Late 2011 Macbook Pro here, and I had to get my logic board replaced twice. Thankfully, it was still under Apple Care, but had it not been I definitely would not have paid for the repair TWICE and would have ended up selling the bricked laptop like others did.
Given that virtually everyone would have taken their MBP to an Apple Store (even those who decided to not get the repairs), Apple has a list of most people who experienced this issue.
If they want to maintain their reputation for quality, it would be wise to find a way to reimburse people who they can confirm (with said previous apple store appointments for this issue). They don't need to reimburse everyone, but they could definitely find a way to rebuild some trust here.
They will be reimbursing those people. If you read the additional information at the bottom of the site:
"Additional Information
Apple is contacting customers who paid for a repair either though Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider to arrange reimbursement. If you have not been contacted, but paid for a repair that you think was due to this issue, please contact Apple."
I don't really think this damaged their reputation, even in the slightest way. I had never heard of the problem, and it seems that even the people that suffered it went ahead and bought another mac: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9079010
I downvoted you because you simply can't draw that conclusion just based on the evidence of one anecdotal account from an affected user and from your own ignorance of the problem. Of course this has damaged their reputation in the minds of some affected users.
I absolutely agree. Having to bring my laptop in on a yearly basis to get it fixed due to this issue definitely lowered my expectation of hardware quality in Macs. I will absolutely still be buying another Mac, but that is primarily because of the operating system and ergonomic design principles -- all of which make me a much more productive developer.
Because Apple bundles everything (and refuses to unbundle the OS from the hardware in any way), you are likely right that the effect will be minimal because the benefits of all the goods (bundled together) outweighs the costs (and consumers have no choice -- if they want any part of the bundle, they must buy all of it).
Given that virtually everyone would have taken their MBP to an Apple Store (even those who decided to not get the repairs), Apple has a list of most people who experienced this issue.
If they want to maintain their reputation for quality, it would be wise to find a way to reimburse people who they can confirm (with said previous apple store appointments for this issue). They don't need to reimburse everyone, but they could definitely find a way to rebuild some trust here.