Do Geniuses offer Out-of-Warranty replacements, or does a customer request them?

gdjsnyder

gdjsnyder

macrumors 6502a
Long story short- my iPhone 4 shattered this morning. I'm a nursing student, I was helping an elderly man out of his bed, his arm slipped and grabbed my lab coat and the iPhone 4 fell onto ceramic flooring. (The ONLY day I did not put a bumper on because I was running late).

Anyway, scheduled an appointment at the Apple store for tonight, which is 2 hours away. I know Apple offers $199 replacements, and I'm really hoping I can get that. Although this is my fault, so it's really not their concern to give me it. However, I know people on the forums have gotten replacements for shattered glass.

So, I had my mom call the Apple store, because she offered to loan me the money in order to get a replacement, but she wanted to speak with a manager about me using her credit card (she really didn't have time to run to her bank and then mine to deposit money in my account). So she spoke with an employee who told her, to quote "no Apple store has ever replaced a broken glass iPhone with another phone. It has never happened". Now, I know this girl wasn't a Genius bar employee and I know people have gotten broken phones replaced. My main questions- should I ask for a replacement for $199, or will that possibly be offered to me. Again, it is not Apple's fault my phone broke, but it's my only phone and I can't wait for them to order the part in and then drive another 2 hours to get it placed. The girl on the phone also told my mom it will take about 7-10 days for the part to come in and I have to come down and have it looked at before they will order the part.

By the way, she lost all credibility when she told my mom that she couldn't speak with a manager because the manager called off that day, which, ya know, managers can't do...
 
gdjsnyder said:
By the way, she lost all credibility when she told my mom that she couldn't speak with a manager because the manager called off that day, which, ya know, managers can't do...
Click to expand...

Why not? Are manager super human and indestructible? Of course managers can call in sick.
 
gdjsnyder said:
Long story short- my iPhone 4 shattered this morning. I'm a nursing student, I was helping an elderly man out of his bed, his arm slipped and grabbed my lab coat and the iPhone 4 fell onto ceramic flooring. (The ONLY day I did not put a bumper on because I was running late).

Anyway, scheduled an appointment at the Apple store for tonight, which is 2 hours away. I know Apple offers $199 replacements, and I'm really hoping I can get that. Although this is my fault, so it's really not their concern to give me it. However, I know people on the forums have gotten replacements for shattered glass.

So, I had my mom call the Apple store, because she offered to loan me the money in order to get a replacement, but she wanted to speak with a manager about me using her credit card (she really didn't have time to run to her bank and then mine to deposit money in my account). So she spoke with an employee who told her, to quote "no Apple store has ever replaced a broken glass iPhone with another phone. It has never happened". Now, I know this girl wasn't a Genius bar employee and I know people have gotten broken phones replaced. My main questions- should I ask for a replacement for $199, or will that possibly be offered to me. Again, it is not Apple's fault my phone broke, but it's my only phone and I can't wait for them to order the part in and then drive another 2 hours to get it placed. The girl on the phone also told my mom it will take about 7-10 days for the part to come in and I have to come down and have it looked at before they will order the part.

By the way, she lost all credibility when she told my mom that she couldn't speak with a manager because the manager called off that day, which, ya know, managers can't do...
Click to expand...

as a former genius, here are some tips.

1. Be nice. Even if your genius is a douche, be nice
2. Be honest. Tell them what really happened
3. Don't mention the $199 replacement, act like you don't know how the repair process works.
4. Hope you get a sympathetic genius.

You will definitely get a replacement for $199 (if you have a 16GB, $299 for 32), but if you get lucky, you may get a replacement for free.

Never take/trust advice from any apple store over the phone, they'll hire anyone to be a concierge, even if they know nothing about apple, retail, or anything of the like.

Good luck.
 
extenet said:
as a former genius, here are some tips.

1. Be nice. Even if your genius is a douche, be nice
2. Be honest. Tell them what really happened
3. Don't mention the $199 replacement, act like you don't know how the repair process works.
4. Hope you get a sympathetic genius.

You will definitely get a replacement for $199 (if you have a 16GB, $299 for 32), but if you get lucky, you may get a replacement for free.

Never take/trust advice from any apple store over the phone, they'll hire anyone to be a concierge, even if they know nothing about apple, retail, or anything of the like.

Good luck.
Click to expand...


This guy is 100% correct. You should ALWAYS suck up to any customer service representative, it pays off. The $199 replacement is standard now. My sister dropped her iPhone 4 in the sink and they replaced it for $199. The Genius was really sympathetic and looked like he was even going to offer her a free replacement (This was back on July 1stish, so less than a weak after it was released). The manager next to him spoke up before him though and said they could only offer her a replacement for $199. I personally think that's a great deal; doesn't it cost Apple $180 to make the phone alone?
 
if its just the back panel you can get it replaced for $29.

over here in the UK they do it for £25.
 
