Just thought I should give credit where it's due. I have a 2012 MacBook Air that suddenly died on me just before Christmas (I knew it was a biggie, either the Logic Board or the RAM which is apparently soldered on). I don't have AppleCare for this particular laptop, and it was about a year past the 12 month warranty that Apple provides.

Took it in to Noel Leeming's St Lukes "megastore" (not the one in the Westfield mall) and basically stated that I wanted it repaired under the CGA, since I don't think that 24-26 months is an acceptable lifespan for what isn't exactly a bargain-bin laptop (it was the top spec'd 13" model). They took my details and said they would get it sorted. I didn't have to pay a service fee or inspection fee.

I was then overseas from December 28 - January 16 and had a local SIM in Bali, so I didn't expect to receive any phone calls and was happy to wait as I realise most service centres would close over the Xmas/NY period. When I returned home and put my Spark SIM back in, I had a text saying that the laptop had been repaired and was ready to pick up, and had been for a few days.

Now the strange thing is, I had three Voicemails on my account from Noel Leeming: two of them saying that Apple had denied the out-of-warranty claim and that I had to call their 00800 number (a few days apart; they were obviously wondering why I hadn't called Apple yet), then one a couple of days later saying "hey it's all been repaired and ready to pick up". So I'm not sure whether Apple denied the claim and Noel Leeming paid for the repair, or if Apple actually came to the party in the end.

Either way, a great result for me and I will continue to spend my dollars with Noel Leeming whenever possible (bought all my whiteware, Macs, TVs, consoles etc. from them).

Thanks NL!

PS. turns out it was the Logic Board afterall, so wouldn't have been a cheap repair.