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Disgusted with Apple. iPhone has the dead strip and they don't care...

iamhammill

iamhammill

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 20, 2006
286
0
York, PA
So today the area on my screen where the keys 4/5/6 would be is completely dead. Happened in the middle of the day completely out of the blue. Everything that's in that area is dead.

First step was calling Apple Care. The guy had me reset everything which only made things worse. My favorites where deleted, and when I attempted to replace them I started scrolling down my contacts, only have to have it stop scrolling when my finger crossed the dead spot and add a contact that I didn't want. I tried to delete, but yep, the delete button is in the dead spot. Oh well. Also because of the reset my voicemail asks for my password now, of which I can't hit "OK" because it's in the dead spot.

No favorites, no voicemail. Can't pick WiFi networks, can't type in landscape, can't rearrange icons below the dead spot.

So, I drive 1.5 hours to my nearest Apple Store to have them take a look. Right away the genius takes a look at my iPhone and says we can't do anything because it's damaged. I have some scratches on the case, couple dings, couple small dents... normal in-the-pocket wear for a year old phone. Regardless, he tells me since I "must have" dropped it, I damaged it and broke it... not covered by warranty. I try telling him there's been no drops, no smashes etc. The screen is in perfect condition, everything is still tightly together etc.

I ask to speak to the manager and he tells me the exact thing. It was automatic, he didn't even really check it out.

So since I use my iPhone like a hockey puck according to the Apple store of Towson MD, I got half an iPhone and nothing but accusations from the staff.


Anyways, anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jake
 
post some pics so no one says that its more damaged than it really is first
 
Yea, if its not damaged that bad, you might want to give Apple Corporate a call.

Just be sure you B*** at them enough and say how your an early adopter and paid the $600 premium
 
iamhammill said:
No favorites, no voicemail. Can't pick WiFi networks, can't type in landscape, can't rearrange icons below the dead spot. I ask to speak to the manager and he tells me the exact thing. It was automatic, he didn't even really check it out. So since I use my iPhone like a hockey puck according to the Apple store of Towson MD, I got half an iPhone and nothing but accusations from the staff.
Anyways, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Jake
Click to expand...

Try another Apple Store or if you have to, ask for a box to be shipped to you from AppleCare and take the SIM card out and put it into a cheap AT&T phone until you get a replacement. Check with AppleCare, and make sure they can work on your iPhone without the SIM card, b/c you need it for your temporary phone. Your iPhone isn't jailbroke or unlocked is it? :eek::confused:
 
I'll put some pics up tomorrow. Apple Corporate is probably the way to go, I'll try them tomorrow as well.
 
Yeah, call corporate. They'll treat you much better. Some store employees mess up big time quite often, as you occasionally read on this forum. For me, it's been getting my warranty voided at a US store (after taking it out to ask a question about web gallery uploads) because my phone is running on T-Mobile (the legit, German way). A quick email to corporate got my warranty put back in place (they gave me the extended AppleCare) and an apology letter from the store manager.

Good luck!
 
I'm a little overwhelmed with all the numbers on Apple's site. Can someone give me the right corporate number to call?
 
Just curious how did you get dents in your phone if you've never dropped it?

On a side note I just thought of a great new 3rd party app. Someone could make an app that continously records all the information from the accelerometers so that when someone is accused of dropping their phone they could present evidence of whether or not the phone was dropped.
 
s8film40 said:
Just curious how did you get dents in your phone if you've never dropped it?

On a side note I just thought of a great new 3rd party app. Someone could make an app that continously records all the information from the accelerometers so that when someone is accused of dropping their phone they could present evidence of whether or not the phone was dropped.
Click to expand...

I believe there is, it's called AcceleroLog. Unfortunately, you'd have to jailbreak to get it, so it'd ruin the point of using it to bring to an Apple representative anyways....
 
This happened to me about a week ago. The bottom 1/6 of the screen wouldn't work--which means no access to phone/e-mail/safari/ipod. Pretty important stuff.

I scheduled an appointment at the Green Hills Apple Store (Nashville) and they didn't even ask me any questions or even try the touch screen for themselves. Gave me a brand new one on the spot. My iPhone had a little more than the normal wear and tear on it too--several small dents all over the back side of the case. The screen was still pristine, though.

My suggestion would be to try a different Apple Store.
 
Call apple care over the phone and have them mail you a replacement. Tell them you are not driving to the far away apple store so you want to do it over the phone. Has worked for lots of people.
 
