I'm just going to quote Linus (Tech Tips) from his experience just trying to purchase parts for an iMac Pro:
> "…So if an authorized service provider fails to return a defective part during the exchange for any reason, they get dinged for the price of the replacement part in what is a clear effort to prevent any spare parts from making their way out into the wild. … This is far from the only punitive measure that Apple appears to be willing to inflict upon its ‘partners’. From talking to them, we were struck by the culture of fear that Apple cultivates among its authorized service providers. They explicitly prevent them from ordering replacement parts for the sake of having them on hand. So what that means is that they require a work order to be placed before the part will even be shipped, which creates massive delays of potentially weeks, for something as simple as a freaking RAM swap. Which makes the AASP look bad in comparison to Apple’s own service centers. But that’s Apple’s policy. To make matters worse, if an AASP attempts to order a part that they don’t yet have the certification for, Apple will send them a fine instead of the parts they ordered. And this is all for the privilege of having access to Apple’s supply chain. Oh and the best part is anyone caught talking about any of this to anybody outside of Apple; for them this is grounds for severe retaliation: Revocation of AASP status or certifications, fines or even potential legal actions … By comparison, Samsung has a web portal that you can log into and order any replacement phone parts that you could want…"
> "…So if an authorized service provider fails to return a defective part during the exchange for any reason, they get dinged for the price of the replacement part in what is a clear effort to prevent any spare parts from making their way out into the wild. … This is far from the only punitive measure that Apple appears to be willing to inflict upon its ‘partners’. From talking to them, we were struck by the culture of fear that Apple cultivates among its authorized service providers. They explicitly prevent them from ordering replacement parts for the sake of having them on hand. So what that means is that they require a work order to be placed before the part will even be shipped, which creates massive delays of potentially weeks, for something as simple as a freaking RAM swap. Which makes the AASP look bad in comparison to Apple’s own service centers. But that’s Apple’s policy. To make matters worse, if an AASP attempts to order a part that they don’t yet have the certification for, Apple will send them a fine instead of the parts they ordered. And this is all for the privilege of having access to Apple’s supply chain. Oh and the best part is anyone caught talking about any of this to anybody outside of Apple; for them this is grounds for severe retaliation: Revocation of AASP status or certifications, fines or even potential legal actions … By comparison, Samsung has a web portal that you can log into and order any replacement phone parts that you could want…"
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwEInwvFbwk
(I had original transcribed it here: https://penguindreams.org/blog/i-paid-180-for-headphones-tha...)