Apple gives my iPhone the shaft :(

[Ajcooke]

First I want to say I appreciate any of you who take the time to read this and I also especially appreciate any words of advice.

I have had my iPhone plan (between me, my wife, and our roommate) for about 4 months now. I have a refurbished iPhone, but the one I'm discussing here is the brand new one that was bought by my roommate at the beginning of the contract. He has the one-year warranty that comes with all the new iPhones of course.

About a month ago will feeding and letting out the dogs for a while one of them jumped on him and since the phone was in his pocket it cracked the screen. Despite the obvious cosmetic difference the crack in the front screen has made the phone has otherwise had no problems and the touch screen even continued to work where the crack was. We were pretty sure that his warranty would not cover this so he has just been living with the crack.

This is where the question begins. About a week ago his phone just stopped working, what I mean by that is he just doesn't get signal anywhere. His phone is therefore rendered useless, so he decided it was definatly time to go to the apple store. Upon explaining the problem to a "genius", the "genius" told him that the problem was because of the OS 3.0 update on the iPhones and itouches. He said that some people had suffered from 2 problems after the download: 1. Phone batteries rapidly dying(e.g. Much faster than they should on a full charge) 2. Phones not being able to get signal anywhere therefore making them useless. Well after admitting that 3.0 was the problem, he said he would do some sort of update or something to something to do with the networking. I'm sorry I don't have many details on that part of it. My roommate was just relieved because the "genius" told him that the problem should be solved afterward and if there were any more problems to come back later in the week.

After no changes what-so-ever, he went back the next day. The "genius" told him pretty much that there were no other options to try, so getting a new phone was the only one. Assuming this would of course be under warranty he agreed and as they brought out the new phone and presented him with the $200 price tag he was very taken aback. Long story short on this part he talked to both the "genius" and his manager both telling him that no matter what was wrong, the crack in the screen trumped everything. "despite your warranty on the hardware, the fact that you have accidental damage trumps any problems".

There is my problem. The "genius" at the store admitted that the 3.0 update was the source of the problem, he said they could do nothing. Now, after calling back the "genius" has backpedaled to "no I did not say 3.0 was the source of the problem" and now won't even admit that 3.0 could have had anything to do with it. Also, after saying all he could do was get him a $200 phone earlier today, now said on the phone he could get him a new one for $99 "but that's the very best I can do". He did say that if we drove the hour drive back to the store for the third time we could get it in writing that OS 3.0 could have possibly caused a problem like this one.

I, through AT&T, own 3 iPhones and also own a MacBook. I have always had good experiences with mac products and customer service. It really saddens me that this is the way we have been dealt with in this situation. I know that there must be some way to get this sorted out. I have to get it sorted out because the phone bill will be due soon and I either need to pay for an unusable phone or get it disconnected, neither of which can I afford. Any ideas?

Again thank you so much to anyone who reads this and/or can help.

Thanks again,
Austin

 

[cobra302]

the way i understand it, the warranty only applies to any defects that the phone may have thru manufacturing. i'm not sure that cracked glass and such is covered at all. i think that because of the crack, they are unable to warranty the phone, like they told him. i havent heard anything about os 3.0 causing problems like that though, and even if you got it in writing, i still dont think they would honor an exchange due to the damage to the phone itself. i personally would pay the 99 bucks and take the new phone. i think normally they would charge full price for the phone replacement. sucks though, i wish there was some sort of accidental insurance for it.


sorry if this doesnt make any sense, i'm on cough medicince with codeine and i'm a little loopy.

 

[Ipheuria]

Even if you could get it in writing that 3.0 might have caused a problem with the phone the crack in the screen will over-ride it. I bought my phone for full price in a private sale. The phone was in pristine condition but when I took it in to Apple when I was starting to get dust in my screen they told me they wouldn't change the phone because there had been water damage. They would only replace the screen since it was under warranty and the watar had no effect on the screen. Even if the firmware would have caused a problem you would be able to restore the phone as a new phone to fix it wouldn't you?? I can't think of any options, you could ask our insurance agent it should be covered under your home insurance. You could also sell it but you wont get much money or it since it's broken and then you'll need to buy a used one sorry I couldn't give you more help. The only thing I could advise is to create a scene in the Apple store. I remember once I was at the Genius Bar and a girl brought her Macbook with a dead hard drive. She was upset because she had brought it in a week before for the light sensor. She argued that at that time they had run tests and said all the systems were OK. Ofcourse she never had a backup of anything, LOL. Now to me it's only common knowledge that you should backup before having it serviced, backing up mission critical info(her thesis among other things). They suggested that she take the laptop to a hard drive recovery sepcialist and after she asked they told her the price. Well she started to scream inside the store arguing about how they should have known the hard drive was goiing to die. So the genius because of her commotion said the only thing they could do was to have her take it in to the disk recovery and Apple would pay half of the cost. Now I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking the only reason that happend was because of the big commotion she was making, obviously no one knows a hard drive is going to die.

 

[Jeremy]

The cracked screen will indeed void the warranty. Have you tried restoring the phone as new? Would probably solve the issue with the phone not getting a signal. Of course that has nothing to do with the 3.0 update rather just a bad update in general. Not Apple's fault and like I said, a restore without using a backup file would fix the issue.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[sting7k]

If your screen is cracked your screwed, that's the story and they will stick to it. Doesn't matter if the problem is unrelated. Same if a moisture sensor is tripped, your warranty is gone. It sucks I know. At least now they do offer the discount pricing for cracked screens instead of the full retail price like they used too charge.

 

[Ajcooke]

Thanks for the help guys! I will try the restore and see if that fixes the
problem.

I had already semi-planned on this but plan b: I'm gonna make a totally separate scene aside from the one my roommate already made today haha

thanks again!

 

[rickysea]

Getting the shaft.

I can agree with some of your situation, however, the iphone was damaged, thats the bottom line, and damage is not a "manufacture defect." Once the screen is cracked, moisture can work its way into the housing and cause all kinds of stuff. I do agree that the "genuis" did not handle your situation right, he should have been honest with you and just said, "the iphone is broken, our warranty does not cover damage of any type, but I'll try to load up some updates for you which may or may not solve the problem" Then at that point he should have properly told you that what he did was not a solution, just a band-aid fix and the phone will probably "die" sooner or later due to the damage. Next time purchase an apple care warranty I hear Apple is now covering physycal damage for the customers who come in and have purchased the warranty. Oh, I do alot of work around water, hence my second peice of advice, "buy an appropriate case for your phone, not by how it looks but but by how its going to be protected," buy several cases and switch them out, I have different cases for mine, if I'm going out to dinner I'm not taking my defender case but if I'm on the boat thats the only one I use. Good Luck with this.

 

[twister60]

apple really needs to shape up, BB is taking broken/bricked iPhones as trade-in.

 

[flyingember]

apple really needs to shape up, BB is taking broken/bricked iPhones as trade-in.

they're also trying to not get killed by Apple. (2 for 1 deals are generally a sign of this)

 

[eldiablojoe]

FWIW, CNN.CN will sell you a new screen for $100.