Is Apple only allowed to exchange out of the box defects once?

[zooby]

My family went in for iPhone upgrades today (all went from the iPhone 4 to the 5). I had heard about the scratches and nicks fresh out of the box, so I made sure that everyone's iPhones looked good. Mine had a huge scratch on the back, and they said they would exchange it but that they could only do it once. So they did and my new one had no scratches or any issues. My mother's iPhone, however, had a distorted volume button that stuck out (even worse than my scratch on the back). So she told the apple worker and he said he'd bring a new one but that he could only do it once and after they couldn't bring another (same thing they told me). However, when she got her new phone, it had three big scratches along the antenna band. She noticed them but said she would just not say anything since they said they'd only exchange them once. I told her that it wouldn't hurt her to ask, and she did but they said they couldn't do it anymore. She said it didn't bother her, but I thought it was odd how they could only exchange it once - even if the second phone she receives also has clear defects out of the box.

So is Apple only allowed to exchange out of the box defects once? My mother said it doesn't bug her but for the amount that she paid I assume she was expecting a high quality product with no defects or out of the box scratches. She just bought hers today. Should my mother have done or said something about it? Is this normal for Apple to only exchange defected iPhones once?

[Defender2010]

No, this is not the policy. It was the employee trying to force restrictions on you. Go back, get it changed, speak to a manager if you need to. I had my iPhone 5 exchanged 3 times due to similar issues like you. The final time the employee stated he would put a note on my account that it could not be changed again. I resisted this - it's not my fault they came factory damaged...so the manager removed this "note" from my account, luckily, as the final replacement had a faulty volume button - needing replaced again. Don't let a stubborn/rude/wrong employee taint your experience.

[macMD]

Its really simple, would you accept your brand new car (regardless of make or model) with scratches, dings, dents or anything else wrong with it. No you wouldn't. Its simple you are making a purchase of your choosing, if you are unhappy with the product and they won't take care of it and you are being polite and professional about it then return it and walk away.

Its your money, sure there is someone else in line who will gladly take your phone and that is their choice, but why accept something with a defect. Would you buy a toaster with a scratch down the side, how about your refrigerator missing a handle. I suspect you wouldn't.

I wish I had kept my iP5, it was really nearly perfect and so far I keep reading about issues still happening 6 months later. I guess I will just wait for the next iteration to see if they fix it.

[mysteryappleem]

Originally Posted by Defender2010

No, this is not the policy. It was the employee trying to force restrictions on you. Go back, get it changed, speak to a manager if you need to. I had my iPhone 5 exchanged 3 times due to similar issues like you. The final time the employee stated he would put a note on my account that it could not be changed again. I resisted this - it's not my fault they came factory damaged...so the manager removed this "note" from my account, luckily, as the final replacement had a faulty volume button - needing replaced again. Don't let a stubborn/rude/wrong employee taint your experience.

For the record, there is no account that you have at an Apple Store. One can access your purchase history but there is no where to add any "note" to your account.

[Radiating]

Originally Posted by Defender2010

No, this is not the policy. It was the employee trying to force restrictions on you. Go back, get it changed, speak to a manager if you need to. I had my iPhone 5 exchanged 3 times due to similar issues like you. The final time the employee stated he would put a note on my account that it could not be changed again. I resisted this - it's not my fault they came factory damaged...so the manager removed this "note" from my account, luckily, as the final replacement had a faulty volume button - needing replaced again. Don't let a stubborn/rude/wrong employee taint your experience.

Yep agreed. This is an employee being unprofessional. I've exchanged mine 7 times for all being deffective. There is no reason a product should be sold deffective. It's illegal and ridiculous.

[Defender2010]

Originally Posted by mysteryappleem

For the record, there is no account that you have at an Apple Store. One can access your purchase history but there is no where to add any "note" to your account.

For the record, as an ex Apple employee, the record is placed alongside the Apple ID used when booking the Genius appointment. History included.

[zooby]

Originally Posted by Defender2010

For the record, as an ex Apple employee, the record is placed alongside the Apple ID used when booking the Genius appointment. History included.

I see what you mean. I have honestly never been one of those guys who exchanges iPhones until I find a 'perfect one', but that is because I have never encountered defects (even cosmetic ones) out of the box. If this is not the policy and the employee was trying to force restrictions on us, then I will speak to the manager about this and ask for a refund.

