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Apple Initiates iPhone 5 Battery Replacement Program

thmsup said:
HA! I knew something was off. Went to the Apple Retail Store in Vegas back in June, they told me "nothing out of the ordinary... regular battery life for an almost 2 year old smartphone...you can replace the battery for only $80+tax though."

I told them, that it was bulls*it, because even my 4,5 year old 3gs still had better battery life.

Going to the store tomorrow.
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...they had no way of knowing that this was coming. They aren't omniscient.
 
C DM said:
Well, there's a problem with some (a small percentage of) iPhone 5 phones.
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Exactly. As I said, mine only had some battery issues with 7.1. Other than that it's fine.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I got my home button replaced last year when it felt "crunchy". In warranty so not a big deal.
 
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Hahaha mine is eligible. Only 2 years late. By now it is owned by my mother while I rock a Moto X....

PS. I knew something was wrong, when she started charging it more than twice a day. Honestly thought it was 80% for playing candy crush all day, 20% a crappy battery lol.
 
Well just got back from getting my battery changed. After checking in, they ran some diagnostics on my phone and said it needed to be replaced, and told me it'll be around 20-30 mins. When I came back they wanted to charge me the normal fee of 79.99, so I showed them the story on here. The employee showed it to her manager and he waved the fee. The whole process took about 40 mins and I got back my old phone, not a replacement.
 
Do they change these in the store or do they have to ship them out like the sleep/wake button issue? I sent my iPhone 5 away last week to get the button replaced. I got the notification today that it is ready to be picked up at the apple store and I don't want to drive there only to find out that they will have to send it out again.
 
Damn, not eligible. And I was noticing my battery doesn't seem to last that long anymore (it gets sapped pretty quickly now).

It was bought within the date range but I guess not the right serial number.
 
pooleman said:
Do they change these in the store or do they have to ship them out like the sleep/wake button issue? I sent my iPhone 5 away last week to get the button replaced. I got the notification today that it is ready to be picked up at the apple store and I don't want to drive there only to find out that they will have to send it out again.
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I took mine in for the sleep/wake button replacement about two months ago, and they also replaced the battery without my asking them. Perhaps this is why? They may have replaced your battery anyhow!
At least they acknowledge when they mess up at least this much, although I agree with what other people said about the average consumer having no idea about this and paying for a replacement.
 
Awesome, mine has just started having serious problems. I was trying to figure out if I should replace the battery or just wait for the 6.
 
Good to see Apple finally acknowledge the poor batteries they used in launch iPhone 5. Lucky my battery began to expand and forced the screen to lift. So it was replaced under a safety issue warranty a few months ago. Will have to go through records, but more likely than not, my original serial number should have been eligible.
 
cdmoore74 said:
Damn you Apple!!! I just got off the phone with those pricks and they told me that I'm ***** out of luck because I performed a unauthorized repair. Hell yes I performed a unauthorized repair because I wasn't going to spend $80 on a freaking battery replacement. They won't even replace my battery with a genuine one.
Lucky for them the knock off battery works better than the original. I smell a class action lawsuit. No way in hell should I have to replace a battery after 13 months. And if my ***** catches fire I will be on the front page of MacRumors with my extra crispy iPhone. Shouldn't they replace the battery anyway since my unit is affected? They act like I took a axe to the phone when opening it up.
And for them to wait this long while people suffered with this crap 😡. I first started noticing this issue late last year; right after the warranty ended. There had to be plenty of affected iPhones coming in for warranty repair.
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Why would you tell them you replaced it?
 
I wonder if a year from now the same program will happen for the 5S. I go from 100% when I roll out of bed at 8AM and unplug mine from its charger to less than 20% by noon, every single day.
 
Mine was replaced at no cost when the phone went off for the sleep/wake button fix a couple of months back. It would otherwise be eligible, however.
 
Too bad they ignore the problems with the iPhone 4S. Same problem: Goes from 20 to 0% in one hour stand-by. All since upgrading to ios 7.

I never upgraded to 5/5S because I think they're ugly. Lets hope the iPhone 6 can convince me with a nice design, no protruding parts and a battery that lasts 24 hours. That's all I ask.
 
bushido said:
i got the same message which is odd cuz i never got my battery replaced. i got a replacement due to the sleep wake button early last year. maybe my refurbished replacement had an battery issue before and theres a mix up?



well DUH! there is a problem with the iPhone 5 obviously ... apple doesnt initiate a replacement program for fun
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Your iPhone isn't eligible because of one of those reasons.

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JAT said:
Why would you tell them you replaced it?
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They would find out eventually when testing the phone.

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DaveWonders said:
My wife's iPhone 5 has the bad sleep wake button and is eligible for the battery replacement. Problem is the screen has a small crack around the home button. That means they won't fix it right?
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I doubt they'll fix it if the screen is cracked. Looks like you'll have to get that fixed before the touch it, according to the website.
 
DaveWonders said:
My wife's iPhone 5 has the bad sleep wake button and is eligible for the battery replacement. Problem is the screen has a small crack around the home button. That means they won't fix it right?
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Depends on what the crack is like, and if you're eligible for the sleep/wake button program as well as the battery. Depending on the crack and your warranty situation, they may actually be able to cover the screen as well. Assuming the screen is out of warranty though, you can probably get them to replace the battery and ignore the screen with the caveat that if the screen breaks further during repair apple won't cover it.

You need to take the screen off to replace the battery, and it's very possible for a crack to grow when you pull off the screen. Also damage to the display often goes along with dents on the enclosure that make it impossible to reseat the screen correctly. Just make a backup, go down to the store, and they'll tell you what your options are.
 
Great. Now a new program next please, where they replace the volume buttons. They are un-Apple ****** on my iPhone 5... Almost loose..
 
I'm not eligible for a replacement, but this particular iPhone 5 that I'm using is about 7 months old and the battery dies in 4 hours.
 
My iPhone 5 exhibits the issues listed by Apple but it isn't eligible under the program. The phone shuts down randomly at 40%,30% sometimes 20%. I can't turn it on after it happends until I charge the device, because it says the battery is too low. I hope Apple will change its mind and expand the program with more serial numbers.
 
Ended up selling my old iPhone 5 for $200 to a sketchy Chinese store, because I thought I was out of luck long after the warranty had ended.

The battery would drain pretty fast, shut down randomly, charge indicator completely stopped working and the phone wouldn't even charge or turn on sometimes.

You could even hear the battery shaking around inside. 🙄

But I guess me dropping it once or twice... or more... didn't help either. 😀
 
I get pretty great battery life but i'm eligible for a free replacement, might take advantage of this service once i've got my iPhone 6 and sell iPhone 5 with this perk. Dunno if i can be bothered or just trade it in and be done with it.
 
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