Apple Is Finally Sending Out Payments For Its Defective Macbook Butterfly Keyboards (9to5mac.com) 26
An anonymous Slashdot reader shared this report from the blog 9to5Mac:
In 2022, Apple agreed to pay a $50 million dollar settlement for certain eligible 2015-2019 MacBook owners who experienced problems with their butterfly keyboards. The claims process opened in late 2022, and the settlement got final approval last May. Starting today, eligible MacBook owners are finally receiving their payouts...
Apple finally moved away from the butterfly keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro in late 2019. By mid 2020, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air also moved to the new Magic Keyboard. However, that wouldn't be the end of the story for Apple... In mid 2022, Apple was required to pay a $50 million settlement. The claims process started later that year, although there were some caveats. For one, you could only claim this settlement if you lived in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, or Washington. This excludes 43 US states, so a good number of people with butterfly keyboards weren't even covered. Additionally, the estimated payout amount varied depending on the severity of your keyboard problems:
- Up to $395 for 2 or more top case replacements
- Up to $125 for 1 top case replacement
- Up to $50 for keycap replacements
Obviously, this wasn't the most ideal outcome for customers, but if you were eligible and filed a claim (or multiple), you're in luck!
The original goal "was to make the keyboards thinner and the laptops slimmer," remembers ZDNet. This backfired spectacularly as MacBook owners started complaining that the keys would easily stick or get jammed by dust, crumbs, or other tiny objects. Noted tech blogger John Gruber even called the new keyboards "the worst products in Apple's history."
Gruber's headline? "Appl Still Hasn't Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm"
Apple finally moved away from the butterfly keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro in late 2019. By mid 2020, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air also moved to the new Magic Keyboard. However, that wouldn't be the end of the story for Apple... In mid 2022, Apple was required to pay a $50 million settlement. The claims process started later that year, although there were some caveats. For one, you could only claim this settlement if you lived in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, or Washington. This excludes 43 US states, so a good number of people with butterfly keyboards weren't even covered. Additionally, the estimated payout amount varied depending on the severity of your keyboard problems:
- Up to $395 for 2 or more top case replacements
- Up to $125 for 1 top case replacement
- Up to $50 for keycap replacements
Obviously, this wasn't the most ideal outcome for customers, but if you were eligible and filed a claim (or multiple), you're in luck!
The original goal "was to make the keyboards thinner and the laptops slimmer," remembers ZDNet. This backfired spectacularly as MacBook owners started complaining that the keys would easily stick or get jammed by dust, crumbs, or other tiny objects. Noted tech blogger John Gruber even called the new keyboards "the worst products in Apple's history."
Gruber's headline? "Appl Still Hasn't Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm"
I have one (Score:4, Informative)
There, now I have said it.
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Think different!
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Teaches you to buy Apple?
The performance of the manufacturer can best be measured by how they react when there is a problem. Throughout history Apple has been fairly crap about problems they have created. The cracking cubes, the B&W G3 ATA data corruption bug, the ever-loving keyboards, the power connectors on several 68k powerbook models, they have had a long series of failures like anyone else but then gone on to be shit about them and not offer replacements or refunds for their inherently flawed hardware. Only seldom are the
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They can get away with treating their customers like crap because their customers don't hold them accountable. Instead
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The craziness that I had with a Macbook Air's keyboard was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I had been a fanboi and admirer of Apple's zealous customer design focus. To the point of a nasty keyboard experience, denials, and brushing me to the side, I left their fold. Forever. They lost maybe thirty years of revenue, and an ally.
Will I get compensated? Maybe, but I'll donate the check to charity. I'm long gone. No iPhone. No iPads. No iWatch No iRevenue.
They stepped on the hands of their custome
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Yup. And you used to be able to replace defective parts and upgrade memory and storage, but those options are almost completely gone as well. At this point, Apple mostly sells premium disposable devices.
Yes, this. Macs are basically un-serviceable now. Even if you could get replacement parts, it's unlikely you could replace them. And if you could, you'd need their special software to link or register the new part with the phone (screen, fingerprint sensor, etc). And even then, if it's not an "Apple Blessed" part, it might reject it and refuse to work.
It's a "what-you-see-is-all-you'll-ever-get" box and if breaks, well, tough shit. You'll have to buy a whole new laptop, but the good news is that they're 0.0
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I'm surprised that they didn't address this issue much earlier without having to be forced to by a lawsuit.
I guess they rely on their fanbois to support them regardless.
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Just curious- is this a work laptop or did you purchase it?
I've heard more than a few long-time Mac users say that after 2015 the Macs went to shit, and they were shocked because up until that point they were very happy. They eagerly upgraded and many were bitterly disappointed at the "slab of shit" they received (their words, not mine).
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I think unibody design was the reliable design. After that were all those issues. Are M* any better though?
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What region are you in? You may find that consumer laws are much better than a small payout anyway.
For example, in the UK this would be covered by the Consumer Rights Act. The keyboard was clearly defective by design, from the factory. Your Macbook must last a "reasonable length of time", which given Apple offers software updates for 7 years you could reasonably argue is 7 years. If it breaks before then, the vendor can either fix it or offer you a partial refund based on the percentage of the expected life
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Time to lobby your politicians then. Europe has much better consumer rights, it seems.
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What a surprise (Score:3)
Like all class action lawsuits, the only winners are the lawyers who got a fat cut of the settlement money. The actual victims get anything from a check for a few dollar to a coupon - that most of them don't even bother to cash or redeem.
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Of course they did okay. Almost no amount of punitive damages can hurt a $3 trillion monopoly.
Apple posted a $97bn net profit in 2023. If you earn $100k / year, the $50M settlement they had to pay is like $51 to you. In short, just like you, they just shrugged, went "Meh...", paid up and moved on.
Those fines and legal damages are nothing to big tech companies. They're so insignificant that doing illegal things and trampling consumer rights, and the risk of getting caught, are simply factored into their busi
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I think you forgot the part where Apple fought hard to avoid having to pay anything to customers with defective devices.
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Well, when you get a $50 fine, you try to talk my way out of paying it too. But when there's no other option, at the end of the day it's only $50. It hurts a bit and the next day you keep doing whatever you did that got you the fine and hope you won't get caught again.
Apple did and will do exactly that too, but at the level of someone who earns $100m/yr instead of $100k/yr company.
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I remember when Apple was legendary for taking care of their customers.
I started moving to Linux when the iPod got wildly popular and Jobs got bored with Macintosh.
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A Game of Attrition (Score:3)
It's a "Game of Attrition" where they were just waiting for some of the older users to die off so they wouldn't have to pay out as much.
Ready for the Class Action on M1 Audio Crackling (Score:2)
Since this took so long I don't suppose we'll ever see a class-action for the crackling audio on the M1 Macbook Pros. I've cost them more than I paid for Apple Care (maybe for the whole computer) by getting three logic boards and a couple of top-plate replacements. I might go one more round before my Apple Care runs out. We'll see.
Worst computer I've ever owned. Still can't reliably play an mp3 as well as my 2012 mbp. I think it's a flaw in their audio buffering that makes it act like a 14gb machine for aud
Got our check yesterday (Score:2)
My wife was pleasantly surprised with a $125 check. We totally forgot about it since it has been so long since we posted.
The laptop is still usable though and the keyboard still functions.