I had Apple rep agree to potentially offer to extend the repair program for me when my early 2011 17"MPB had complete graphics system failure at work in May 2017. I did experience screen flickering in October 2016. I was too busy to make appointment at the time with a store, but was given a case #. I just called back AppleCare # (USA) yesterday and am now in late June. Rep told me recall program did NOT include early 2011 17" MBP. I was incredulous and went to the doc on Apple's website. Poof!...they decided to revise it in late June to not include any 2011 AMD GPU MBP models and now ONLY include 2012 Retinas. Here is the clever copy they added to the document in late May 2017:
"The program covers affected MacBook Pro models until December 31, 2016 or four years from its original date of sale, whichever provides longer coverage for you. The following models are no longer eligible for this program: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)."
Information as of 2017-05-19
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
THANKS APPLE - For standing behind your acknowledged engineering mistake. Guess they saw it was time to close the door on integrity and move on to their next blunder. Good machine though, but now essentially a doorstop unless I want to shell out $550 to $900