Apple Still Charging Customers Over $300 for iPhone 7 Microphone Defect Despite Previously Offering Free Repairs

[512ke]

Apple's making money but the customers seem to be unhappy with the high prices, and the stock is down quite a bit. I know we can say, well, the whole market is down, but Apple kind of bucked trends during the last downturns by growing its business in the face of headwinds. This time, it seems their strategy is more, let's nickel and dime our customers to squeeze more money out of them. Now, that may be unfair, and untrue, but it definitely feels like that's what's happening... and bad feelings don't help the customer base or the shareholders.

 

[Rocko99991]

Took mine in this June. Mic was dead-hardware failure. Had to pay out of warranty cost for refurbed phone.

 

[JPack]

Reading the posts here genuinely makes me sad for humanity. We've developed into such an entitlement country. There is an option to buy extended warranty coverage... which some opt to buy, and some do not. And people apparently seem to think if you opt not to, it's someone else's fault.... and "greed." Everyone else should have to help pay for your choice, in the form of higher prices, right?
Any electronic product... especially when talking about billions of them... are going to have occasional issues. That is why warranties, and extended warranties, exist. If you decide to take the risk... and not pay to buy the extended warranty... that is your fault. Take responsibility for your own choices.

This is a design defect that affects the audio chip and the C12 pad. It's not a random manufacturing defect.

http://www.ipadrehab.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=31

 

[cfountain72]

At the Apple Store, I have seen two types of customers
1) DYIWIA types who get turned down every time.
2) Nice people who get free out of warranty repairs all the time. Just get a manager to override cost.

If you’re nice to the Genius and they reflect this to the manager most of the time you’ll get the repair done free of charge.


I avoid calling them because you don’t know who you’re talking to and the other person is bound by some sort of rules they can’t break or they’ll get reprimanded.

3) Nice people who trust the Genius's assessment, and assume they have the integrity to offer free repairs where appropriate, and not have to use special cheat codes to get them.
[doublepost=1545075224][/doublepost]

I had the same exact problem with my wife's 7. It failed exactly 24 months after purchase (right before I made the last payment on it). I also received the info that it was covered for a bit but now I would have to pay $300 for it. Straight BS.
Would be great if it actually qualified to be traded in, but since it cant make calls, i assume it isnt eligible.

I was a little perplexed. We had the mic fail issue on my wife's 7. The Genius told us we could pay $300+ for the repair or trade it in on a new Xr, even though she verified the mic wasn't working. You might be able to trade it in at Apple if you give it a shot (and still want an Apple product). It almost seems like they want to get these unworking 7's out of people's hands, and put the Xr's in their hands...

 

[dazz87]

Wow how bad are sales numbers??? Guess they have to find $$$$ somewhere else.

 

[AntJon82]

This is a design defect that affects the audio chip and the C12 pad. It's not a random manufacturing defect.

http://www.ipadrehab.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=31

its also affecting the 6S+ phones too
[doublepost=1545075887][/doublepost]

Like touch disease, even if the device is replaced, there is no guarantee this problem won't return down the road. Replacement units are refurbished so it's unlikely the logic board design has been changed.

MY "NEW" replacement unit did it not even 2 week after having it it messed up while i using Instagram on a photoshoot

 

[iPrabhu]

Y’all are going to be so upset when they report their numbers in January.

Yeah, but only if they report by model. Those break ups gone with this year. So, we will see only the big fat cumulative figure

 

[Ruggy]

From what you've seen, is it only affecting 7's? I've been getting told the mic on my X isn't good either (hollow, muffled calls). Wondering if it was more than one gen of phone.

For info: you can test your mike with the voice memo function. You can record and play back and therefore get an idea of how others hear you
We had something similar on a 7+- greyed out mike, no one could hear, and we were advised it was something to do with bluetooth so I deleted all the devices and sure enough, the problem went away.
Maybe luck, probably something completely different but I thought I'd mention it.

 

[inaglem]

I hope that the Apple company will take notice of such problems before putting their products on sale

 

[macfacts]

Not nice if its not users fault.

It is the users fault they picked an iPhone. It is common knowledge that iPhones need lots of after sale support.

 

[danny_w]

its also affecting the 6S+ phones too

Bad news for me if true, as my wife and I both have 6S+ phones.

 

[gavroche]

This is a design defect that affects the audio chip and the C12 pad. It's not a random manufacturing defect.

http://www.ipadrehab.com/article.cfm?ArticleNumber=31

We will see. Too often some alleged problem comes to light, and people flock to bash Apple before even knowing all the facts. Count how many times in the first 20 posts the word greed was used. Tells you all you need to know. If it does end being some bad defect, Apple has a good track record of addressing it.
But even in the article you linked to, it mentions coming loose from normal wear and tear. One would think if it was such a serious design flaw that far more people would have issues, right? Just in the last month some major other "defect" was mentioned here... and 4 hours later Apple pushed out a software update that fixed the problem.
I just wish people would know all the facts before judging.

 

[BruiserBear]

Pure greed

 

[falainber]

How can a microphone repair cost $300? The new microphone probably costs $5. What's the rest for? Ecosystem?

 

[madKIR]

How can a microphone repair cost $300? The new microphone probably costs $5. What's the rest for? Ecosystem?

