Proud to not be Apple certified!
What are your hours, when can I come to your store?
Come by between 10 AM to 8 PM on the weekdays, or 12 PM to 6 PM on the weekend anytime for a free consultation. We will diagnose the issue with your machine and give you all of your options.
What does it cost for you to look at my computer?
NOTHING! We feel diagnostic fees are predatory in the laptop repair business. It will cost you nothing to have us take apart your machine and tell you what is wrong with it, you only pay when you commit to a repair service.
How could this be true? Doesn't a lack of certification mean you have no idea what you're doing, or that my repair has a chance of premature failure??
No. To be an Apple certified warranty repair center, to the point that repairs are 100% officially covered under an Apple warranty, the service center must buy their parts from Apple. This gives Apple bargaining power in setting prices of parts. In order to make a profit, a repair shop must set a very high price for any given service. I am sure some of you who have been to Tekserve have heard "your machine is in warranty, so it will be $600."
Apple does not manufacture any of these parts they resell to the repair shops. LG Philips, Chi Mei, AU Optronics, and Samsung do. Apple sells the part to a service center for 3-6 times its actual cost when purchased in quantity, which is the cause for the high price quotes from Apple Authorized service centers. Apple knows that customers prefer shops that are Apple authorized service centers. It has little to do with getting you better service.
But doesn't Apple rigorously test those parts to ensure quality?
No. Are you curious as to what "Apple Authorized" means? One might assume this makes it a better part, but it's the same junk I purchase. As one can see from forums such as macrumors, Apple has no real high tech process to weed out displays with issues such as dead pixels, as a lot of people receive displays with them.
It's not just Apple, it's the industry. There is no way to mechanically weed out every last defect in an LCD, without having a human being plug it in and look at it.
The Rossmann difference is that I weed through the junk. I test parts the old fashioned way. I plug them in and look at them before I bring them to you. The personal touch can't be beat.
Don't Apple certified techs better know how to take apart a machine?
No. We've heard "I used to work at Apple" many times. It typically means they're still removing the hinge cover over the inverter board and the keyboard to plug your new LCD in. Read around if you don't believe us on this!
What about workmanship? Doesn't being certified by Apple mean my machine will be put back together properly?
One would think so! I serviced a machine recently for a customer who had the keyboard replaced by Apple. She paid hundreds of dollars, it had two screws missing, and the top case was permanently misaligned. She was told it would not be perfect cosmetically after being refurbished. This is typical!
A common example is with A1150, A1211, A1226, and A1260 model Macbook Pros. If you've had Apple work on your machine, remove the battery. Look at the two screws on the side facing the front, the trackpad button. These screws likely are not put in all the way. They're inserted at an angle, because the person putting them back in is using a screwdriver too long and thick to allow him(or her) to insert them straight.
This is a small detail, but it showcases a good point: that you barely need to know how to use a screwdriver to call yourself "Apple Certified", and shows a lack of broader experience on the part of most "certified" technicians working on these machines. Being Apple certified means someone's passed a test and can read a manual. It doesn't mean they have years of experience servicing gear in mission critical environments, where workmanship counts. I do.
I learned how to service electronics the old fashioned way – an apprenticeship alongside other techs in a broadcast facility working on recording consoles and studio gear, from Avatar to Progressive Music & Play Studios in Midtown Manhattan. Every second of downtime meant clients paying $3000/day would be extremely agitated. There were no classrooms or paper exams. You were shown how to do something, then people with 30 years of experience watched as you did it, and pointed out what you did wrong.
So being an Apple authorized repair center doesn't have anything to do with quality parts, but rather with Apple profiting from the fact that consumers prefer authorized shops?
Yes.
What about other non-Apple repair facilities?
As I state in my quality section, there's tons of bad parts out there. Big shops that try to do it all do not have the time or money to weed through all the different parts suppliers in order to save you money. It's easier for them to
a) charge a high price and buy the part at high markup from more established resellers
or
b) have a low price and buy generic junk from the first place they find off alibaba.com or hkinventory.
I don't work like that. It requires time consuming cherry picking and research to consistently find good parts at good prices. Leave that work to me. Often good parts can be had at lower prices than knockoffs, but you have to know where to look.
Also, this website specializes in a few specific repairs. Places that do it all are not always going to have the part on hand. If they order one, and it is bad, you are either getting stuck with that or will have to wait a week until a good one comes in.
What about places that are Apple Authorized at a really low price?
If someone tells you they are Apple certified and give an amazing price, it doesn't mean they are Apple Authorized to do the repair they are actually doing. They could be Apple Authorized to operate a cash register behind the bar at an Apple store. They could be Apple Authorized to resell iPod headphones. Yet, it allows them to advertise they're Apple authorized.
If someone's priced 10%-20% over me and they claim the repair is Apple authorized, it's just not true. In order for that specific repair job they performed to be Apple authorized, it has to be done with their parts.
So how will your repair affect my warranty?
Anyone who isn't a fully Apple authorized warranty repair facility is technically voiding your warranty.
However, in reality, if Apple can't tell the machine's been opened or repaired, then there's no problem. Our meticulous workmanship & ninja skills ensure they'll never know I was there. Will the next housecall repair person use a magnetized tray to ensure each screw is saved?
