When you bring in equipment for service or when your department requires on-site service the repair process can be streamlined if you are prepared with certain information. Have a detailed description of the problem - the more we know in advance about the symptoms the quicker we can diagnose and repair the problem. When bringing in equipment bring only the problem component as we have monitors, keyboards, and cables here for test purposes. If you are not sure what to bring contact the Repair Unit at 2 6650 for advice.
Departments calling in for on-site service need to know the correct description of the equipment - is it a Performa 5200, a PowerMac 6100, a PowerBook 520? Just knowing that it is a Mac doesn't help a technician determine what parts to bring. Also critical when calling in for repair service is the serial number of the equipment to be serviced. This information is required for all warranty and contract service and should be logged for out of warranty work as well. Equipment is logged by serial number so that we can look at the repair history should service be required in the future, and in the case of component installation this information is necessary to track warranty of items installed.
When obtaining computer repair service it is important to know if your equipment is under warranty or service contract. This isn't just red tape imposed by the Microcenter to make your life more difficult but rather a necessary evil due to the very specific policies and procedures of our parts vendors. It might sound logical to say "start the repair and I will find the warranty information before I pick it up" but this just doesn't work in reality. When the MCSC orders repair parts from the vendor we have to specify when the order is placed whether the transaction is contract, warranty, or non-warranty. In some cases orders are placed through completely different channels based on this status and once placed there is no changing from one type to the other. What this means is you really need to know and be clear about the coverage your equipment has. If your equipment was purchased from MCSC we can check the purchase date in our database but this does slow the process. Warranty service on equipment not purchased at MCSC can only be performed if a copy of the purchase receipt is provided - our vendors require that we have this on file and in some cases we have to include proof of purchase with our warranty parts orders. The most efficient way of dealing with this problem is to keep a copy of your purchase receipt or contract with the equipment so that the information will be handy when you need it.
The MCSC Repair Unit wants to make the repair process as painless as possible but we need your help!