Resolved Apple "genius" denied phone replacement - what do I do now?

[egarcia9330]

I have an iPhone 4, it suffered water damage a few days ago. Not knowing what to do, I searched online and found a few repair "clinics" near my area. I figured since it was out of warranty, I was pretty much on my own.

I took the phone to clinic #1, they took it apart and soaked it in a chemical bath to remove corrosion. I picked it up the next day, they told me that they were able to get it back up and running, but the Wifi/bluetooth chip wasn't working, and it wouldn't read a SIM card. They didn't charge me anything because they were not able to "repair" it.

I took the phone to clinic #2, they took it apart in front of me and showed me there was a piece of rice in the SIM card slot. Once removed, the phone was working fine, but still no bluetooth/Wifi. Also, a black sticker covering the CPU was peeling off, so they removed it.

The following day, the top button stopped working. I asked a guy at the office that repairs macs and he said I could take it to the Apple store and get an OOW replacement for $149+tax. I went to the apple store, and the genius said "no problem" and took out a replacement phone, but then he took my phone to the back.

He returned a few minutes later to say they would not be able to replace the phone because it had been tampered with, and showed me a picture of the sticker that was missing, and that a water damage indicator was also missing. I tried to haggle to no avail.

After leaving the store, I noticed the phone would not turn on anymore. When I plugged it into the charger, it would turn on, and then display the "Connect to iTunes" screen. I went back and told the genius that I couldn't turn it on anymore, and he basically would not even talk to me, he said "sorry I can't service that phone".

So now my phone is completely dead, and I am wondering if (1) they are going to "blacklist" this phone using the serial number, and (2) if they did something to it that completely bricked it, so I would be forced to buy a new one.

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[davelanger]

Why do you blame the apple genius for bricking your phone? I would think what you did, and what clinic 1 and 2 did was more than enough to brick your phone. It seems like you are trying to get a phone for free. You should have brought it to the apple store first

 

[carbonfly]

So you damaged your phone. Took it to 2 places that tampered with the phone. Then finally took it to Apple (the place you should have taken it first). They inspected it to find out what was wrong and realized that there was no way they would cover your phone.

But hey, the Apple genius ruined it...........right.

 

[egarcia9330]

Why do you blame the apple genius for bricking your phone? I would think what you did, and what clinic 1 and 2 did was more than enough to brick your phone. It seems like you are trying to get a phone for free. You should have brought it to the apple store first

It just upsets me that neither of these clinics told me that I could've gone to the apple store, paid $200 and be the end of it. With respect to your comment, I am not trying to get a phone for free, because I was obviously prepared to pay the $200 for the OOW replacement.

 

[0r30]

Did you have insurance on the phone? From your cell provider?

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

Looks like Clinic #1 was eating chinese the day you brought your phone in. Rice in the sim card slot?????

 

[egarcia9330]

So you damaged your phone. Took it to 2 places that tampered with the phone. Then finally took it to Apple (the place you should have taken it first). They inspected it to find out what was wrong and realized that there was no way they would cover your phone.

But hey, the Apple genius ruined it...........right.

It was my prior understanding that this is something apple would not cover, and I did not know of the OOW replacement program until after I took it to the clinics.

 

[Shanewilliams]

Looks like Clinic #1 was eating chinese the day you brought your phone in. Rice in the sim card slot?????

Sounds like someone put it in a bowl of rice to try and dry it out!

 

[scousers]

It just upsets me that neither of these clinics told me that I could've gone to the apple store, paid $200 and be the end of it. With respect to your comment, I am not trying to get a phone for free, because I was obviously prepared to pay the $200 for the OOW replacement.

You really believe they would throw away your business and send you to an Apple store?

 

[egarcia9330]

Did you have insurance on the phone? From your cell provider?

Nope, I did not. My contract renews June next year, so no discounts for me.

----------

You really believe they would throw away your business and send you to an Apple store?

Well, clearly the information was misrepresented to me, so I plan to pursue them on this issue.

 

[davelanger]

It just upsets me that neither of these clinics told me that I could've gone to the apple store, paid $200 and be the end of it. With respect to your comment, I am not trying to get a phone for free, because I was obviously prepared to pay the $200 for the OOW replacement.

And you asked this board what you should do after you made three trips to different places to get your phone fixed? Did you ever read apples TOS? Everyone knows if you tamper with the phone it voids it, its just like if you jail break your phone and you brick it, you void the phone even if its still under warrenty

 

[b24pgg]

Why do you blame the apple genius for bricking your phone?

It turned on before the "genius" touched it, and it didn't turn on afterwards.

It is absolutely the fault of the "genius."

If he couldn't service your phone, then he should have returned it to you in the identical condition you brought it in. He didn't do that.

