A number of users have experienced graphics issues with their 2011 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pro models, and following a Facebook group and change.org petition which have gathered a collected 25,000 names, law firm Whitfield Bryson & Mason LLP has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple on behalf of affected consumers.
“I’ve been involved with a number of lawsuits with Apple, going back decades, and I’m not aware of one that affected so many people, that Apple refused to do anything about,” says Gary E. Mason, the Managing Partner of Whitfield Bryson & Mason, speaking with Cult of Mac. “At the very least these consumers are entitled to a discount on a new laptop to help them transition to a serviceable device.”
Mason says that while only tens of thousands of customers have come forward so far, the affected number of consumers could be in the hundreds of thousands.
The firm’s lawsuit lays out the plaintiffs’ argument that the issue relates to hardware defects from the lead-free solder used on the AMD graphics chips in the suspect MacBook Pro models.
“Most of the failures are out of warranty, which Apple is using as a defense,” Mason says. “But that’s not entirely true. This problem was there from the very beginning. We suspect that it relates to a problem which occurred at the point of manufacture. In other words, it wasn’t a conforming good at the time of the sale. There are a number of users who thought they had the problem fixed while it was in-warranty, only to discover that they continue to have problems. As far as we can tell, there is no remedy to the problem.”
In many cases, Apple charged consumers for repairs and has refused requests to reimburse them for money paid for out of pocket. The suit from Whitfield Bryson & Mason is arguing that Apple should acknowledge a defect in the 2011 MacBook Pro models, notify owners of this issue, bear the cost of inspecting affected laptops, and should pay the full costs of repairs and damages — including reimbursements for existing repairs.
Of course, the legal question is at what point past warranty Apple devices should be expected to continue working.
“There’s no set rule, but with this particular device — which is a premium device — I can assure you that there isn’t a person out there that expects the lifespan of a $3,000 laptop to be less than three years,” Mason says. “In my estimation, at that price and given Apple’s reputation, the expectation would be closer to five years at a minimum.”
While Apple has yet to acknowledge the issue, now that legal paperwork has been filed it has 30 days to respond.
You can read the complaint in full here.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
17 responses to “Glitchy MacBook Pros were doomed from the start, lawyer claims”
“Of course, the legal question is at what point past warranty Apple devices should be expected to continue working.”
That isn’t the legal question at all. It isn’t even a legal question, let alone the central one to this case. The legal question is if there was a design or manufacturing defect that made the product unsuitable for the purpose for which it was sold or reasonably used for. So far, I haven’t seen any facts that support the law suit in question.
you choose to be blind then.
-an affected owner of a 2011 MBP
I am not choosing to be blind, I am waiting see some evidence. Your post doesn’t help. What is the manufacturing or design defect? That your particular machine failed isn’t evidence of such a thing.
How about tens of thousands of machines failing worldwide?
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/05/13/apple-remains-mum-as-complaints-mount-over-2011-macbook-pro-gpu-failures
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577
Of course it’s a legal question. The fact that it’s not one with clear legislature doesn’t make it any less pertinent to the case. As I see it, there are three questions here. 1) Is there a problem with the product that goes beyond the normal failure rate of MacBook Pros? 2) Is it an issue which happened at the point of manufacturing or later on? 3) If the latter, how long, if at all, do Apple products need to be capable of working beyond their initial warranty?
I am not suggesting their isn’t a legal question, I am suggesting the question posed by the author isn’t it.
How long a device should work after its warranty expires isn’t a legal question, but a legislative one. Under the law, it doesn’t have to work at all after the warranty expires as long as the fault isn’t a design or manufacturing defect. Unless someone can show one of those two defects, Apple doesn’t have a legal responsibility. They might have a moral one, but not a legal one.
I’m surprised the lawyers (dirtbags) didn’t say how much they should be be paid by apple.
Repairing or replacing malfunction devices for free, at least.
Mine malfunctioned twice. The first time I paid $300 to have them replace the logic board. It worked for nine months then I came back with the same problem. Apple tried to charge me again for the same repair. But they did it for free this time since it was the exact same problem.
Kudos to them for that.
However, had I realized that this was a widespread problem, I would have argued not to pay the first time.
Heavy usage UK user of a 2011 15″ MBP, no issues here…. Yet!
It’s a good idea to receive email updates about this litigation and WBM’s investigation. Send an email to [email protected] with the word “subscribe” in the subject line. (Y)
First, these lawyers are in serious need of a proofreader/editor for their briefs–the thing is littered with bad grammar and punctuation, it’s embarrassing.
Second, I own a early 2011 MBP and had the main logic board replaced for the very issue listed in June of last year under warranty. The repair paperwork says Apple replaced the Main Logic Board (MLB) and the 15″ display. I have not had an issue with it since, I use the laptop every day.
Finally, I think it would be premature to assume this issue affects more than a few thousand people. Assuming Apple sold several million laptops, even a few thousand people would less than 1% of the total population of laptops sold. I know this is not popular but generally-speaking people tend to love being the exception to the rule, assuming if it affects them it must affect everyone, and data usually refutes those claims. I’m not saying Apple did or did not do anything kosher here but let’s see data before we make grandiose claims of rampant malice at the hands of a few bean counters.
You state your own anecdotal experience and then proceed to generalize that others are assuming their own anecdotal experience should be applied to “everyone”. (I also think it’s going to be funny as hell when your little, ticking time bomb acts up again down the road like it does for so many other early 2011 MBP customers)
The truth of the matter is there is a massive support thread at Apple and if you bother to monitor the thread and educate yourself on the matter you’d see that it’s growing literally every day with new customers who are affected by this clearly widespread issue.
There’s been MBP and other recalls in the past and there was only a tiny fraction of the traffic and posts compared to the massive Apple support thread with nearly 1.8 MILLION views and pushing close to 10,000 posts and growing every day as we speak as more people are increasingly hit by this defect over time.
To call these very real, widespread complaints as grandiose claims reeks of insulting ignorance. Its sounds like your issue is you tie your own self-esteem and personal self-worth to the brands you use.
How about supporting fellow consumers and stop insulting them when they stand up for themselves? Otherwise you’re just acting like a fanboy and apologist for a corporation that frankly doesn’t give one shit about you.
Clearly you did not read my comment but read into it what you wanted to see. Best of luck in your witch hunt.
The reply showed they did read your comment and was very clear. It basically crushed all of your comment’s hopes and dreams. I do however like the tactic of a generalized response which leaves no room for a rebuttal. As well, a lot of respect for keeping the boring which hunt term alive. Well played.
About time. I’m sure more lawsuits are going to pop up all over the place. Apple should have offered a recall and replacement program for this early 2011 MacBook Pro GPU defect a long time ago.
Had the same problem, went from replacing the display, then the logic board then the whole guts – still overheats and runs slowly even with daily reboots. The Apple care service company was slow, wouldn’t listen to my diagnosis, and they were totally in the dark on the issue. Most expensive computer I bought and biggest letdown. New rule, $2000 at most for any PC period.