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Does AppleCare still give out free bumpers?

G

goodcow

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 4, 2007
814
1,470
I have an AT&T iPhone 3GS, but I opened a second account with Verizon the last day they were offering unlimited data and got an iPhone 4.

I wanted to wait until the next iPhone, thus I don't really want to buy a case now (I would've purchased the Mophie Juice Pack Air) and I can definitely replicate the antenna bridging issue. In the SpeedTest.net app, as soon as I just place my finger on that spot, the download speeds plummet.

So is AppleCare still giving out free bumpers?
 
AndrewR23 said:
Call Applecare...my bumper has fallen apart. Does Apple give replacements?
Click to expand...

When I went to get mine, I managed to get a replacement for my Orange one, but they were reluctant about it.


As long as you have the original packaging and it's under 1 year they should be able to replace it for you.

Hope that helps :)
 
AndrewR23 said:
Call Applecare...my bumper has fallen apart. Does Apple give replacements?
Click to expand...

On the phone and in store they sure were not interested in replacing mine.

The bumper is a piece of junk. Mine fell apart in 6 months of sitting in my loose cargo pants pocket, no pulling or stretching.
 
RafaelT said:
On the phone and in store they sure were not interested in replacing mine.

The bumper is a piece of junk. Mine fell apart in 6 months of sitting in my loose cargo pants pocket, no pulling or stretching.
Click to expand...
Yep, gotta hand it to Apple: put out a crappy phone (the phone part), sell a crappy bumper for it, and people keep coming back for more.

I hope like hell the iPhone 5 fixes those issues. I hated to skip the 4, but I'm glad I did.
 
i'm the biggest fan of apple .but their bumpers were piece of crap.after a while it becomes dirty it breaks easily.Anyway just got a cheap case and it's more durable
 
Nicolas4ever said:
i'm the biggest fan of apple .but their bumpers were piece of crap.after a while it becomes dirty it breaks easily.Anyway just got a cheap case and it's more durable
Click to expand...

I never understood these comments about the bumpers. They are plastic, silicon, and metal buttons. Bumpers are very tightly engineered to fit to the phone including not slipping and covering the second microphone pinhole. They only become as dirty as you let them and I've never broken one (periodically removed for cleaning). The exception is that I remember the green one or some color's silicon did seem to darken as if dirty and could not be cleaned. Or I'm making it up. :)
 
PNutts said:
I never understood these comments about the bumpers. They are plastic, silicon, and metal buttons. Bumpers are very tightly engineered to fit to the phone including not slipping and covering the second microphone pinhole. They only become as dirty as you let them and I've never broken one (periodically removed for cleaning). The exception is that I remember the green one or some color's silicon did seem to darken as if dirty and could not be cleaned. Or I'm making it up. :)
Click to expand...

I would agree that some people here probably abuse them. Pulling them out of a tight pair of jeans would understandably destroy them over time.

Mine was kept in a loose cargo pants pocket for the life of the bumper. Nothing was pulling on it or stressing it... No reason it should have fallen apart over time. If it can't hold up to at least a year of normal use without abuse then there is a problem with the product.
 
BlindMellon said:
Yep, gotta hand it to Apple: put out a crappy phone (the phone part), sell a crappy bumper for it, and people keep coming back for more.

I hope like hell the iPhone 5 fixes those issues. I hated to skip the 4, but I'm glad I did.
Click to expand...

You have only the slightest idea, of how smart you were to pass on iPhone 4... As a trusting Apple customer I preordered before Antennagate reared Steve's ugly head. It's the ONLY Apple product I've regretted purchasing, as well as the only Apple item that has been so dreadful when it comes to phone calls. Funny how my AT&T Androids are such great phones. Not to be deterred, I have faith that if Apple pulls their head out, and applies themselves, the iPhone 6 can be a really terrific phone.

The good news is I always have a large selection of new smartphones being a hard core enthusiast.
 
RafaelT said:
If it can't hold up to at least a year of normal use without abuse then there is a problem with the product.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Mine was kept in a shirt pocket that was so loose the phone falling out was a concern. The US$1 Hong Kong silicone case I bought from eBay for our on-call iPhone held up just fine. :)
 
I think they go by serial numbers to verify that you do indeed have an iPhone 4 when they give out free bumpers. Thing is, they'll know you have a Verizon iPhone.
 
wordoflife said:
I think they go by serial numbers to verify that you do indeed have an iPhone 4 when they give out free bumpers. Thing is, they'll know you have a Verizon iPhone.
Click to expand...

And the antenna issue still exists on the Verizon iPhone. Plus, they never offered a free bumper offer for the Verizon iPhone. So I don't see how them knowing it's a Verizon iPhone is a negative.
 
maclaptop said:
You have only the slightest idea, of how smart you were to pass on iPhone 4... As a trusting Apple customer I preordered before Antennagate reared Steve's ugly head. It's the ONLY Apple product I've regretted purchasing, as well as the only Apple item that has been so dreadful when it comes to phone calls.
Click to expand...


Hi,


Im a little confused how you find the ip4 dreadful when making a call.

How ?

Im not questioning your judgement its just I dont see any issues whn I instigate a call on mine.

:confused:
 
goodcow said:
Oh really? Is that why I can be running a speed test app and get 1Mbps, but as soon as I grip the two sides of the phone all the data transfer stops?
Click to expand...

well that sucks for you and i'm sorry you guys have poor service, but i don't have this issue here in Canada.

it seems that this is only an issue in low signal areas. when i have a weak signal, most of my bars will drop. if i'm in a good signal area, 1-2 bars. i can load up the speedtest app and still get good results even when i grip the phone.

just ran the test:

non-grip

75ms Ping
2.10 Mbps download
2.81 Mbps upload

"death" gripped (3 bars, won't go any lower)

88ms Ping
1.69 Mbps download
0.21 Mbps upload
 
acfusion29 said:
well that sucks for you and i'm sorry you guys have poor service, but i don't have this issue here in Canada.

it seems that this is only an issue in low signal areas. when i have a weak signal, most of my bars will drop. if i'm in a good signal area, 1-2 bars. i can load up the speedtest app and still get good results even when i grip the phone.

just ran the test:

non-grip

75ms Ping
2.10 Mbps download
2.81 Mbps upload

"death" gripped (3 bars, won't go any lower)

88ms Ping
1.69 Mbps download
0.21 Mbps upload
Click to expand...

How can you speak about the Verizon iPhone 4, if you don't even own one, can't use one, and have presumably never used one?

Canada=no CDMA bands.
 
goodcow said:
Oh really? Is that why I can be running a speed test app and get 1Mbps, but as soon as I grip the two sides of the phone all the data transfer stops?
Click to expand...

Same here!

While I don't find the antenna issue to be that big a deal since I can just hold the phone differently, it definitely exists.
 
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