[Krimsonmyst]

Originally Posted by Defender2010

No, this is not the policy. It was the employee trying to force restrictions on you. Go back, get it changed, speak to a manager if you need to. I had my iPhone 5 exchanged 3 times due to similar issues like you. The final time the employee stated he would put a note on my account that it could not be changed again. I resisted this - it's not my fault they came factory damaged...so the manager removed this "note" from my account, luckily, as the final replacement had a faulty volume button - needing replaced again. Don't let a stubborn/rude/wrong employee taint your experience.

Originally Posted by mysteryappleem

For the record, there is no account that you have at an Apple Store. One can access your purchase history but there is no where to add any "note" to your account.

You are both incorrect, I'm sorry to say. I worked as a Genius at an Apple Store in Australia for around 2.5 years, and over this time was there for the 4 and 4S launches.

While there is no hard and fast rule that says 'Do not replace them more than once', I was told on MANY occasions that we were only to replace phones with purely cosmetic damage only the once.
To ensure this was followed, we were told to put a note on that customer's Apple ID within iRepair (the logging program we used to track repairs and warranties), that they had already had a phone swapped for cosmetic purposes.

To the gent who said there is no account, you are wrong. Your Apple ID holds information about what you purchased, where you purchased it, the serial numbers associated with each product, as well as any and all information to do with any genius bar appointments you've taken that device to.

But yes. There were many times where I refused to exchange someone's device because they were bringing it back for the third or fourth time with cosmetic damage. The general rule of thumb was that if it didn't impact the phone's functioning, then it didn't need to be replaced. After the first replacement, we would charge out of warranty for the next one.

There were cases where the managers would override us depending on the situation, but they were very rare. MAYBE one per week, if we were lucky.

[Spidder]

Return it until you're satisfied.

I personally wouldn't return a phone with a rattling standby button, but scratches... no, return it and insist!

[Brian Y]

Originally Posted by Spidder

Return it until you're satisfied.

I personally wouldn't return a phone with a rattling standby button, but scratches... no, return it and insist!

If you want that kind of QC you better be willing to stump up for a custom made phone - not a mass-produced device like the iPhone.

Apple are perfectly within their rights to not replace your phone for cosmetic reasons. If you don't like it, you can get a refund.

[sim667]

They cant replace a defective one with a defective one and refuse to sort it out next time..... it'd be against consumer protection law in the UK.

[Krimsonmyst]

Originally Posted by sim667

They cant replace a defective one with a defective one and refuse to sort it out next time..... it'd be against consumer protection law in the UK.

A defective phone, yes. A tiny scratch or rattling home button doesn't qualify as 'defective'. If it works as it's supposed to, then you cant complain just because it has a tiny little imperfection that you object to.

[ToyGun1]

Exchanged my phone about 8 times.
Just keep exchanging till you get a pefect one.

[sim667]

Originally Posted by Krimsonmyst

A defective phone, yes. A tiny scratch or rattling home button doesn't qualify as 'defective'. If it works as it's supposed to, then you cant complain just because it has a tiny little imperfection that you object to.

A scratch and rattling home button both count as imperfections, of course they do.

You wouldnt accept a brand new car with a paler patch of paint on it, why is it different with a phone?

[Cergman]

When I had to get my phone replaced at the Apple store, I actually had to go through 7 phones because all of them had dents/scratches on them.

[ihonda]

Originally Posted by Cergman

When I had to get my phone replaced at the Apple store, I actually had to go through 7 phones because all of them had dents/scratches on them.

same here the woman couldnt believe it, and because of this i got applecare+ for free

[Leonard1818]

Sorry but Apple has enough money that the customer should be satisfied. If they refuse to exchange an obviously faulty device more than once, ask for your money back and leave.

I got a perfect launch-day iPhone 5. 3 months later the power button broke.
They sent me a new one and it had a yellowish screen (sharp contrast to the one with the broken power button)
They sent me yet a 3rd one and the camera was seemingly loose (rattled around much more than the normal 'lens rattle', was crooked in the hole, and took crooked, off-center pictures).

I sit here with the yellowish screen phone (phone #2) as I'm sick of dealing with it for now. I'll just use it and if it continues to bother me I'll jailbreak and use color profiles to adjust the screen.

I left Android cause the software sucked really really bad (2.1, 2.2 at the time) and now I come to Apple where the hardware/QC is obviously lacking... What gives?!

