I rang the Apple number and got the helpdesk in Tasmania. I explained the problem and the girl put me on to her supervisor. He wanted to know if my Apple service provider had offered the information that it was the Nvidia fault. They didn't, it was me researching why I would have to replace the logicboard that led me to find the furore the fault on the net. It sounded like Apple wouldn't have been very happy if the information had come from the Apple technician!
He then asked me to go to Apple.com. I asked what the purpose of that would be and he said that it would state that Apple only ran the repair programme for 4 years after the purchase date. If it was a few days out from the deadline he might have considered it but since it was well over the end date they weren't going to help me. So they aren't willing to offer a repair on a case by case basis now.
Thats when I said it was covered under NZ's CGA, and that over-rode any warranties made by Apple. (It felt so good to pull that ace!) I was then put through to Apple's legal team in Singapore. The woman I spoke to gave me her direct dial number and her email address and said that she would get back to me in 24 to 48 hours after she had reviewed my case.
She rang back an hour later and told me to take my MBP back to the Apple service shop and get them to confirm that the damage has been caused by the faulty Nvidia GPU and get them to email her the details. Once it has been confirmed we will then discuss the options available to get the matter resolved.
Excellent headway from just one phone call! Looks like I will have my baby back up and running very soon. I am using a beat-up (missing keys) borrowed laptop that only runs XP at the mo so its going to be great.
Will post again with the hopefully satisfactory result. Thanks again for all your help! :)
Hi, yes the logicboard was replaced quick smart by Apple. It was done within the week. I also got a refund for the initial inspection fee from the Apple accredited store.
Because my laptop was sitting for so long unused the battery expanded and so won't go unless its plugged in. I have to replace the battery now although it had probably come to the end of its lifespan anyway.
So all in all I am very happy with the results. I hope my story is helpful to anyone else who has this problem. And there will be many others effected around now because the faulty GPUs generally go fut at about 5 years old. My MBP was made in 2007 and the 2008 models have got that chip too.
Apple knows how it takes for the malfunction to show up, so its peculiar they ran their official replacement programme for only 4 years.
Anyway I'm glad that in New Zealand our consumer law is so robust. I wonder how people in other countries will fare with this issue.
Thank you for all your very helpful input geekzone, cheers
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