Iphone 5c: Screen cracked, disappointed in Apple store service

CrackedBarry

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Nov 8, 2011
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So long story short... Or as short as possible.

Im a big Apple fan, have multiple i-products and a MacBook. My daughter is following in my footsteps with her iPad and an iPhone 5C that she got for Christmas.

One of the reasons we've chosen Apple, is the impression that they give great customer service, and always go above and beyond. (Just look at all the stories online in different Apple forums with people cracking a screen on their iPad, and getting it replaced out of warranty etc.. It seems to be a fairly common occurrence, that people get a goodwill repair and/or replacement...)

Anyways, she came to visit me in Denmark from Canada, for a few weeks, and the other day another girl bumped into her in a store: Her iPhone 5c thats she's holding hits the floor, and bam! The screen has a huge crack, but its only the outer glass thats damaged, and the phone works normally despite the visual crack.

We go to the Apple store in Sweden the next day (there are none in Denmark), to hear what our options are, and the service technician who checks out the phone lets us know that the out of warranty screen replacement (fall damage) will cost us 240$, per Apple Stores policies.

Since the phone originally is from Canada however, and since the phone is under her moms contract, we tell him that we need to confer with her and see what we're going to do. The phone is still working perfectly, so waiting a couple of weeks and getting the screen replacement done in a Canadian Apple store would be significantly cheaper. The tech tells us, that this is fine, and we're welcome anytime to come back and get it done with them if we change our mind, since "we're here for you' or some schlock like that...

Two days later while at home, the phone seem to completely die on us: Screen goes black and it doesn't seem to respond in any way.
Now I've had both an HTC and a Samsung phone die on me from one minute to the next, where the whole motherboard/phone was replaced under warranty, so I know that it DOES happen that a component on the motherboard dies for some reason or another. And since the phone has been working fine for three days after the drop, its unlikely that this is related to the phone being dropped.

So back to the Apple store we go...

We get the same tech that helped us the other day, and after taking the phone out back, he comes back and tells us that they would need to replace the whole phone, and since the phone has been damaged already, we'd have to pay around $400 for the replacement. (Out of warranty replacement, despite the phone being less than 9 months old).

I point out, that this hardly seems reasonable, since despite the outer glass screen being cracked, Apple should still be responsible for the internal parts failing under warranty. (Heck, my former Samsung phone also had a crack on the screen, but that didn't stop them from replacing the motherboard...) And since he saw the phone work fine despite the cracked screen a few days earlier, he knows that it happened well after the crack appeared.

When we left three days previously, he also said that we're welcome back any time to get the screen replacement done, and didn't say anything about us voiding our warranty on the phone, by not having it fixed right then and there.

I ask him if he's positive that the whole phone needs to be replaced, instead of just a screen replacement, and what their diagnostic computer told them out back when they connected it. He said that it was completely dead, and gave an odd explanation about water damage, from water entering through the cracked screen. (Despite that they never opened the phone to check for water damage.)

Now while I'm back at home, I just found out that my Macbook&iTunes can talk to the phone just fine, and it shows up like before, despite the screen being dead. Which means that the Apple tech lied to me, and couldn't be bothered with hooking it up to a computer at all...

I got to say that I'm really disappointed in the service the Apple store showed us. No, I didn't expect to get a brand new phone thrown at us free of charge, but I did expect to get great service, or at least the same level of customer friendly service I've seen in the past when I still had my Samsung and HTC, instead of a tech who couldn't even be bothered to diagnose the second error to see whether just a screen replacement would fix it or not.

Any advice as to what to do next? Would we be better of with trying with a different Apple store, or an Apple store in Canada, or is this the new level of customer service in Apple Stores in general?

I could get the screen replaced elsewhere for around 100$, though I'm not 100% sure if it would fix the error or not. (It seems that it would, since iTunes recognises the phone just fine...) It would void the warranty, but right now my faith in that warranty isn't very high anyways.

I'd appreciate any advice, thanks!
 

Peligro911

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Jun 1, 2011
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So long story short... Or as short as possible.

Im a big Apple fan, have multiple i-products and a MacBook. My daughter is following in my footsteps with her iPad and an iPhone 5C that she got for Christmas.

One of the reasons we've chosen Apple, is the impression that they give great customer service, and always go above and beyond. (Just look at all the stories online in different Apple forums with people cracking a screen on their iPad, and getting it replaced out of warranty etc.. It seems to be a fairly common occurrence, that people get a goodwill repair and/or replacement...)

Anyways, she came to visit me in Denmark from Canada, for a few weeks, and the other day another girl bumped into her in a store: Her iPhone 5c thats she's holding hits the floor, and bam! The screen has a huge crack, but its only the outer glass thats damaged, and the phone works normally despite the visual crack.

