Anedotal at its finest. I’ve had quite the opposite. I’ve had 2 new iPhones have hardware issues. The Apple refurbs I’ve bought, including accessories, had literally never had any problems. Doesn’t mean much as a data point since you have had a bad experience.I can't but smile every time I hear "apple refurbished is as good or better than new". Just my experience: In 2011, I purchased an apple refurbished 2010 macbook pro with 2x 2GB Memory (directly shipped from apple). In 2012 I wanted to upgrade the memory to its max. I purchased non apple memory and when I opened I found that there were actually two non apple 4GB memory chips but only one was working because of a socket problem. If I had checked carefully the system info before that, I would have noticed that the macbook had 4GB but in a 0GB+4GB configuration. So apparently someone had tried to upgrade his/her macbook and returned it after noticing that it had a hardware problem. I went to an apple store (in Columbus, OH). I was told that this was not under guarantee and also, in fact, they could not know if I was the one who tried to do the failed 4+4 upgrade. So they could not do the repair it for free. I was very upset and insisted that it was outrageous that they would sell a refurbished in such a condition, and eventually they gave me the option of talking to some apple person on the phone .. he said NO but I kept insisting until he transferred me to some other instance. After explaining the situation, hearing NO again and insisting, this person said that as a last option he was going to make a call and then decide. It turned out he called some office with direct involvement in the refurbishing and asked if such a situation was possible (if the refurbishing process could have overlooked a problem like the one I had). The answer was YES, and the the guy gave green light to the apple store to do the repair .. which involved changing the main card and if paying would have been very expensive. I used that mac for almost ten years more and then gave it to a friend who still uses it .. So, though this was a BAD experience with the apple refurbishing process, it was in the end a VERY GOOD experience with apple customer service. Also I have purchased a couple of other refurbished apple products (ipod and ipad) without problem.
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