It took nearly a decade, but I finally had a truly horrific encounter at Apple's Genius Bar.
This was the third time the keyboard on my year-old MacBook Pro has gone out. This time it was the "b" and "n" keys. As of yesterday morning, both were either double-typing or not typing at all.
We arrived a few minutes before my scheduled appointment. Our genius acknowledged our presence and a few moments later had us at the Bar. Unfortunately, he was simultaneously servicing four other customers at the same time, and it was nearly 40 minutes before he actually addressed my issue.
Ben had a similar but worse problem with his MBP a few months ago. At that time my faith in Apple had been restored because instead of more bullshit sending the unit out for another top case replacement, the Genius spoke with his manager and simply swapped out the entire laptop. That is the Apple of old.
No such luck with me last night. First, the Genius insisted on taking the laptop to the back to blow out the keys—even though I'd told him I'd already done that multiple times with no improvement. That obviously did not solve the issue, so instead of proposing swapping the machine out, he said it would have to be sent out AGAIN for top case replacement. He didn't even consider speaking with his manager to get it replaced outright.
Seriously? THIS IS THE THIRD FUCKING TIME IN A YEAR. Am I going to have to go through this every six months? It was obvious the guy was either new or had drunk too deeply of the Apple Kool-Aid. While he admitted that I was having trouble with this keyboard, he refused to acknowledge that this was a systemic problem affecting most of the 2016/2017 models. (Maybe they have a corporate gag order in place since they've been slapped multiple class-action lawsuits over the design of this keyboard.) In any case, it was obvious he was simply working from a script and not even considering deviating to "surprise and delight" the way Ben's Genius had done.
I'm in a quandary about what to do when I get it back from repair (probably next Thurday or Friday). I can either sell it to a local reseller for a third of what I paid for it and possibly get a used 2015 or 2014 model that does not have these keyboard issues for a reasonable amount of money, or I can keep it and probably go through this bullshit every six months until my Apple Care runs out.
Except for the keyboard breaking down, I do genuinely like that laptop. It's fast. The display is amazing. Touch ID is undeniably convenient. All things that are painfully obvious as I type away on Ben's old 2010 MBP that I am so incredibly thankful we didn't sell after he upgraded. (I've had to transfer my profile back and forth so many times now I've got it down to a science!)
And please, don't tell me I to buy a Dell or an HP. I support those things at work, and the only thing I hate more than the 2016/17 MBP keyboards is Windows.
I have a Cyberpower Gaming PC, a Samsung laptop, and a Dell laptop. The Dell is for all my sports shit, Strava, Rouvy, etc. The Samsung is solely for writing and research. The Cyberpower blows the socks off of the previous 2.
I'm not sure if you included all that you did today (always ask for the manager of the store not the Genius Bar) but this is what you must do. I'm very confident if you do this you'll get the satisfaction you deserve with out spending any money.
Call Apple customer service and personally tell them first of today's experience. Then the history of this problem plus all your other purchases over the years (which they can call up) and tell them the only acceptable solution is replacement. If the person on the phone doesn't give you what you want demand a manager. Also, some locations are much better than others as well as there are good and bad times.
You should email them all you're posts – BEFORE you edited them.
Good luck!
I'll keep that in mind in six months when I have to go through all this again. Right now it's water under the bridge.