My fathers iPhone 13 Pro has had visible sensor spots on the telephoto camera since purchasing it last year. He isn’t as quick on the draw with dealing with these things but I told him that’s a manufacturing defect and should be covered under warranty. He contacted Apple, sent them many older time-stamped pictures from the camera and real-time shots and Apple verified the issue and agreed to repair it. He isn’t anywhere near an Apple Store so they sent him a return box.
A week later, he received a message to repair a damaged Lightning port at a $549 charge along with a picture showing some small debris (dust and whatnot, the picture certainly didn’t show anything egregious).
The thing is, he’s had no problems with the Lightning port at any point and it still ultimately works; this “damage” appears to be cosmetic, but enough for Apple to justify refusing to repair a confirmed manufacturing defect in another part which they again acknowledged today in a support call. I pleaded with the support agent to only repair the defective camera given the Lightning port had no issues and the camera was still covered, but they said they don’t do any repairs without repairing all identified issues.
At some point the policy seems to have changed, as at an earlier point in my life when I was too cheap/poor to pay for AppleCare, I had a device with far more egregious and verifiable physical damage that was swapped out due to the presence of a manufacturing defect. I compared my father’s situation to a car manufacturer refusing to repair a transmission issue within the first year due to scuffs on otherwise working tires; the senior support agent didn’t disagree, said her hands were tied, and lamented that “a lot has changed at Apple.”
I’m really at a loss after talking to Apple support on my father’s behalf today; I can’t imagine how he feels as anything relating to all this new tech is confusing and frustrating to him. I understand why he feels he’s getting the run-around, and while I said “this is why you should get AppleCare,” he’s never been more compelled to never give Apple another cent.
I’m not sure if anyone has any suggestions, as this is pretty frustrating that he’s stuck with a defective sensor because he doesn’t want to pay $549 to get a working Lightning port swapped out that was used everyday and showed absolutely zero signs of issue. And we’re not talking about something wholly trivial when it’s as glaring as sensor spots that affect every photo taken with the telephoto camera.
And to be clear, the phone truly is in near-flawless condition; my father is if anything almost too careful with his devices, largely because he doesn’t want to pay for accidents. The state of the Lightning port is likely no different than any of ours, and the phone has been in a durable case since day 1. All we tried to do was get a clearly defective sensor replaced that was adding spots to pictures. I know everyone loves to tell half a story in their favor, but there’s nothing else to this that hasn’t been presented here. A lot has changed at Apple indeed…
A week later, he received a message to repair a damaged Lightning port at a $549 charge along with a picture showing some small debris (dust and whatnot, the picture certainly didn’t show anything egregious).
The thing is, he’s had no problems with the Lightning port at any point and it still ultimately works; this “damage” appears to be cosmetic, but enough for Apple to justify refusing to repair a confirmed manufacturing defect in another part which they again acknowledged today in a support call. I pleaded with the support agent to only repair the defective camera given the Lightning port had no issues and the camera was still covered, but they said they don’t do any repairs without repairing all identified issues.
At some point the policy seems to have changed, as at an earlier point in my life when I was too cheap/poor to pay for AppleCare, I had a device with far more egregious and verifiable physical damage that was swapped out due to the presence of a manufacturing defect. I compared my father’s situation to a car manufacturer refusing to repair a transmission issue within the first year due to scuffs on otherwise working tires; the senior support agent didn’t disagree, said her hands were tied, and lamented that “a lot has changed at Apple.”
I’m really at a loss after talking to Apple support on my father’s behalf today; I can’t imagine how he feels as anything relating to all this new tech is confusing and frustrating to him. I understand why he feels he’s getting the run-around, and while I said “this is why you should get AppleCare,” he’s never been more compelled to never give Apple another cent.
I’m not sure if anyone has any suggestions, as this is pretty frustrating that he’s stuck with a defective sensor because he doesn’t want to pay $549 to get a working Lightning port swapped out that was used everyday and showed absolutely zero signs of issue. And we’re not talking about something wholly trivial when it’s as glaring as sensor spots that affect every photo taken with the telephoto camera.
And to be clear, the phone truly is in near-flawless condition; my father is if anything almost too careful with his devices, largely because he doesn’t want to pay for accidents. The state of the Lightning port is likely no different than any of ours, and the phone has been in a durable case since day 1. All we tried to do was get a clearly defective sensor replaced that was adding spots to pictures. I know everyone loves to tell half a story in their favor, but there’s nothing else to this that hasn’t been presented here. A lot has changed at Apple indeed…
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