Apple customers outraged over ‘staingate’ fault

Macbook owners are up in arms over an apparent screen defect.

The problem, known as "staingate", seems to mainly affect MacBook Pros, which often are worth in excess of 1000.

Users say their notebooks' retina displays are being marred by "horrific stains", that appear with no obvious cause. These blemishes can manifest as streaks, spots or patches, both around the edges and in the center of the screen itself.

The issue has raised the ire of Apple customers, principally due to the cost of the devices. As the group's website states: "We already paid a lot of our hard earned money to have a defective laptop".

To make matters worse, the problem is classified by Apple as cosmetic damage, and therefore not covered by warranty. The group claims that repair costs can reach "around 800 USD/EUR with a three-month warranty".

The problem appears to be recurring, however, and users have reported stains returning in a matter of months after being repaired.

The Staingate website claims that it maintains a database of 3005 affected people, and the problem is drawing increasing attention. Whitfield Bryson & Mason, a US law firm, has contacted the group to investigate, presumably with regards to bringing a legal case against Apple.

The group isn't aiming for monetary restitution, however. According to their website, they simply want Apple to fix their MacBooks, demanding "a free repair program for all the Macbooks that are having this problem, without taking into consideration if it is under warranty or Apple Care".