[pnoyblazed]

Originally Posted by Leonard1818

Sorry but Apple has enough money that the customer should be satisfied. If they refuse to exchange an obviously faulty device more than once, ask for your money back and leave.

I got a perfect launch-day iPhone 5. 3 months later the power button broke.
They sent me a new one and it had a yellowish screen (sharp contrast to the one with the broken power button)
They sent me yet a 3rd one and the camera was seemingly loose (rattled around much more than the normal 'lens rattle', was crooked in the hole, and took crooked, off-center pictures).

I sit here with the yellowish screen phone (phone #2) as I'm sick of dealing with it for now. I'll just use it and if it continues to bother me I'll jailbreak and use color profiles to adjust the screen.

I left Android cause the software sucked really really bad (2.1, 2.2 at the time) and now I come to Apple where the hardware/QC is obviously lacking... What gives?!

try Blackberry I hear they're making a come-back

[Brian Y]

Originally Posted by Leonard1818

Sorry but Apple has enough money that the customer should be satisfied. If they refuse to exchange an obviously faulty device more than once, ask for your money back and leave.

I got a perfect launch-day iPhone 5. 3 months later the power button broke.
They sent me a new one and it had a yellowish screen (sharp contrast to the one with the broken power button)
They sent me yet a 3rd one and the camera was seemingly loose (rattled around much more than the normal 'lens rattle', was crooked in the hole, and took crooked, off-center pictures).

I sit here with the yellowish screen phone (phone #2) as I'm sick of dealing with it for now. I'll just use it and if it continues to bother me I'll jailbreak and use color profiles to adjust the screen.

I left Android cause the software sucked really really bad (2.1, 2.2 at the time) and now I come to Apple where the hardware/QC is obviously lacking... What gives?!

A "yellowish" screen isn't a fault. Different LCDs have different colour temperatures. If you can show me where Apple says what colour temperature the iPhones LCD is, fair enough, but they don't publish it. Different to your original != faulty.

Summing up your points, you're expecting more than you can get from a mass produced phone. If you want perfection, you need to make it yourself, or have it made for you.

Originally Posted by sim667

A scratch and rattling home button both count as imperfections, of course they do.

You wouldnt accept a brand new car with a paler patch of paint on it, why is it different with a phone?

A scratch, yes. A rattling home button - please show me where apple publishes the noise limit of the home button. They don't. If the home button works, it's not a fault.

[Bahroo]

Originally Posted by Leonard1818

Sorry but Apple has enough money that the customer should be satisfied. If they refuse to exchange an obviously faulty device more than once, ask for your money back and leave.

I got a perfect launch-day iPhone 5. 3 months later the power button broke.
They sent me a new one and it had a yellowish screen (sharp contrast to the one with the broken power button)
They sent me yet a 3rd one and the camera was seemingly loose (rattled around much more than the normal 'lens rattle', was crooked in the hole, and took crooked, off-center pictures).

I sit here with the yellowish screen phone (phone #2) as I'm sick of dealing with it for now. I'll just use it and if it continues to bother me I'll jailbreak and use color profiles to adjust the screen.

I left Android cause the software sucked really really bad (2.1, 2.2 at the time) and now I come to Apple where the hardware/QC is obviously lacking... What gives?!

sorry you had a bad experience with your iPhone, dont subject YOUR OWN experience to the QC of Apple as a whole, i have a perfectly fine i5.

[MacSince'85]

The wifi antenna on my pristine $640 black iPad mini quit working in less than 2 months. AppleCare replaced it by mail with a refurbished unit having light leak. AppleCare replaced that one by mail with a non-refurbished unit with a 3 inch scratch in the back. They then had me send it back and the service center returned it stating there was no problem. I called my reprentative back (a senior manager) and he offered (without me asking) to replace it with a brand new shrink wrapped unit with a new warranty as I had obviously lost confidence in the Apple Service department. After 2 weeks of waiting and not getting calls returned I called back and spoke to another senior manager who told me the case manager's request had been denied and I was stuck with the unit I was given. She is going to supposedly force through a replacement (likely another refurb) but kept reminding me that this is ONLY a cosmetic defect after all. So here I wait once again as a box is being mailed to me to return this unit to the service center. It has been a month and a half since my iPad broke and my case has still not resolved. I have completely lost confidence in Apple warranty after being a customer since 1985 as well as an Apple repair technician in the late 80's.

