I noticed the other thread with iPhone 5 replacements and decided to share mine. I'm just copying and pasting my blog post:
I am angry and frustrated beyond words right now, but I am writing this while it is still fresh in my memory.
I bought the iPhone 5 on day one and it has had nothing but problems. Every time there is a problem, I did what most sensible people would do, which is to make a Genius appointment and let them deal with it. For the past 8 months, I went through 4 different iPhone 5s:
First iPhone 5 had the infamous Apple wireless problem. Wireless connection would be spotty and it couldn't connect to my office wifi at all.
Second iPhone 5 had a weird purple spot that started showing up through the camera lens. I use my iPhone 5 to take pictures of my baby girl, so this was a big deal to me.
Third iPhone 5 actually lasted a good while for me, until last week when the volume down button stopped working.
Fourth iPhone 5, which I got yesterday, had a single crack across the screen... which didn't happen until I got home.
The fourth and last iPhone 5 is why I'm writing this post. In no way did I drop and crack the phone myself, but the Genius (at Apple Store on Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica FYI), that was assigned to my appointment, told me I had to pay $150 to get the screen replaced.
I was stunned. The cracked screen was not my fault, and yet they were asking me to pay for the damage? This is the gist of how the conversation went:
Genius: The cost is $150 to get this repaired.
Me: What? But I didn't cause this crack. I had my iPhone 5 replaced yesterday due to a broken volume button.
Genius: It looks like the point of impact is right here (pointing at the bottom location where the antennagate used to be on the iPHone 4). There was probably some pressure here that caused this.
Me: Maybe there was tiny crack on the screen that caused this?
Genius: Yeah, well, the iPhone 5 didn't have a crack when it left the store yesterday. Also, your iPhone 5 had iOS 7 on it, and we don't officially support that, so you should have been charged $299 for yesterday's replacement.
Me: This is my fourth iPhone 5 btw, the ones I get seem to always have problems.
Genius: Yeah I can see that in the system.
This guy was putting more faults in my list, and he didn't seem convinced that the crack (and probably other defects) were due to them being defective units.
Me: But I didn't cause the crack! All I did was put it in my pocket, take it home, restored iOS 7 on it, and at some point it got a crack.
Genius: I keep MY iPhone 5 in my pocket all the time, and it doesn't crack. It uses gorilla glass, so it shouldn't crack that easily.
Me: This is so frustrating. I didn't do anything that might cause a crack.
Genius: I didn't say you did, but we have company policy and I just work here.
Needless to say, but I asked to speak to his manager, and when that didn't go well, I asked to speak to HIS manager. Same deal, I had to pay to get my screen repaired.
I was angry, and didn't want to pay the $150 when it wasn't my fault. As I left the store, I stood on 3rd Street, cleared my head, and thought of my options:
I can call Apple Customer Service or go to other Apple Stores and whine and complain until someone gets my screen fixed for free.
I can sell all my Apple **** (Mac Mini, MacBook Air, AppleTV, iPad Mini, 2 iPhone 5s) and switch over to using Android. But I don't want to use Android.
Pay $150 and move on.
I swallowed hard, went back in, and looked for the Genius that I dealt with.
Me: I would like to get my screen repaired for $150 please.
Genius: OK sure.
Me: Is it possible for me to upgrade my AppleCare to AppleCare+ for $99 and get my screen repaired for $50? (Which is the same cost, but with the benefit of AppleCare+ in case of future mishaps.)
Genius: No, sorry, that's for new devices only.
The Genius proceeded to estimate the waiting period and to update the system.
Me: What could have caused the screen to crack like this? I literally put it in my pocket after leaving the Apple Store, took it home, restored it, and it was on my table.
Genius: What, you're saying it was just in your pocket for 24 hours?
Me: No, I just left it on my table after discovering the crack yesterday, and here I am the very next morning.
Genius: Look, if my car engine breaks down then I'll have to pay for it even though it's not my fault, right?
What kind of analogy is that???
Me: I'm just so frustrated.
Genius: Well, don't take your frustration out on me, man.
