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malc34

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2012
9
0
I know I can't get any definitive advice without talking directly to Apple, but I thought I'd ask here first. Although I'm not sure how clearly I've explained everything.

(The first paragraph is just a bit of a rant that can mostly be ignored; sorry about it.)

I went to an Apple store about dust (or some debris) underneath my iPhone 5’s camera lens. The “Genius” took it away, but came back and said they can’t get to it, so she’ll have to replace the phone. Annoying, but fine. She had me sign for the replacement and handed me the new phone. I noticed it had scratches on all 4 edges, as well as two dents. I don’t usually complain about things like this, but this was really bad. I complained but she said I’ll just have to live with it, and that I’ll end up scratching the phone myself anyway. Which, what? I had the phone for well over a month and hadn't got a single scratch or mark on it. I thought she was rude, so I asked to speak to a manager. She went away and came back and said they’ll replace the replacement.

So I had another replacement done by a different employee (it actually does have a small scuff mark, but it’s not THAT big a deal).

I get home and see I have two emails confirming the two replacements. In the first email for the original phone being replaced (the one with dust under the lens), the serial number listed for the original phone is different to what it actually was.

The email for the second replacement says the phone was out of warranty, and the cost for a replacement was £179. (The email for the first replacement said the phone was in warranty and the cost was £0.) I didn’t pay anything at the time, but I’m assuming they can’t take a payment from the card they have on file without my consent?

I checked my Support Profile, and there’s three iPhone 5’s listed: the original one (with the dust under the camera lens); one with the serial number I’d never seen before in the first email; and the serial number of the first replacement. The serial number of the final replacement is nowhere to be seen, though. Has this happened to anyone else before? Is this something I should be concerned about?
 

malc34

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2012
9
0
Cool, thanks.

My Support Profile's updated itself, too, and one of the extra iPhones have disappeared. For some reason, the "original" one is still there. That itself was a replacement from last month (not because of a cosmetic issue) and has never shown its warranty status, instead saying only to activate the phone. I guess there was some kind of problem when that replacement was done, which is why a different serial number was shown when it was replaced today. And apparently the Apple Store had no record of the replacement last month.
 
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