Free housecalls? How does that work?
Anywhere in the five boroughs of NYC, for eligible machines and repairs, you can have your device repaired at your home of office. There are limitations: Housecalls are not available on Unibody Models, Macbook Airs, or water damage, as these must be repaired in my workshop.
How is service this fast attainable?
Firstly, we cut down what we'll work on, so we don't wind up with a bench filled with machines that will take time to diagnose & order parts for. Your machine is never on the back burner. The by appointment business structure, combined with a streamlined & narrow scope of repairs means as soon as you become a customer, your machine is the only priority until it is done. Another is not moved onto until yours is completed.
Secondly, all parts necessary are stocked. We don't have to order a part in order to perform your repair. So the second you decide you'd like to utilize a service, we're ready.
This is how same day service is attainable on mail orders, 20 minute LCD replacement is possible on an A1226 Macbook Pro, and 2 hour glass replacement is possible on an A1278 Macbook.
How in God's name is this so cheap?
These services aren't cheap. A better term would be "affordable by contrast." Other repair centers base pricing on high overhead. One large form of overhead is ordering parts 1 at a time. They must deal with faulty parts, pay expedited shipping rates to get them there in a reasonable timeframe, and pay extreme markups. Our supply company sells to us at cost, and gets parts direct from the manufacturer.
The scope of repairs offered here is also very narrow, which allows the time to research what the real market rate for a part is. By narrowing the scope of repairs offered, superior prices and turnaround times than many other services are attainable.
Certain competitors are paying 20%-40% more for the same parts at the same quality level due to lack of a structured, aggressive parts sourcing system.
Lastly, we do not employ unnecessary staff. You may be used to walking into a store with 4-10 people. In these cases, most of the people are looking for guidance from 1 or 2 senior techs. We do not employ technicians that cannot perform every service offered by themselves. Less employees translates to lower overhead, which means lower prices for equally experienced labor.
How do I schedule an appointment? Do I need an appointment?
Appointments are only necessary on weekends, and for house call service. During the weekday, anytime between 10 AM to 8 PM, no appointment is necessary. Call, ask any questions you need, let the representative know what times and locations would work best for you and everything possible will be done to accommodate you.
I can't make my appointment. Can I reschedule?
This depends. Did you provide notice? If so, we're happy to reschedule. Did you provide no notice, no-call/no-show, or allow a technician to show up at your home or office only to not find you? In that case, you've wasted either my or my assistant's time, and we have no patience for this.
The situation we share no sympathy towards, is the next question.
I didn't call, didn't email, and missed my appointment. Can we reschedule?
No.
Whether you’re meeting with myself or my assistant, or anyone else who has done part time work here, I make sure they all share the same attribute of strong principles. If someone wastes their time(or mine) by not being at their home address at the appointed time, I do not ask them to show up again for this person. At The Rossmann Group, principles are valued over money.
I'm going to use someone who says he can do it for $29 instead.
Best of luck to you. Most of these places aren't real businesses, or are real businesses staffed by people who are inexperienced and learn from by practicing on your equipment, or learn off youtube. It's a great source of information, but watching youtube doesn't make one a tech. It makes them someone who knows how to follow the instructions given to them off a video. The subtleties of proper workmanship and repair cannot be learned through a video, but only through extensive hands-on experience after repairing a particular device over and over again. When your machine has another problem(these are all physically damaged, after all), and other things are wrong, what is the improperly trained and inexperienced person going to do? What makes me any better? I worked on difficult to service electronics like this Neve rack in broadcast facilities. A lot of the gear I worked on was over 30 years old, and used in mission critical environments. One second of downtime is unacceptable as it will render a recording useless. If one thinks opening a slightly abused 2 year old laptop is difficult, imagine working on a 55 year old Pultec equalizer – the parts are practically turning to dust as you touch them! The level of workmanship necessary to keep these from failing again and to successfully get it back in service is considerably higher than the level of workmanship necessary to get a laptop back together. Rest assured your machine won't be leaving with missing screws, broken pieces, or misaligned parts. I know better.
I've called you to negotiate payment or emailed with concerns on price and you’ve hung up on me, and won't take my calls, were rude, or won't get back to me. How come??
There is only one circumstance where this ever occurs: when dealing with a lowballer. If you've called, received a price quote, and asked if someone would do it for less, you're not getting anything done here. Don't bother calling back or trying to fix this after the fact, your name and number has been recorded for future blacklisting.
Is this a one man show or is there something to the "Group"?
Think "Murphy Group" on Entourage. He does have the elderly receptionist out front, but for the most part, it's just him. Same here.
Lastly, why should I use Rossmann Repair Group?
As stated above, I learned how to service electronics the old fashioned way – an apprenticeship at a top class facility. You can rest assured the part being put in your machine comes from a reputable supplier; not eBay. We offer a very narrow scope of repair services in order to be able to offer the best turnaround time, best prices, best customer service. We never act with less than admiral integrity. It's casual professionalism at its best, with basic admirable values trumping aggressive sales and shoddy workmanship.
