Before coming in for  service:

Having to bring your Mac in for service is almost always a stressful experience. We here at Soho strive to minimize that stress and to keep the relationship between you and your computer as positive as possible.

In order to do this there is a guideline that we adhere to in an attempt to streamline the process and get you back to work quickly. When you bring your machine to our service department our staff will ask you questions so that we can reproduce the issue and diagnose the issues accurately and in a timely manner. Taking time to consider a description of your issue before you come in will help, and if you are sending someone else to drop your machine off make sure they know what the problem is, or even better write out a brief description

Entering the Service Queue:

Soho’s Service Department operates on a first-come/first-serve basis. In order to accommodate clients who absolutely cannot live without their computers (where the computers are missions critical to them) we do offer a front of the line Rush Fee (call for details). Otherwise your computer will be looked at as soon as possible based on the order in which it arrived. For those clients needing to schedule their lives a bit more than others we do offer limited no-fee scheduled service slots. Please call for details on scheduled slots, priority Rush services, as well as the current estimated first look time (based on the current service volume).

Minimum Charges:

All services are subject to a minimum $45 diagnostic. This means that you will only be charged a flat rate equivalent to 1/2 hour of labour to diagnose and determine the cause of your computer’s problems and course of action to repair it regardless of the actual length time required by us to do this. Once your computer has been diagnosed the technician responsible will contact you with their determination and a quote to repair it. Therefore your only obligation at check-in until the approval of the technician’s quote is the minimum diagnostic fee. The minimum diagnostic fee will be waived if and only if your repair is deemed to be 100% covered under the terms of Apple’s warranty agreement. If you have any questions or concerns about this minimum charge please discuss it with a technician prior to checking in your machine for their best guess as to whether your machine is likely to be 100% covered by Apple. Otherwise it is best to assume that you will be charged for the technician’s time to look at your machine.

Understanding your Warranty coverage:

Apple’s warranty is one of the best in the business covering the cost of parts, parts shipping, and the labour to diagnose a parts failure and the labour to install the replacement. There are limitations to the warranty however, in that as a limited hardware parts-and-labour warranty it does not cover any of the costs of service for problems deemed to be software problems, even additional software problems discovered with or seemingly as a result of hardware problems. For instance, if your hard drive has failed not as a result of drop or damage then the cost of the hard drive, shipping from Apple, the labour to diagnose that specific failure and the labour to replace the drive and install a new system is covered, however, any attempts to backup, transfer, or recover any data lost on the failed or failing drive is NOT covered and will thus incur a billable service charges. Third party warranties such as FutureShop specific warranties are not covered through our Service Department and must be repaired through the place of purchase or be subject to billable charges. All Mac computers falling within their 1 year limited warranty or the 3 year AppleCare Protection Plan are serviced by our Service Department regardless of place of purchase. If you have any questions about whether or not you will be charged for service please call, email, or talk to us in-store. You may review the details of Apple’s warranty agreements at www.apple.com/legal/

Minimum requirements for Warranty service:

We adhere to all minimum requirements set out by Apple for warranty service including that you provide complete contact information including email address and that complete access to the computer including all user accounts be made, as well as that the hard drive is installed.  Any comments or concerns regarding the requirements to qualify for warranty service should be made to Apple Canada directly.

Case Numbers:

If you’ve called AppleCare (1-800-My-Apple) with a problem and they have referred you back to us they probably also gave you a Case Number to reference to us. A Case Number is simply a reference of your call with Apple, allowing them (not us) to look up any notes made by the agent regarding your call. A Case Number on its own does not entitle you to any service outside of the standard AppleCare warranty agreement.

Passwords:

We will ask you for your computer’s administrator password. This is the one that is used to log in, install software and apply updates, and make changes in your system preferences. Many times problems can be solved by changing settings or running updates, and in many instances files require the administrator password to access and modify them.

What to bring:

We do not need all parts of your system. Because of limited space in the service department we ask that you keep any of the components that are not directly related to the problem at hand. ie: Keep power cables unless the problem is power related, keep keyboards and mice unless they appear to be malfunctioning. Further, if it is at all possible, we would ask you to hang on to your computer’s box, though transporting it in its original packaging is the best way to bring in desktops machines.

Leaving your Machine:

Because of requirements placed on us by Apple as an Authorized Service Provider we may be required to keep your machine throughout the repair process even if it is still in working order. Where possible we can attempt to make concession arrangements for clients to use their machines while we wait for parts to come in, however this is not always possible. Please understand that in order to facilitate your repair we may be obliged to keep the machine. Please consult one of our technicians if you have any questions about leaving your machine for service.

Shipping:

Because to the vast number of parts available we, like other dealers, order most replacement parts on an as-needed basis. Shipping from Apple is generally in our experience between 3-5 business days, however, depending on stock levels at Apple this can sometimes be faster and on rarer occasions much longer. We do not have any control over the length of time it takes to receive parts nor their availability. Any concerns or complaints regarding the length of time it takes for us to receive parts after they have been ordered us must be taken up with Apple directly (1-800-My-Apple).

Please contact one of our staff or techs if you have any questions about any of the terms and conditions of service.