There are just too many coincidences in this story.

1. You get bad customer experience.
2. It's the day that manager calls in sick
3. It's the day that old person knocks your iPhone 4
4. It's the day that your mom can't go to bank.
5. It's the day that you forgot your bumper because you were running late.

Might as well as go buy a lottery dude...
Can't get any worse, can it?
 
Everything worked out. I went in, the genius asked how could he help and I showed him the phone. He immediately said he'd give me the $199 replacement and I was fine with that. He asked me a series of questions like how I dropped it and that I did infact drop it. He showed me his MacBook screen with the $199 price and said that's not the price I was paying, he told me to subtract $199 from that and that's what I was paying. Needless to say, he was extremely nice (and had a sense of humor), and my mother and I were very grateful, as my mom just bought me a new iMac two days ago. So everything worked out. Thanks guys!
 
robbieduncan said:
Why not? Are manager super human and indestructible? Of course managers can call in sick.
Click to expand...

Depends on how Apple runs their stores.

I know my store and most large retailers will not operate without a manager. Seriously, it is one of our store policies that there has to be a manager in the store at all times anyone else is in it (other employees or customers).

My store also has several managers (for different areas but all certified to be an acceptable manager to keep the store open) and I'd expect Apple stores to be the same way (that there isn't just one manager). Best Buy tried to pull the "we don't have a manager right now" and I called them on it (BS, I work retail, I know you have a manager) and magically a manager appeared.
 
tigress666 said:
Depends on how Apple runs their stores.

I know my store and most large retailers will not operate without a manager. Seriously, it is one of our store policies that there has to be a manager in the store at all times anyone else is in it (other employees or customers).

My store also has several managers (for different areas but all certified to be an acceptable manager to keep the store open) and I'd expect Apple stores to be the same way (that there isn't just one manager). Best Buy tried to pull the "we don't have a manager right now" and I called them on it (BS, I work retail, I know you have a manager) and magically a manager appeared.
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention while I was there a guy just happened to have the word "Manager" on his name tag. And I happen to know he was the manager, as I dealt with him on iPad 3G launch day also.
 
extenet said:
as a former genius, here are some tips.

1. Be nice. Even if your genius is a douche, be nice
2. Be honest. Tell them what really happened
3. Don't mention the $199 replacement, act like you don't know how the repair process works.
4. Hope you get a sympathetic genius.

You will definitely get a replacement for $199 (if you have a 16GB, $299 for 32), but if you get lucky, you may get a replacement for free.

Never take/trust advice from any apple store over the phone, they'll hire anyone to be a concierge, even if they know nothing about apple, retail, or anything of the like.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

we need a sticky for this post

ABOVE ALL ELSE, don't assume you are ENTITLED to a free replacement

Really pisses me off how many Macrumor forum members feel they are entitled to a free replacement even though they clearly are responsible for dropping their phone
 
extenet said:
You will definitely get a replacement for $199 (if you have a 16GB, $299 for 32), but if you get lucky, you may get a replacement for free.
Click to expand...

All replacement phones (2G all the way to the iPhone 4) are $199 for the replacement no matter the internal storage capacity.
 
tigress666 said:
Depends on how Apple runs their stores.

I know my store and most large retailers will not operate without a manager. Seriously, it is one of our store policies that there has to be a manager in the store at all times anyone else is in it (other employees or customers).

My store also has several managers (for different areas but all certified to be an acceptable manager to keep the store open) and I'd expect Apple stores to be the same way (that there isn't just one manager). Best Buy tried to pull the "we don't have a manager right now" and I called them on it (BS, I work retail, I know you have a manager) and magically a manager appeared.
Click to expand...

Not only that - if a store is running without a manager, there is SOMEONE there who has been (mostly, at least) trained in how to "play" manager for a day.
 
gdjsnyder said:
Everything worked out. I went in, the genius asked how could he help and I showed him the phone. He immediately said he'd give me the $199 replacement and I was fine with that. He asked me a series of questions like how I dropped it and that I did infact drop it. He showed me his MacBook screen with the $199 price and said that's not the price I was paying, he told me to subtract $199 from that and that's what I was paying. Needless to say, he was extremely nice (and had a sense of humor), and my mother and I were very grateful, as my mom just bought me a new iMac two days ago. So everything worked out. Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

thats great to hear! warms my heart :D
 
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