Apple service in Auckland

This has to be the one of the shadier Apple service centres in the world. You have to go out behind some building and the service centre is located in an alley. But who cares, right? It's the service that counts.


So why did we go to the Apple service in the first place. Some time back Chu had spilt tea on her MacBook keyboard and was quite keen on making sure nothing was damaged. The campus techs were able to open it up, clean it and it worked fine - except for the iSight camera. So she took it into the Apple service centre. They found that when they unplugged the camera from the logic board and plugged it back in, everything worked... but, occasionally the camera wouldn't work.

Here is the quote from the service centre.I'm not sure if you will be able to read the text when I post this, so here is the transcript.

Problem: Customer going to bring machine in on Monday. Spilt coffee on machine camera now not working. All over keyboard area.

Solution: Disassembled MacBook and thoroughly inspected, but could not detect any evidence of liquid damage. Keyboard tested, all keys are functioning correctly. Confirmed iSight camera is not working correctly, intermittently is not detected by the system. MacBook thoroughly and repeatedly tested, all Apple service Diagnostic tests passed. Quote supplied for replacement logic board.

Condition: Nothing to note.

Price: $2104.89 (with labour $2403.00)

How do you go from "all diagnostic tests passed" to "quote supplied for replacement logic board"? Why does a $2000 computer take $2400 to fix when almost nothing is wrong?