not like a poor person, you can waste money so you won't even care.

    In fact I just recently bought a HomePod, to put in my home where the Pod belongs and I ruined it just so I can prove I can afford the stupid repair costs and then asked Siri what to do and bought another! AND it connects to all my iThings. Flawless.

    Thank you Apple for making iThings. They complete me.

    (I admit to breaking with traditional haiku structure. I opted for 19-24-24-32-28-44-53-9 instead)

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
  6. Every story about Apple I read... by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... is an advertisement for why not to buy anything from Apple. I am so sick and goddamned tired of their bullshit. I hope as many people as possible will help Apple be a better company by PUNISHING rather than rewarding misbehavior of this kind, by refusing to buy their products. When people ask why you would not consider buying whatever the latest, ludicrously overpriced gadget Apple is trying to force-feed you, just say, “because Apple has become a monster and I refuse to aid or abet them in their crimes against the people.” That is why I won’t buy anything from Apple anymore.

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    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
    1. Re:Every story about Apple I read... by Bobrick · · Score: 2

      The only way I can explain why people buy their crap is stockholm syndrome. It's the only way. I edit video for a living. When a friend and colleague showed me his brand-new MacBook Pro with the new "touchscreen bar" at the top, all excited about the "potential it unleashed" depending on context (Premiere, AE, whatever), the only thing that sprung to mind listening to him was "stockholm syndrome". It's the only way to make sense of it. I won't even get into the non-upgradeability, repairability, cost or decreasing number of ports, etc. It's just over-priced crap that assumes you're stupid enough to fall for it. And people do en masse. It's like paying 200$ + for a pair of fucking shoes because it has the Nike logo on it. You -have- to be an idiot to fall for it.

  7. Probably because they just swap the guts out by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    for any device that comes in bad. Modern electronics aren't very repairable. The whole thing is probably a giant block of solder with an occasional computer chip and a pair of speakers.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  8. I am not surprised, motherfuckers. by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Apple's overarching policy is to discourage recycling at all costs. They even mandate recycling companies to destroy perfectly fine iPhones Macbooks.

    I have to laugh at Apple fanbois (and sockpuppets) that claim Apple's ostensible green credentials. Truth is, there is no worse company in IT at the moment, than Apple. At least Microsoft doesn't explicitly order recycling companies to destroy their hardware - thought repairability of Surface and Surface laptops is abysmal and effectively nil. But at least they don't lay down the pretense as thickly as Apple does.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  9. Re:You probably get a new one anyway by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's as eco-friendly as their laptops with non-upgradable RAM.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  10. That's my fetish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maybe I like being spied on.

  11. quite universal by e**(i+pi)-1 · · Score: 2

    The economics of buying new rather than reparing applies already to many products. There are two strategies: buy good quality and repair if damaged or buy cheap and replace often. Unfortunately the second choice appears to be the better one even for producs which do not innovate that fast. For example: I bike everyday, summer and winter, the bikes start to deteriorate after about two years (which is for me about 6000 miles), pretty much universally so that I have to replace a lot, like breaks, gears, pedals, cables etc. (smaller things can be fixed nicely in bikes still fortunately). Bringing such a bike to a shop can cost close to get a new cheap one. Expensive bikes last longer as the quality of the ingredients is better the chance of having it snatched away. Also with electronics which are carried around, I started to buy frequently new cheaper products more frequently than expensive in larger intervals. Also there, the danger of losing it, or having damaged keyboard, charging plug or battery issues etc makes the first option the better one for me. It is a bit unfortunate that many products also are less and less self repairable.

  12. How exactly would you damage one? by tlambert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How exactly would you damage one?

    It's a lump.

    It sits there looking lump-like.

    Occasionally, you talk to it.

    If it talks back, it's no longer just a lump: instead, it's a talking lump.

    Mostly it just sits there.