Tim's, Jony's, and Angela's bonuses LOL

 

[Tmybrgr]

The issue is that we pay the 'apple tax' because they have supposedly good support and will be there. It's these kinds of issues that seriously erode the brand overall. It's apples issue not the customers doing so it should be covered and seriously $300 sounds obscene it probably costs much cheaper to fix and their making profit on top of not fixing their issue. It's really a disgusting display of what they think is right now as the new apple. And that more than price increases which are also outrageous, will be the thing that erodes the brand the most. Why pay these outrageous prices only to have to deal with issues that the user didn't cause. Might as well look at other manufacturers at that point.
[doublepost=1545079127][/doublepost]

How can a microphone repair cost $300? The new microphone probably costs $5. What's the rest for? Ecosystem?

Exactly the price for the repair is obscene they should not be charging at all. But $300 is a joke!

 

[BeforeTheMeds]

STRICTLY GEED

Yes, Geed does it every time.

 

[coolkid93]

No better word than “greed” here
Absolute Joke and the apple stores how they do the process even making an apt least at mine you have to wait when you go in for scheduled repairs or whatever.

 

[Baymowe335]

Yeah, but only if they report by model. Those break ups gone with this year. So, we will see only the big fat cumulative figure

And? You’re not breaking news here.

They never reported by model, btw.

 

[alphaod]

3) Nice people who trust the Genius's assessment, and assume they have the integrity to offer free repairs where appropriate, and not have to use special cheat codes to get them.

I don't know if you know this, but it kind of works like this in a lot places.

You go to a store buy a pack of smokes, you ask for a lighter, the store says it costs $1 for the lighter, some people pay, some people complain, but if you ask nicely they might just give it to you for free!

There are tons of places where people will bend to rules a little if you are nice about. If you call this using a "cheat code" life is full of them!

The assessment if your mic is broken, if it is broke, it cost X amount because the tablet will tell them so. The Genius assessment is correct. It's broken, it costs $X amount. But since you were so nice, Genius goes to his/her manager and gets it overridden. Otherwise there are like a dozen people waiting!

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

Reading the posts here genuinely makes me sad for humanity. We've developed into such an entitlement country. There is an option to buy extended warranty coverage... which some opt to buy, and some do not. And people apparently seem to think if you opt not to, it's someone else's fault.... and "greed." Everyone else should have to help pay for your choice, in the form of higher prices, right?
Any electronic product... especially when talking about billions of them... are going to have occasional issues. That is why warranties, and extended warranties, exist. If you decide to take the risk... and not pay to buy the extended warranty... that is your fault. Take responsibility for your own choices.

Take responsibility? Uh...are you kidding me? Did any of Apple’s customers seeking a fix here build the phone? No. Did they write the software? No. So how is it other people’s responsibility to make up for what is obviously a hardware defect? How about Apple take responsibility for the choices they made in design, suppliers, build...whatever is causing the problem? There’s an idea.

Why should someone have to pay even more money to a company just to cover the manufacturer’s own defects? How about a company build quality products and stand behind their work instead? What a concept.

 

[MoreRumors?]

$300 is a steep price to repair/replace a microphone and not something a customer should pay if it is indeed a defect. I can understand if a person drops or caused damage to pay for repair. I expect the phone to last at least 3 yrs and not having to purchase an extended warranty to cover within this time period. If it doesn't last past 3 yrs, why would I want to buy from the same company?

 

[iMacC2D]

I just wish people would know all the facts before judging.

This is one instance where the facts are sufficiently known. A solder pad on the board under the U3101 audio controller lifts and breaks connection. The issue is in hardware, no amount of restoring a defective device or updating iOS will correct it.

Apple issued a document to Apple Stores and Authorised Service Providers acknowledging the issue in May. At the time, the document stated that affected devices could be replaced free of charge, even outside of the standard warranty period. The document was later deleted and any references to it were removed. Attempting to request additional information out of Apple leads nowhere. AASPs received no follow-up information about whether Apple was continuing the program, or any notification of its cancellation or removal.

Customers continue to come in for service with this issue. It's common enough relative to other known (and covered) product defects to warrant its own repair extension program.

There's no reasonable explanation for it. Apple acknowledged the issue, then for whatever reason, decided to recall the document, pretend the issue doesn't exist and the program never existed, and resume charging for out of warranty whole unit exchanges. If this decision were justified, there would have been a followup internal document explaining the reasons and how to position it, but there was none.

 

[ilikewhey]

We will see. Too often some alleged problem comes to light, and people flock to bash Apple before even knowing all the facts. Count how many times in the first 20 posts the word greed was used. Tells you all you need to know. If it does end being some bad defect, Apple has a good track record of addressing it.
But even in the article you linked to, it mentions coming loose from normal wear and tear. One would think if it was such a serious design flaw that far more people would have issues, right? Just in the last month some major other "defect" was mentioned here... and 4 hours later Apple pushed out a software update that fixed the problem.
I just wish people would know all the facts before judging.

apple has a good track record of getting class action suited then addressing it you mean

 

[JosephAW]

And you wonder why I stay on iOS 10 on my 7+. After reading this I'll remain. How would you know if there's a problem until after you update and it's bricked?