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

 

[0r30]

try to put insurance on it then claim it lost.


I did this with a HTC Evo during the summer. I accidentally ran the phone over and it was rooted. Come to find out I did not have any insurance on the phone so I put insurance on it and let 2 days pass and then reported it lost. Then had another one shipped to me.

This sounds messed up but the funny thing is I was told by a Sprint rep to do this. Obviously after I flipped and told them I dint know why I dint have insurance. (This experience was with Sprint)

Assuming you have ATT

http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?...le&render=y&ac=5&ck=&ch=smartcontrol&cat=smct

 

[davelanger]

It turned on before the "genius" touched it, and it didn't turn on afterwards.

It is absolutely the fault of the "genius."

If he couldn't service your phone, then he should have returned it to you in the identical condition you brought it in. He didn't do that.

File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Yeah its the genius fault. Lets recap for a moment.

I have an iPhone 4, it suffered water damage a few days ago.

I took the phone to clinic #1, they took it apart and soaked it in a chemical bath to remove corrosion.

I took the phone to clinic #2, they took it apart in front of me and showed me there was a piece of rice in the SIM card slot. Once removed, the phone was working fine, but still no bluetooth/Wifi. Also, a black sticker covering the CPU was peeling off, so they removed it.

The following day, the top button stopped working.

So all of that happened BEFORE he took it to the genius.
And you want apple to give him a new phone?
Seems to me it was broken before it was taken to the apple store.
The BBB would tell him it was his fault. The reason items go sky high is because people try to fraud companies into giving them free items for their mistakes.

Apple didnt cause the water damage, apple didnt soak it in a chemical. Apple did get rice stuck in the sim card, apple didnt peel a sticker off the CPU.

Yet you think he should get a free phone because it stopped working after the genuis looked at it?
You dont think all the others things could not have caused the issue and it was already on its last legs?

The button was not even working when it took it to the apple store. As for the apple bar not being able to service it, how would they even know before opening the phone>

Did the OP even tell the genuis everything the phone went through? Did he tell them it had water damage or that it was soaked in a chemical? Or did he try pulling a fast one and just claim the button was not working in hopes of conning them into giving him a new phone without even checking it out

I am betting the OP just went to the apple store and played off the button was not working and didnt tell them about everything else.

 

[i hate phones]

try to put insurance on it then claim it lost.


I did this with a HTC Evo during the summer. I accidentally ran the phone over and it was rooted. Come to find out I did not have any insurance on the phone so I put insurance on it and let 2 days pass and then reported it lost. Then had another one shipped to me.

This sounds messed up but the funny thing is I was told by a Sprint rep to do this. Obviously after I flipped and told them I dint know why I dint have insurance. (This experience was with Sprint)

Assuming you have ATT

http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?...le&render=y&ac=5&ck=&ch=smartcontrol&cat=smct

i belive that's called fraud

its one thing it someone at sprint hooks you up with that, but i'm sure the 2 or 3 day "boy i got insurance just in time" routine will be a dead give away.

 

[egarcia9330]

And you asked this board what you should do after you made three trips to different places to get your phone fixed? Did you ever read apples TOS? Everyone knows if you tamper with the phone it voids it, its just like if you jail break your phone and you brick it, you void the phone even if its still under warrenty

my two questions were:

(1) they are going to "blacklist" this phone using the serial number, and (2) if they did something to it that completely bricked it, so I would be forced to buy a new one.

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

Nope, I did not. My contract renews June next year, so no discounts for me.

----------



Well, clearly the information was misrepresented to me, so I plan to pursue them on this issue.

I know it sucks for you, but at what point do you take responsibility for your own actions.


1. You got it wet.
2. You took it to 2 non authorized apple repair men, which you should have known if there was any evidence of someone going into the phone if you did bring it into apple, they would deny you anything.

I suggest you look in the marketplace and/or ebay and pick yourself up a used phone for $200-250.

 

[egarcia9330]

i belive that's called fraud

its one thing it someone at sprint hooks you up with that, but i'm sure the 2 or 3 day "boy i got insurance just in time" routine will be a dead give away.

I thought about that, but yes that is considered insurance fraud.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

try to put insurance on it then claim it lost.


I did this with a HTC Evo during the summer. I accidentally ran the phone over and it was rooted. Come to find out I did not have any insurance on the phone so I put insurance on it and let 2 days pass and then reported it lost. Then had another one shipped to me.

This sounds messed up but the funny thing is I was told by a Sprint rep to do this. Obviously after I flipped and told them I dint know why I dint have insurance. (This experience was with Sprint)

Assuming you have ATT

http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?...le&render=y&ac=5&ck=&ch=smartcontrol&cat=smct

They have a name for this....it's called insurance fraud. OP try not to make this any worse by adding a felony to your list of blunders here.

