Iām aware that Apple have attempted to shut down and tried to have prosecuted independent repair workshops, citing that theyāre not āauthorisedā to carry out repairs on Apple products, and/or theyāre using fake parts. When in actuality Apple have told the owner that their device is either uneconomical or will cost many hundreds of dollars to repair only to learn that an independent managed the repair for $50 or less.
Iāve personally experienced this quite a few times when it comes to amateur radio gear. In one case the owner had initially gone to the retailer only to be told that their prized piece of kit was discontinued and therefore unrepairable, and that they should payout in excess of Ā£1000 to replace it with a current model. When I got my grubby hands on it I found that an easily replaceable and cheap component In the supply rail had failed. A couple of minutes with a screwdriver and a soldering iron and his radio was working like new again, and it only cost him the price of a cup of tea when I returned it to him.
These days few service personal in these large companies are capable of fault finding to component level and itās more profitable for the manufacturer to replace whole boards and inflate the price. Once the device is discontinued and replacement boards are no longer available the device is deemed unrepairable even when itās just one tiny component that has failed.
Nidge.
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