Apple Refuses to Extend my Warranty

[andrewlgm]

I bought a refurbished iPhone 4 from ATT in June 2011, upon receiving the phone I checked its warranty status, and it had applecare on it until 2013.

Upon calling apple the representative transferred the phone under my name, and its applecare. But a few days ago I checked my apple support page and noticed that the applecare had been removed, and that I only have warranty until April of 2012 - not June.

I called apple to get this fixed - I have the receipt of purchase - so that I can get the warranty from date of purchase, and the representative proceeded to explain to me that they can't do that. I only bought it refurbished from ATT because they guarantee that it comes with a full year warranty. But apparently, according to the apple rep, this is not true. She says I bought a returned, USED, phone, not a refurbished one, and they can service me only until April of 2012 if I have a problem, but no longer than that - or buy applecare.

This is truly frustrating. I ordered it from ATT as a REFURB, not a USED phone. They advertise it as a REFURB with full support and warranty. Is this normal? Just filled a survey about the call - definitely not happy.

 

[jdusoccer12]

Yeah I read somewhere on AT&T's site about refurbs and it says something special about iPhones, that they are returned within the 30-days after purchase and hold the original date of purchase for the Apple warranty. Apple only cares about when it was originally purchased not when AT&T took it back and then resold it used. I agree AT&T shouldn't be aloud to call them refurbished when they are just repackaged.

 

[dfnj123]

Yep.... you can only get a full warranty on a refurbished iPhone if you buy it from Apple directly...

 

[saving107]

Yep.... you can only get a full warranty on a refurbished iPhone if you buy it from Apple directly...

Apple doesn't sell refurbished iPhone's.

 

[dfnj123]

Apple doesn't sell refurbished iPhone's.

Oh wow... never mind then.. just assumed they did because they sell refurbished versions of most of their other items...

I do work at a retail store right now that sells iPhone's and whenever we get refurbished iPhones in it explicitly states the warranty expiration on the packaging...

Maybe the AT&T employee didn't know what he was talking about? Maybe the 1 year warranty is through AT&T and not Apple...

 

[dccorona]

applecare is transferable in the event you sell your device to someone else, but not in this situation

heres what I think happened: a person brought their iPhone in to apple to be replaced: they had applecare. The phone was replaced, and their old phone was refurbished and sold. For some reason apple didn't clear the applecare from that phones s/n, and so it showed up for you when you searched it.

if you bought it direct from apple, it wouldnt have applecare included...just a standard warranty, which i thought was one year, but really getting only 11 months isnt too bad for a used item.

 

[andrewlgm]

This is really absurd. So due to ATT's fake advertising I bought a used phone.

I'm having close to 8 dropped calls daily with this phone and I'm starting to think it may not be "good." I'm going to an apple store next week and having them check it out.

So, I'm guessing att checked this phone out before reselling it to me. What is upsetting is the fact they lied. And they still do on their website on the upgrade page offering "refurbished" phones that are not refurbished.

 

[EddyP]

Wow that sucks. Thanks for sharing though. That's good info to know.

Maybe you only get the one year warranty through ATT not Apple?

I would assume it works just like it does with other phones. If it breaks they mail you a new one, you mail the old one back, the usual drill for phones not serviced at a physical store like Apple.

The good news is you can take it to Apple, have them diagnose the problem then have ATT replace it. But yeah, it's not as slick as one trip to the Apple store.

They probably aren't lying. I bet ATT gives you a full one year warranty, not Apple.

 

[thunderbunny]

Apple doesn't sell refurbished iPhone's.

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FB213B/A

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Interesting. I also have an AT&T refurb iPhone. Looking at AT&T's site I find the following info:

Refurbished Phones are pre-owned cell phones and devices that have been returned during the 30-day trial period. Each Refurbished Phone/Device is independently tested and reflashed with the latest software to meet new factory standards. As a result you can get the latest and greatest technology for a fraction of the price.

and

90-day warranty - Same warranty as new phones but limited to 90 days

Guess it pays to read the fine print

Source:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/buy-refurbished-phones.jsp

 

[Applejuiced]

Interesting. I also have an AT&T refurb iPhone. Looking at AT&T's site I find the following info:



and



Guess it pays to read the fine print

Source:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/buy-refurbished-phones.jsp

Oh damn, someone did their homework

 

[saving107]

Interesting. I also have an AT&T refurb iPhone. Looking at AT&T's site I find the following info:

When did you get your iPhone?

my cousin got her's on Oct 1st, 2010 but it was originally registered on Sept 1st, 2010 and so her warranty expired 27 days ago. She was having issues with her iPhone's mic (she can hear us but we couldn't hear her), so yesterday she made an apt for the Genius Bar and went in.

When she went in the Genius did determine that the mic was in fact not working, but when he removed the iPhone case noticed that the back plate was actually shattered (my cousin never removed the case so never realized this).

He told her that the warranty was already expired, but that he would still go ahead and replace her iPhone with a new (refurb) model at no charge even though she was out-of-warranty.

 

[dccorona]

This is really absurd. So due to ATT's fake advertising I bought a used phone.

I'm having close to 8 dropped calls daily with this phone and I'm starting to think it may not be "good." I'm going to an apple store next week and having them check it out.

So, I'm guessing att checked this phone out before reselling it to me. What is upsetting is the fact they lied. And they still do on their website on the upgrade page offering "refurbished" phones that are not refurbished.

refurbished means used. Sometimes it'll just be a straight up used phone, sometimes things will be replaced if it is damaged in some way. If ATT does their refurbishing independently, I don't know what may occur, but I know that Apple refurb devices are equal to, and in many cases better than, brand new ones. This is because they put a lot more time into inspecting each individual device than they do with the brand new ones. I have had several Apple refurb iPhones (of every iPhone model) in the past, and if they hadn't pulled them out of the white refurb boxes, I would never have known they weren't brand new

 

[btrav13]

This is really absurd. So due to ATT's fake advertising I bought a used phone.

I'm having close to 8 dropped calls daily with this phone and I'm starting to think it may not be "good." I'm going to an apple store next week and having them check it out.

So, I'm guessing att checked this phone out before reselling it to me. What is upsetting is the fact they lied. And they still do on their website on the upgrade page offering "refurbished" phones that are not refurbished.

So what you mean to say is that your frustration lies with ATT, and not Apple.