At this point you've pretty much exhausted your options. Probably time to call this a learning experience and start looking on CL/Ebay (or maybe the MR Marketplace) for a used i4. Should be able to get one for ~$300.

 

[egarcia9330]

Yeah its the genius fault. Lets recap for a moment.


I have an iPhone 4, it suffered water damage a few days ago.

I took the phone to clinic #1, they took it apart and soaked it in a chemical bath to remove corrosion.

I took the phone to clinic #2, they took it apart in front of me and showed me there was a piece of rice in the SIM card slot. Once removed, the phone was working fine, but still no bluetooth/Wifi. Also, a black sticker covering the CPU was peeling off, so they removed it.

The following day, the top button stopped working.

So all of that happened BEFORE he took it to the genius.
And you want apple to give him a new phone?
Seems to me it was broken before it was taken to the apple store.
The BBB would tell him it was his fault. The reason items go sky high is because people try to fraud companies into giving them free items for their mistakes.

Apple didnt cause the water damage, apple didnt soak it in a chemical. Apple did get rice stuck in the sim card, apple didnt peel a sticker off the CPU.

Yet you think he should get a free phone because it stopped working after the genuis looked at it?
You dont think all the others things could not have caused the issue and it was already on its last legs?

The button was not even working when it took it to the apple store.

You keep insisting on the free phone issue, I was not requesting a free phone, it cost $200 for an OOW replacement.

 

[MayBee]

you're such out of luck really..not Apple fault..

how come you didn't come online before and ask for help?

I guess lesson learn right?

Like other said, you can always buy a used one on ebay or craigslist.

Or buy a cheap phone to use temporarily until your next upgrade period....

 

[BoxerGT2.5]

try to put insurance on it then claim it lost.


I did this with a HTC Evo during the summer. I accidentally ran the phone over and it was rooted. Come to find out I did not have any insurance on the phone so I put insurance on it and let 2 days pass and then reported it lost. Then had another one shipped to me.

This sounds messed up but the funny thing is I was told by a Sprint rep to do this. Obviously after I flipped and told them I dint know why I dint have insurance. (This experience was with Sprint)

Assuming you have ATT

http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?...le&render=y&ac=5&ck=&ch=smartcontrol&cat=smct

Lemme guess, you're 17-19yrs old without a pot to piss in or two nickels to rub together, because a person with any sense knows it's crap like this that drives consumer prices up through the roof.

 

[Mdifilm]

I have an iPhone 4, it suffered water damage a few days ago. Not knowing what to do, I searched online and found a few repair "clinics" near my area. I figured since it was out of warranty, I was pretty much on my own.

I took the phone to clinic #1, they took it apart and soaked it in a chemical bath to remove corrosion. I picked it up the next day, they told me that they were able to get it back up and running, but the Wifi/bluetooth chip wasn't working, and it wouldn't read a SIM card. They didn't charge me anything because they were not able to "repair" it.

I took the phone to clinic #2, they took it apart in front of me and showed me there was a piece of rice in the SIM card slot. Once removed, the phone was working fine, but still no bluetooth/Wifi. Also, a black sticker covering the CPU was peeling off, so they removed it.

The following day, the top button stopped working. I asked a guy at the office that repairs macs and he said I could take it to the Apple store and get an OOW replacement for $149+tax. I went to the apple store, and the genius said "no problem" and took out a replacement phone, but then he took my phone to the back.

He returned a few minutes later to say they would not be able to replace the phone because it had been tampered with, and showed me a picture of the sticker that was missing, and that a water damage indicator was also missing. I tried to haggle to no avail.

After leaving the store, I noticed the phone would not turn on anymore. When I plugged it into the charger, it would turn on, and then display the "Connect to iTunes" screen. I went back and told the genius that I couldn't turn it on anymore, and he basically would not even talk to me, he said "sorry I can't service that phone".

So now my phone is completely dead, and I am wondering if (1) they are going to "blacklist" this phone using the serial number, and (2) if they did something to it that completely bricked it, so I would be forced to buy a new one.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Do a restore if you see the message of connect to iTunes.

 

[davelanger]

You keep insisting on the free phone issue, I was not requesting a free phone, it cost $200 for an OOW replacement.

Sorry subsized phone and not the full cost of the phone. That is what you were trying to get. Did you tell the genuis bar everything that happened to the phone or did you just tell them the button stopped working, be honest.

 

[egarcia9330]

you're such out of luck really..not Apple fault..

how come you didn't come online before and ask for help?

I guess lesson learn right?

Yep. I was running around trying to resolve my problem, and you know when one is stressed out, sometimes one acts out of instinct and doesn't necessarily rationalize the problem. I guess I jumped the gun without sitting down and thinking completely through the problem.