does anyone give me their opinions/advice please?! in relation to faulty iPhone and replacements

[iMore Question]

Ok so I recently bought a new iPhone 6 plus from apple.com. About a week after receiving the phone I noticed a black line down the middle of the phone. It would come and go then got more frequent until the point where it would not leave the phone....very annoying. Anyway I contacted apple (customer service line) numerous times. I was told to restart the phone as new etc. but the line did not disappear. I contacted them again and the told me to bring it into a store, either compub or iconnect, as we do not have an actual apple store here in Ireland, unfortunately. So I brought it into them, they took it and sent it off to be 'examined'. 2 days later I got an email telling me my product was ready to collect. When the man brought out the phone it was just wrapped in paper with sellotape. I had to ask him was it the original or a new one...he just said it was a 'replacement', yet just before I left he said it was brand new. When I left the store I went to switch it on and it would not turn on. When I got home I charged it up all evening. I looked at it later and it was on about 98%. I went away and came back about 5 mins later, ready to set up the device and the screen was black and could not be turned on at all. I had to ring apple helpline and they helped me to reboot the phone by holding the home button and the button on the right side. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the problems. When I finally got the phone on, i went to set it up. When it came to choosing a iCloud backup to restore onto the phone it said none were available which is not true because I have multiple backups. I decided to try the backup restore through iTunes but when I plugged in my phone into my macbook it said the software on the phone was too old (which is strange since it is supposedly a 'brand new' phone). Anyway I updated the software and somehow got the backup restored onto the phone. About 1-2 minutes later I went to the phone and when i tried to unlock it (swiping the screen) it would not work. the touch screen was suddenly irresponsive! by this stage I was really pissed off. I then decided to examine the physical phone's state and noticed that on the left side it looked like the screen had been raised ever so slightly. it was hardy noticeable but when i compared it to the right side which was seamless, it was obvious to me. It still gets worse.... I left my phone in my room for a few hours because it was useless. Later in the night I was showing my parents the side of the phone and how touchscreen was unresponsive. During this time the phone literally switched itself off and then came back on. The screen went GREEN for a few seconds, then black, and then vertical fuzzy grey lines were flashing on the screen....?! by this stage I was ready to throw it out the window hahah. These sort of things should not be happening to a 'brand new' phone as far as I am concerned. Especially when this phone is a replacement and the original phone that I paid 800euro for was faulty :-(
So i went back into Compub today and explained what happened and also showed him a picture of the screen when it went grey and fuzzy flashing. He tried to turn on the phone himself but it just went to an apple logo and the started flashing the way it did the night before. I asked them again 'Is this a new phone' and the guy (different from the last time) told me that he could not 100% percent guarantee that because it is apple that sends the products and they 'do not have contact with apple'..... i also asked him where the original phone is now and again he could not answer that.
So the current situation is that they have taken the second phone, the one which was meant to be the 'replacement' for the first faulty phone, back to be examined which is ridiculous. I got an email this evening saying that they need to 'order parts' to fix the phone which takes 1-2 days to arrive before they can solve the problem. This I do not understand because i am absolutely not taking back this phone, even if they claim to have 'fixed' it. They told me it was new yet all these problems happened within the first few hours, so i can only imagine the problems i may face with it down the line.
Is there any way that I can guarantee that i am being given a new phone? And what are your thoughts on the whole situation? Am I being screwed over? Someone suggested asking to see the box it comes in, when I go in to collect the phone next time (I know I can't take the box though). Any opinions/tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[anon(9602380)]

Welcome to iMore!

First I would like to suggest paragraphs when posting. Makes it easier for people to read.

My suggestion when dealing with Apple first and foremost is keep your cool. No matter how upset you are. I would thoroughly check the phone over before taking it out of the store. If anything is not to your liking, let them know. Do not leave the store with the phone if you are not happy. Ask to talk to the manager and explain everything to him from the beginning. Be factual. If it is still not to your satisfaction, then I would call Apple directly and talk to them again. If still not happy ask to talk to their manager.

It is your right to question something you are not happy with and paid a lot of money for it. When talking to them, be straight to the point and nothing else. Just be nice and continue to escalate it if you have too. I have been there with an iMac of mine that was in for repairs five times in 20 months. Store could not get it properly fixed so I finally sent an email to Apple Head Office with all the facts and my concerns. Within hours the store called me telling me my iMac would be replaced and that I was right to have concerns.

There is no way of knowing if you're getting a new or refurb replacement. You are not being screwed over. You just have not been able to talk to the proper person to get this situation properly fixed for you. Apple is decent to deal with.

 

[Sherry_B]

Any time you get a replacement the company has the right to give you a refurbished device. Check your warranty and see if they state that somewhere. If it's not in the warranty it'll be somewhere in their terms of service/end user license agreement.