Apple Launches 'Touch Disease' Repair Program for iPhone 6 Plus

[tentales]

I gave up looking for an appropriate place for this post - so here goes.

I would like to know how we can differentiate the trolls from the genuinely concerned, and the genuinely involved users, in each case now.

Because, here on MacRumors, if anybody says anything negative about Apple, there is quite a high proportion of posts that defend Apple's position, whatever that may be in each case, come what may. And I do not believe that serves most people here on the forum.

It is making it difficult and frustrating to get information or to even have a rational debate.

MacRumors, in my opionion, does not equate to 'macdefenders'. It also doesn't equate to 'machaters'. It is a place for people who are interested in, or more usually, people who have loved and are invested in, Apple products, to discuss the latest developments in a company that provides both consumer products and 'professional products' and their merits within these contexts.

As far as I am concerned, discussing these products, and giving them a negative opinion does not mean I am a 'whiner' or whatever label gets attributed - it may just mean that this product does not meet my expectations or even my hopes.

Some of the recent posts have confirmed to me what I feared - there are quite a few people who are trolling, pure and simple. Here is an example : The recent post about 'Touch Disease'

I have been coming here as a reliable source for years and years. There may have been complaints, but I don't remember abuse and trolling like this. Maybe I am mistaken.

Perhaps we can have some kind of 'subforum'? Where people who genuinely love (or loved...) Apple can discuss what has been going on recently in an adult fashion - one that involves exploring the possible future alternatives that affect our livelihoods on a level that is actually helpful - rather than - Windows sucks man! Perhaps we could have a forum where, if we don't posit a totally positive opinion about Apple, we don't have to endure these inane posts from xyz or whoever - that seem to want to defend Apple even if they are being kicked in the face by 'Apple' when they are posting.

Sorry to say - to the trolls and the 'defenders' of the Apple Empire - this is not the place for you - in my opinion - this is a place for people who genuinely love and/or depend on what Apple does - and that impacts them daily in a professional or personal way. If I'm wrong, as I suspect now that I am now in this 'new Apple world' , I will go away, with a lot of sadness. Because this is clearly no longer a place for me and my hopes and concerns.

One question though - where can somebody like me go now? If I cannot ask questions and give opinions here on MacRumors, without the onslaught of nonsense from trolls/MacDefenders? Where can I, as someone who used to love Apple with a passion that I imagine these trolls cannot understand, as it has been born from decades of daily use of their products and 'old' philosophy? I can't go back to MacOsRumors coz it doesn't exist anymore. ...

I feel you. But it's kinda the nature of all Internet forums these days.
I'm old enough to remember and being part of discussions on the forum pages of USENET back in the 80s, long before the WWW.

Back then the "internet" was not yet a commercial hub of spam, trolls and snotty teens spoiling for attention, but powered by academia, intellectuals, tech enthusiasts more interested in proliferating knowledge and creating a sense of community. Ah, nostalgia. I long for the days when "flame wars" were driven by passion for tech, supported by geeky evidence and not just plain ego and stupidity.

Macrumors by comparison is still relatively "civilized" because it's moderated. But civility is on life support in general, when you see our leaders behaving in ways that leaves many of us frustrated and nostalgic.

Hang in there and keep your ignore lists updated.

 

[admob71]

Maybe, but the 100% haters should get lost. I am literally sick to my stomach of all the crying and whining from haters who clearly show no loyalty or affinty towards the Apple movement.

Apple movement? Lol brilliant!!! It's a tech firm selling phones mate, sooner you accept that, your life will become so much more balanced..

 

[tentales]

I paid for an out-of warranty replacement three weeks ago for my wife's phone that was plagued with TD. (I had begged her to trade it in with AT&T when they were offering $650 toward a 7 but she wouldn't budge.) Received the replacement much faster than promised. That one too had touch issues and was replaced yesterday. After seeing this thread, I called Apple this morning and requested a refund under the program. I was quickly transferred to a Senior Advisor who took a small amount of information regarding case numbers and serial numbers and asked if she could do a bit of research and give me a call back. I agreed and got the call about 25 minutes later telling me I was "approved" for a refund. I should receive a check in the next week or so.

I am not a fanboy or apologist, but I was actually pretty impressed with the way it was handled. I was expecting to have to fight for it or explain whether and how many times the phone had been dropped or whatever other stuff they might have asked about "qualifying" events, but none of that ended up being necessary. Not sure that this is the end of the story, but at least it makes the pain of replacement a little more tolerable.

For what it's worth, the original phone showed no physical signs of damage. While I'm fairly positive it had been butterfingered on occasion, I can't affirmatively say whether or not it had been "dropped repeatedly on a hard surface." However, the wife never keeps her phone in a pocket and is pretty careful with all of her tech. My guess is it was dropped no more than 3 times over the 2+ years she had it and it was always in an Otterbox.