It really sucks it had to come down to this. It's truly disappointing, but thinking about it from Apple's perspective, there really is no way to prove that I wasn't the one that dropped and cracked the screen.
Here are details of what happened yesterday that eventually lead to the crack. These are specific details I failed to mention to the Genius because I was so flustered and forgot.
Got iPhone 5 replacement and left Apple Store with the phone in my pocket.
Got home, walked to work (I live couple of blocks from work) with the phone in my pocket.
iPhone 5 was left charging on my table at work.
Stayed for a few hours and walked home with iPhone 5 in my pocket.
Restored iPhone 5 to iOS7. Went to a local basketball court, left the iPhone 5 under the seat.
Came home, played around with the iPhone 5 in the living room, put it in my pocket, went to my computer, took it out to discover a crack on it.
I've come to the end of this post and now that I've vented I feel better. All those stories of iPhone 5 production problems was no joke, and as soon as iPhone 5S (or the cheaper iPhone) comes out, I'll probably upgrade right away even though I don't have upgrade eligibility.
Curses.
CONCLUSION
I picked up my iPhone 5 and paid $166 after tax for the repair. For those of you asking about my pocket that I use to keep my phone in:
1) I don't wear skinny jeans.
2) I never physically ran into anyone.
3) I never ran into a wall.
4) I never did anything outside my normal routine.
It may be hard to believe, I expected 95% of the Internet to think that I somehow did it. In the end, even if I'm right, there's no way to prove it. I'm moving on.
On a side note, I'm now protecting my iPhone 5 with just a full body Ghost Armor, and no case. I used to buy different cases in different colors to swap cases once in awhile for fashion purposes but since a case won't stop the screen from cracking anyway I'm just gonna enjoy the design of iPhone for once and not have something cover it. It's not a bad thing since all my engineering friends/coworkers at work always make fun of me for using cases. They've never used cases and not once have they cracked the screens, even after dropping them.
Anyway, I'm glad I could share my story with MacRumors. Thanks for reading!
----------
Sorry about the formatting. My blog has better formatting, didn't realize it wouldn't get included.
I am angry and frustrated beyond words right now, but I am writing this while it is still fresh in my memory.
I bought the iPhone 5 on day one and it has had nothing but problems. Every time there is a problem, I did what most sensible people would do, which is to make a Genius appointment and let them deal with it. For the past 8 months, I went through 4 different iPhone 5s:
First iPhone 5 had the infamous Apple wireless problem. Wireless connection would be spotty and it couldn't connect to my office wifi at all.
Second iPhone 5 had a weird purple spot that started showing up through the camera lens. I use my iPhone 5 to take pictures of my baby girl, so this was a big deal to me.
Third iPhone 5 actually lasted a good while for me, until last week when the volume down button stopped working.
Fourth iPhone 5, which I got yesterday, had a single crack across the screen... which didn't happen until I got home.
The fourth and last iPhone 5 is why I'm writing this post. In no way did I drop and crack the phone myself, but the Genius (at Apple Store on Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica FYI), that was assigned to my appointment, told me I had to pay $150 to get the screen replaced.
I was stunned. The cracked screen was not my fault, and yet they were asking me to pay for the damage? This is the gist of how the conversation went:
Genius: The cost is $150 to get this repaired.
Me: What? But I didn't cause this crack. I had my iPhone 5 replaced yesterday due to a broken volume button.
Genius: It looks like the point of impact is right here (pointing at the bottom location where the antennagate used to be on the iPHone 4). There was probably some pressure here that caused this.
Me: Maybe there was tiny crack on the screen that caused this?
Genius: Yeah, well, the iPhone 5 didn't have a crack when it left the store yesterday. Also, your iPhone 5 had iOS 7 on it, and we don't officially support that, so you should have been charged $299 for yesterday's replacement.
Me: This is my fourth iPhone 5 btw, the ones I get seem to always have problems.
Genius: Yeah I can see that in the system.
This guy was putting more faults in my list, and he didn't seem convinced that the crack (and probably other defects) were due to them being defective units.