I am starting to rethink my experience with Apple: Mac 512K fly back transformer died just out of warranty requiring a several hundred dollar repair, PowerMac 7100 & 8100 OK, dead $350 print heads on Color Imagewriter Printer, iBook (dual USB) hinge wire shorting just out of warranty then battery dying months after the $350 repair, iMac came with a stripped case screw and was replaced with a refurb with a stuck red pixel, AirPort Extreme and AppleTV OK so far, iPod Touch home button quit working and warranty replacement has a crooked home button, now this.

[LoveMyPens]

I would have stood there all day until they gave me a phone without a scratch on it. If they didn't have one then I would have walked out and found a store that did have one. I would have never accepted that answer from them.

[Luis2004]

Originally Posted by Krimsonmyst

You are both incorrect, I'm sorry to say. I worked as a Genius at an Apple Store in Australia for around 2.5 years, and over this time was there for the 4 and 4S launches.

While there is no hard and fast rule that says 'Do not replace them more than once', I was told on MANY occasions that we were only to replace phones with purely cosmetic damage only the once.
To ensure this was followed, we were told to put a note on that customer's Apple ID within iRepair (the logging program we used to track repairs and warranties), that they had already had a phone swapped for cosmetic purposes.

To the gent who said there is no account, you are wrong. Your Apple ID holds information about what you purchased, where you purchased it, the serial numbers associated with each product, as well as any and all information to do with any genius bar appointments you've taken that device to.

But yes. There were many times where I refused to exchange someone's device because they were bringing it back for the third or fourth time with cosmetic damage. The general rule of thumb was that if it didn't impact the phone's functioning, then it didn't need to be replaced. After the first replacement, we would charge out of warranty for the next one.

There were cases where the managers would override us depending on the situation, but they were very rare. MAYBE one per week, if we were lucky.

This is ridiculous and shameful. If I pay $650 for a phone and you give me one with a huge scratch or rattling home button, you’d better be replacing it until I get one with the same high quality as Joe Blow who paid the same amount of money I did.

The argument “if it works it works” is invalid. Apple would do better in increasing the quality of their products instead of beating us over the head when we find it unacceptable.

Having said that, my iPhone 5 was flawless out of the box. But I hate the thought that the guy after me has to shut up and bear it if he’s got a piece of garbage for the same amount of $$ I paid for my pristine iPhone.

[SpyderBite]

Ideally, one should make a Genius Bar appointment and then inspect the replacement before leaving the store.

Sounds like the OP tries to do this over the phone though. Whether that was by choice or not is the question.

[Myiphone7]

Originally Posted by Krimsonmyst

You are both incorrect, I'm sorry to say. I worked as a Genius at an Apple Store in Australia for around 2.5 years, and over this time was there for the 4 and 4S launches.

While there is no hard and fast rule that says 'Do not replace them more than once', I was told on MANY occasions that we were only to replace phones with purely cosmetic damage only the once.
To ensure this was followed, we were told to put a note on that customer's Apple ID within iRepair (the logging program we used to track repairs and warranties), that they had already had a phone swapped for cosmetic purposes.

To the gent who said there is no account, you are wrong. Your Apple ID holds information about what you purchased, where you purchased it, the serial numbers associated with each product, as well as any and all information to do with any genius bar appointments you've taken that device to.

But yes. There were many times where I refused to exchange someone's device because they were bringing it back for the third or fourth time with cosmetic damage. The general rule of thumb was that if it didn't impact the phone's functioning, then it didn't need to be replaced. After the first replacement, we would charge out of warranty for the next one.

There were cases where the managers would override us depending on the situation, but they were very rare. MAYBE one per week, if we were lucky.

Well if y'all weren't reasonable than I'd just keep on returning and buying till I got what I wanted.

Apple is doing me no favor selling me a $700+ iPhone. I get what I want or y'all can take a hike.

----------

Originally Posted by Brian Y

A "yellowish" screen isn't a fault. Different LCDs have different colour temperatures. If you can show me where Apple says what colour temperature the iPhones LCD is, fair enough, but they don't publish it. Different to your original != faulty.

Summing up your points, you're expecting more than you can get from a mass produced phone. If you want perfection, you need to make it yourself, or have it made for you.



A scratch, yes. A rattling home button - please show me where apple publishes the noise limit of the home button. They don't. If the home button works, it's not a fault.

If you don't like it, it's your right to return it and buy another one because YOUR paying THEM the money.