The fact that you feel Apple could impress you with only having to pay the $149, speaks volumes for why Apple does this. They're leveraging loyalty and past reputation.

It does take courage to successfully convince users that all device failures are the user's fault and never the manufacturer's.

Not calling you a fanboi, but the halo effect of Apple's reality distortion field is working its magic on you.

 

[swajames]

Apple movement? Lol brilliant!!! It's a tech firm selling phones mate, sooner you accept that, your life will become so much more balanced..

Agree, the "Apple movement" post that you were responding to might possibly be the most asinine and tragic ever posted on MR. It's certainly a contender. Absolute buffoonery!!!

 

[tubeexperience]

Could you imagine if this is a car?

After widespread reports of the suspensions failing, Apple blame the drivers for abusing their cars by driving them over potholes.

But don't worry, Apple is "generous" enough to only charge you $10000 to replace the suspension on your $40000 car.

 

[akash.nu]

Could you imagine if this is a car?

After widespread reports of the suspensions failing, Apple blame the drivers for abusing their cars by driving them over potholes.

But don't worry, Apple is "generous" enough to only charge you $10000 to replace the suspension on your $40000 car.

I don't understand why people keep using the "car" analogy always. They're 2 different industries, different rules and regulations, different authorities to approve them and different systems. This is insane.

 

[Matthew.H]

Could you imagine if this is a car?

After widespread reports of the suspensions failing, Apple blame the drivers for abusing their cars by driving them over potholes.

But don't worry, Apple is "generous" enough to only charge you $10000 to replace the suspension on your $40000 car.

If the suspension on a vehicle failed due to a design flaw the vehicles would be recalled as it's a health and safety issue. Touch input failing on a phone screen isn't. The automotive industry is very different animal compared to the tech industry. For one thing it's more heavily regulated and major flaws in a vehicles design would be dealt with far more quickly than a fault in a piece of tech simply due to the fact that a failure in a vehicle could cause a major road traffic collision potentially resulting in fatalities. The chances of a tech product failure causing fatalities is very low in comparison.

 

[antnee]

my question is...what is the "repair process"

 

[rivalbetony]

Wouldn't this be a case for global recall? Oh, ... but for the dropping the device on hard cement!

Siri, perhaps, should be trained to keep a record of how many times she found herself on the floor!

 

[akash.nu]

my question is...what is the "repair process"

They replace the screen and outer shell generally and If a hardware issue found then they replace the faulty part along with the outer shell.

 

[tubeexperience]

my question is...what is the "repair process"

Give you someone else's old iPhone 6 Plus that have had the Touch ICs resoldered.

 

[Pikup Andropov]

I've been playing around with Elementary OS, an Ubuntu Linux distro heavily influenced by OSX. I installed it on a Dell Inspiron 14 (that was previously barely running Win10).

Same here. I've looked at a lot of Linux distros over the years, and Elementary is closest to what made me switch to Macs in the first place. I will really, really miss OS X, but at least I won't be at the mercy of Apple's leadership (or lack thereof).

 

[tentales]

I don't understand why people keep using the "car" analogy always. They're 2 different industries, different rules and regulations, different authorities to approve them and different systems. This is insane.

The analogy is useful because 1) Apple is dabbling in that industry, 2) Tesla is already behaving like Apple when it comes to fanboism and deflecting blame for crashes: http://time.com/money/4276842/tesla-model-3-launch-apple/

 

[akash.nu]

The analogy is useful because 1) Apple is dabbling in that industry, 2) Tesla is already behaving like Apple when it comes to fanboism and deflecting blame for crashes: http://time.com/money/4276842/tesla-model-3-launch-apple/

Just because Apple is playing around with ideas of a car and tesla working on some next gen product you think the 2 industries are the same?! no comments then I suppose.

 

[JoeG4]

Could you imagine if this is a car?

After widespread reports of the suspensions failing, Apple blame the drivers for abusing their cars by driving them over potholes.

But don't worry, Apple is "generous" enough to only charge you $10000 to replace the suspension on your $40000 car.

Design defects like that do happen in cars, and unless they get sued you'll normally end up paying to replace said parts. One tough part is sometimes, there are parts that are made to perform more aggressively - but at the cost of product lifetime. That turns something like a suspension component into a 3 year life part instead of a 10 year life part.

Truth is, Apple also does that. If you look back, most major repair programs where they replace people's stuff for free, are done because they got sued - or their hand was pushed into that direction.

 

[trifid]

Class action lawsuit anyone? Lets do it guys.

 

[zaaach48]

At least Samsung owned up to their mistake. Not saying they're perfect but they can admit a mistake when necessary. Apple on the other hand...