Me: But I didn't cause the crack! All I did was put it in my pocket, take it home, restored iOS 7 on it, and at some point it got a crack.
Genius: I keep MY iPhone 5 in my pocket all the time, and it doesn't crack. It uses gorilla glass, so it shouldn't crack that easily.
Me: This is so frustrating. I didn't do anything that might cause a crack.
Genius: I didn't say you did, but we have company policy and I just work here.
Needless to say, but I asked to speak to his manager, and when that didn't go well, I asked to speak to HIS manager. Same deal, I had to pay to get my screen repaired.
I was angry, and didn't want to pay the $150 when it wasn't my fault. As I left the store, I stood on 3rd Street, cleared my head, and thought of my options:
I can call Apple Customer Service or go to other Apple Stores and whine and complain until someone gets my screen fixed for free.
I can sell all my Apple **** (Mac Mini, MacBook Air, AppleTV, iPad Mini, 2 iPhone 5s) and switch over to using Android. But I don't want to use Android.
Pay $150 and move on.
I swallowed hard, went back in, and looked for the Genius that I dealt with.
Me: I would like to get my screen repaired for $150 please.
Genius: OK sure.
Me: Is it possible for me to upgrade my AppleCare to AppleCare+ for $99 and get my screen repaired for $50? (Which is the same cost, but with the benefit of AppleCare+ in case of future mishaps.)
Genius: No, sorry, that's for new devices only.
The Genius proceeded to estimate the waiting period and to update the system.
Me: What could have caused the screen to crack like this? I literally put it in my pocket after leaving the Apple Store, took it home, restored it, and it was on my table.
Genius: What, you're saying it was just in your pocket for 24 hours?
Me: No, I just left it on my table after discovering the crack yesterday, and here I am the very next morning.
Genius: Look, if my car engine breaks down then I'll have to pay for it even though it's not my fault, right?
What kind of analogy is that???
Me: I'm just so frustrated.
Genius: Well, don't take your frustration out on me, man.
It really sucks it had to come down to this. It's truly disappointing, but thinking about it from Apple's perspective, there really is no way to prove that I wasn't the one that dropped and cracked the screen.
Here are details of what happened yesterday that eventually lead to the crack. These are specific details I failed to mention to the Genius because I was so flustered and forgot.
Got iPhone 5 replacement and left Apple Store with the phone in my pocket.
Got home, walked to work (I live couple of blocks from work) with the phone in my pocket.
iPhone 5 was left charging on my table at work.
Stayed for a few hours and walked home with iPhone 5 in my pocket.
Restored iPhone 5 to iOS7. Went to a local basketball court, left the iPhone 5 under the seat.
Came home, played around with the iPhone 5 in the living room, put it in my pocket, went to my computer, took it out to discover a crack on it.
I've come to the end of this post and now that I've vented I feel better. All those stories of iPhone 5 production problems was no joke, and as soon as iPhone 5S (or the cheaper iPhone) comes out, I'll probably upgrade right away even though I don't have upgrade eligibility.
Curses.
CONCLUSION
I picked up my iPhone 5 and paid $166 after tax for the repair. For those of you asking about my pocket that I use to keep my phone in:
1) I don't wear skinny jeans.
2) I never physically ran into anyone.
3) I never ran into a wall.
4) I never did anything outside my normal routine.
It may be hard to believe, I expected 95% of the Internet to think that I somehow did it. In the end, even if I'm right, there's no way to prove it. I'm moving on.
On a side note, I'm now protecting my iPhone 5 with just a full body Ghost Armor, and no case. I used to buy different cases in different colors to swap cases once in awhile for fashion purposes but since a case won't stop the screen from cracking anyway I'm just gonna enjoy the design of iPhone for once and not have something cover it. It's not a bad thing since all my engineering friends/coworkers at work always make fun of me for using cases. They've never used cases and not once have they cracked the screens, even after dropping them.
Anyway, I'm glad I could share my story with MacRumors. Thanks for reading!
----------
Sorry about the formatting. My blog has better formatting, didn't realize it wouldn't get included.
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