We go to the Apple store in Sweden the next day (there are none in Denmark), to hear what our options are, and the service technician who checks out the phone lets us know that the out of warranty screen replacement (fall damage) will cost us 240$, per Apple Stores policies.

Since the phone originally is from Canada however, and since the phone is under her moms contract, we tell him that we need to confer with her and see what we're going to do. The phone is still working perfectly, so waiting a couple of weeks and getting the screen replacement done in a Canadian Apple store would be significantly cheaper. The tech tells us, that this is fine, and we're welcome anytime to come back and get it done with them if we change our mind, since "we're here for you' or some schlock like that...

Two days later while at home, the phone seem to completely die on us: Screen goes black and it doesn't seem to respond in any way.
Now I've had both an HTC and a Samsung phone die on me from one minute to the next, where the whole motherboard/phone was replaced under warranty, so I know that it DOES happen that a component on the motherboard dies for some reason or another. And since the phone has been working fine for three days after the drop, its unlikely that this is related to the phone being dropped.

So back to the Apple store we go...

We get the same tech that helped us the other day, and after taking the phone out back, he comes back and tells us that they would need to replace the whole phone, and since the phone has been damaged already, we'd have to pay around $400 for the replacement. (Out of warranty replacement, despite the phone being less than 9 months old).

I point out, that this hardly seems reasonable, since despite the outer glass screen being cracked, Apple should still be responsible for the internal parts failing under warranty. (Heck, my former Samsung phone also had a crack on the screen, but that didn't stop them from replacing the motherboard...) And since he saw the phone work fine despite the cracked screen a few days earlier, he knows that it happened well after the crack appeared.

When we left three days previously, he also said that we're welcome back any time to get the screen replacement done, and didn't say anything about us voiding our warranty on the phone, by not having it fixed right then and there.

I ask him if he's positive that the whole phone needs to be replaced, instead of just a screen replacement, and what their diagnostic computer told them out back when they connected it. He said that it was completely dead, and gave an odd explanation about water damage, from water entering through the cracked screen. (Despite that they never opened the phone to check for water damage.)

Now while I'm back at home, I just found out that my Macbook&iTunes can talk to the phone just fine, and it shows up like before, despite the screen being dead. Which means that the Apple tech lied to me, and couldn't be bothered with hooking it up to a computer at all...

I got to say that I'm really disappointed in the service the Apple store showed us. No, I didn't expect to get a brand new phone thrown at us free of charge, but I did expect to get great service, or at least the same level of customer friendly service I've seen in the past when I still had my Samsung and HTC, instead of a tech who couldn't even be bothered to diagnose the second error to see whether just a screen replacement would fix it or not.

Any advice as to what to do next? Would we be better of with trying with a different Apple store, or an Apple store in Canada, or is this the new level of customer service in Apple Stores in general?

I could get the screen replaced elsewhere for around 100$, though I'm not 100% sure if it would fix the error or not. (It seems that it would, since iTunes recognises the phone just fine...) It would void the warranty, but right now my faith in that warranty isn't very high anyways.

I'd appreciate any advice, thanks!

Does the phone still vibrate when u flip the side switch ? Also of u see it in iTunes I am 99 percent sure it's just the screen .. I actually just bought a 5c that had a cracked screen and my friend used it until it died .. I offered her 50 bucks for it (black screen ) but phone still was working just no screen it would make sound and vibrate. So go screen swapped for 80 bucks .. Phone is good as new and works perfect and even got her to factory unlock it from her carrier before giving to me.

If I was you have the screen replaced at a local shop and call it a day


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

anon(4698833)

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Sep 7, 2010
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No offense, but it seems like you're more pissed off that you didn't get what you wanted vs. being treated badly. I mean Apple has top tier customer service, and 9 times out of 10, they're going to go above and beyond the call of duty to make you happy with your experience and your product at the same time...that said, a company can't stay in business if they just hand out cheap service to every customer that comes in that broke their device by accident or through negligence, it's just the way of the world I'm afraid, and this case is no different.

She dropped her phone. It broke...could it have been isolated to the screen itself? Sure, but it could have also gone deeper than that, and because you denied service the first time, you'll never know that because it's too late now. This guy is simply doing his job, and I'm going to guess (based on your post) that he wasn't ugly with you about it either.

Get a second opinion, or try to find a 3rd party repair shop to do a screen repair for cheap (locally in the U.S. it runs around $100 usually). Also, have them tell you if the water damage indicators are triggered...that'll tell you right there if there was some kind of water damage...if they aren't, after having the device repaired...take it back to another Apple store and tell them it stopped working properly and let them replace it under warranty like normal. Pretty simple way to get what you want and you'll probably only be out of pocket $100.
 

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