Here's their admitted mistakes...most free of charge:

https://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/
[doublepost=1479528206][/doublepost]

Class action lawsuit anyone? Lets do it guys.

Already been going for a couple years
[doublepost=1479528487][/doublepost]

The fact that you feel Apple could impress you with only having to pay the $149, speaks volumes for why Apple does this. They're leveraging loyalty and past reputation.

It does take courage to successfully convince users that all device failures are the user's fault and never the manufacturer's.

Not calling you a fanboi, but the halo effect of Apple's reality distortion field is working its magic on you.

Let me just post all of apples free repair programs here again, minus this one

https://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/

 

[trifid]

As Apple continues to reach new levels of greed (soldergate, usb-c $70 adapters, etc), we'll start seeing less free repair programs and more stuff like this.

Apple's mission under Tim Cook is maximizing profits to reach record-high margins, while vision/innovation/user experience take second place.

 

[coleblk]

Send feedback everyone at Apple.com/feedback

I am not even affected by this but I am appalled at the greed of Apple for charging for this "repair program" if you even want to call it that. They should be ashamed as I am as a longtime Apple customer.

 

[nofear1az]

A "disease" that occurs more than a year later... And people are naive enough to pretend they never once dropped their phone or did anything to them to cause parts to loosen up? It's completely on the users, regardless of what click-seeking websites say.
[doublepost=1479425058][/doublepost]

Wrong and naive. The problem didn't occur for almost every complainer until a year after owning the 6. There's no way in the full year they never once dropped their phone or never did anything that could have damaged the internals. It's complete idiocy to think that the users did nothing to their phones that could cause this.

or maybe Apple should not make a phone that bends so easily... but that's right they fixed the problem in later iterations of their iPhone so they will never have "touch disease" even if they do happen to drop them more times than an iPhone6 user does.

That to me says it should fall more on Apple than the customer. Just two sides of the coin here.

 

[tech4all]

You have got to love all the Apple cheerleaders here. Seriously, it's freaking hilarious to watch.

Apple charging for this is BS, plain and simple.

If this issue is supposedly caused by dropping the phone (exposing a design flaw), and it occurs out-of-the-box, then maybe boxes got dropped in shipping. It's a long way from China to the US/rest-of-the-world.

But the cheerleaders love to blame the victim, just like people who blame a woman for getting raped because her skirt was "too short".

Ridiculous.

Please, just don't argue with these people. I'm laughing too hard and I need to breathe.

This is funny because of your avatar.

But it is hilarious watching them all defending Apple. It makes for good entertainment that's for sure. Just gotta lol and shake your head.

 

[H2SO4]

If the suspension on a vehicle failed due to a design flaw the vehicles would be recalled as it's a health and safety issue. Touch input failing on a phone screen isn't. The automotive industry is very different animal compared to the tech industry. For one thing it's more heavily regulated and major flaws in a vehicles design would be dealt with far more quickly than a fault in a piece of tech simply due to the fact that a failure in a vehicle could cause a major road traffic collision potentially resulting in fatalities. The chances of a tech product failure causing fatalities is very low in comparison.

Who cares. Can you not see that the parallel being made is that it hasn't been manufactured to with stand every day and normal use?
Potholes are pretty normal for a car, of course you’ll get an extreme that punctures a tyre or dents an alloy but BMW/Porsche etc know this. Being put into tight pockets and an occasional drop are also everyday use for a phone.

 

[drewyboy]

yes, that's what i'm saying.

the video is from ifixit -- they aren't apple. they can only guess at what causes things. apple studied it and determined what actually causes it. repeated drops.

sorry you dropped your phone, bro.

Hey bro, I've got a bridge to sell you. Why you're at it stop being so pretentious.

There are numerous places that have fixed this and all same the same thing. Design flaw. What have they got to lose? Design flaw or user error they still get to fix it. Apple is the one that has a lot to lose. Say... massive recall, class action lawsuits, news cycles, lost sales, etc.

So bro, entrusting the company in the wrong with their results is like letting the wolf watch over the sheep. That's why the scientific community believes in a thing called peer review. Non invested parties in this case all say design flaw.

 

[macTW]

or maybe Apple should not make a phone that bends so easily... but that's right they fixed the problem in later iterations of their iPhone so they will never have "touch disease" even if they do happen to drop them more times than an iPhone6 user does.

That to me says it should fall more on Apple than the customer. Just two sides of the coin here.

Oh look. They improved the camera each generation. Must be because of some camera bug users were complaining about. Same for the screen. And processor. Etc. etc.....

They improve phones to make them better. Not because of some inherent guilt you think they have...

 

[Tech198]

Yes, a disease, and it's name is "iPhone"