Wow, I am shocked that you got that kind of treatment. I would go back to the store, get the peoples names that you talked to, then call Apple Corporate, and get them on the s*it list. I had no questions asked when my first one had problems, and got a new one on the spot.
 
iamhammill said:
So, I drive 1.5 hours to my nearest Apple Store to have them take a look. Right away the genius takes a look at my iPhone and says we can't do anything because it's damaged. I have some scratches on the case, couple dings, couple small dents... normal in-the-pocket wear for a year old phone. Regardless, he tells me since I "must have" dropped it, I damaged it and broke it... not covered by warranty. I try telling him there's been no drops, no smashes etc. The screen is in perfect condition, everything is still tightly together etc.

I ask to speak to the manager and he tells me the exact thing. It was automatic, he didn't even really check it out.
Click to expand...

You can call and complain and eventually someone might do it just to shut you up, but just by your description it seems they were right. A couple of "dings and small dents" is not normal wear and tear and is indicative of accidental damage which is not covered under your warranty. It sucks, I know, but it's the truth.

If something is knocking up against the iPhone hard enough to dent it then something is damaging the iPhone. What you're describing doesn't happen from normal use but from damage.
 
There's so little space inside that case, even the smallest dent could damage the internal electronics. And since you can't get dents in the case by just keeping it in a pocket (unless you throw that pocket on something hard I guess...), I can see why they didn't honor the warranty.
 
ohh so when u were in USA with your German iPhone roaming on T-Mobile from T-Mobile Germany they assumed it was a jailbroken iPhone and the guy jumped to the computer and entered in your Serial Number as a hacked iPhone and voided your warranty straight away?

they are too quick to jump to conclusions, bunch of idiots...
 
I emailed "Steve" and got a response from who I guess is a district manager. He's going to replace it for me tomorrow. Sucks I have to make the drive again, but at least I'll have a working phone.


Glad Apple restored their faith in me, I'd be a profitable customer to loose.

Thanks for the input everyone.
 
I just had my sons replaced for a dead screen on the bottom half at an Apple store yesterday. Not a scratch on the phone and he asks us "did you drop the phone"? Uh NO!
They replaced it on the spot. These screens are having problems I've heard elsewhere, I hope the new one has a better design...
 
zainjetha said:
ohh so when u were in USA with your German iPhone roaming on T-Mobile from T-Mobile Germany they assumed it was a jailbroken iPhone and the guy jumped to the computer and entered in your Serial Number as a hacked iPhone and voided your warranty straight away?

they are too quick to jump to conclusions, bunch of idiots...
Click to expand...
Yep, that's pretty much it.
 
zainjetha said:
ohh so when u were in USA with your German iPhone roaming on T-Mobile from T-Mobile Germany they assumed it was a jailbroken iPhone and the guy jumped to the computer and entered in your Serial Number as a hacked iPhone and voided your warranty straight away?

they are too quick to jump to conclusions, bunch of idiots...
Click to expand...

wait, what? did i miss something here?
 
frijole said:
wait, what? did i miss something here?
Click to expand...
Yes

akonradi said:
Yeah, call corporate. They'll treat you much better. Some store employees mess up big time quite often, as you occasionally read on this forum. For me, it's been getting my warranty voided at a US store (after taking it out to ask a question about web gallery uploads) because my phone is running on T-Mobile (the legit, German way). A quick email to corporate got my warranty put back in place (they gave me the extended AppleCare) and an apology letter from the store manager.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
akonradi said:
Yep, that's pretty much it.
Click to expand...

I would have thrown a huge fit in the store and had pointed out the dip***** mistake the guy was making immediately. Was the genius just not willing to listen? Either way, I'm glad to hear you got it reinstated.
 
calvy said:
I would have thrown a huge fit in the store and had pointed out the dip***** mistake the guy was making immediately. Was the genius just not willing to listen? Either way, I'm glad to hear you got it reinstated.
Click to expand...
I was in getting my iMac fixed at the time, and the store was getting ready to close. When I tried to explain the situation, the "genius" saw the T-Mobile at the top left told me "Well, this says T-Mobile, which means that you unlocked it. We don't cover hacking under the warranty, so your warranty is now void." When I explained that T-Mobile was the offical German provider, I was told something like "well, this isn't Germany, is it? You can only use AT&T in America. This phone obviously has been through modification, because you can't just randomly get it to say T-Mobile at the top." When I asked for the manager, he had just left (it was a few minues past nine pm). So seeing as the genius had my computer and I didn't want it to magically become broken or dissapear, I just left it at that and decided to contact corporate asap.
 
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