That sounds like a recall.
I had the same thing on an older MacBook Pro with dodgy graphics card. Took it in to an authorised dealer, who didn't charge me up front for diagnosis, to then get a call saying it had been replaced and no fee was due as covered by Apple under a previous recall. This was in the US.
4+ year old iMac with dead video card. I took it to the local authorized Apple dealer, who wanted $50 to diagnose the problem.
Dealer called back and said Apple agreed to replace the video card for free and cover the $50 dealer diagnosis fee.