I got an email while on vacation from a Twitter friend who sent some sad and disturbing pics of what happened to his Macbook Pro. He refers to his experience as “brutal and embarrassing” and after looking at what was done to his machine I can see why.
Kevin (his name is Kevin), decided to put his logo on his Macbook Pro a few weeks after getting it. So we’re talking about a brand new machine here. He chose a company called Tattoo 4 Electronics to do the work, and if you visit their website you can see some fantastic looking examples of laser etching. I don’t know who did that work…because I don’t see how it could have been same guy that slaughtered Kevin’s Macbook Pro.
You can see in the close up picture that the etching is completely misaligned with the Apple logo, and that they managed to bend the hell out of the screen as well.
Ultimately, Kevin had to take the Macbook Pro to an Apple store (where he was mocked by the “Geniuses” – of course) and have Apple fix the machine, restoring it to its factory look (which was, understandably, not free).
NOW – after doing that horrible job on this machine, Tattoo 4 Electronics hasn’t even refunded Kevin his money. He’s going to have to take them to small claims court to get his money back.
That’s a shame.
14 thoughts on “When Macbook Pro Laser Etching goes bad…”
Thats terrible! He should get a refund for how much it costs him at the Apple Store and some more.
I can understand if the company says no rebates on the “art” (though it is clearly horrible), but the bending of the screen has zero excuse.
I think that we should start a pole here on apple gazette to get him his money back. This is just not right. Maybe a post on it. Just an idea
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The company that did it should accept a certain amount of responsibility. however, I don’t know why you’d want to do that kind of thing anyway, especially to a $3,000 machine. I don’t even like fingerprints on my powerbook
Thank you Michael and commenters for your support! This definetly wasn’t my finest hour!! $652.08 later my Macbook Pro is as good as new…wish I could say the same for my ego!!
Write to the company! I did and gave them the URL!
tattoo4electronics@gmail.com
I am wondering if the large, filled, asymmetric nature of the design caused the warping. I would think that laser etching would introduce a certain amount of heat to the lid which could cause the warp.
The company did do a horrible job tho…
Eric
@Eric
I agree that’s possible – but I think an experienced company would have known that – wouldn’t you think?
I hate those vinyl skins people put on their iPhones / iPods / and Macbooks, but at least those are easy to take off, and probably don’t introduce some weird torsional twist to the metal.
I agree with Eric above – the large design probably required a great deal of heat to etch on there, causing the aluminum casing to warp. And I agree with Michael – they should have known that before they did the work.
I’m curious though Kevin . . . did you sign any kind of waiver saying they are not responsible for the destruction of your property during this process??
That sucks! The guys at Etchstar.com did an awesome job on my Mac Book Pro, they wrote about me in their blog:
https://www.etchstar.com/blog/laser-engraved-and-etched-macbook-pro-of-homerooms-gian-altomari/
It is truly a sad bit of work. Also, I wouldn’t do business with any company that has a Gmail contact address. It sounds shady from the start.
Scott- I did not sign a waiver. Glan- I would check out Etchstar.com, but I am now gun shy…..
Wow, even my dog didn’t like it.
OK, completely random and totally not related, but I was wondering is this Kevin Herbst possibly from Redwood City, CA?