Does this count as accidental damage or manufacturing defect ?

[momo77735]

I bought a 5s yesterday and there is a crack in the home button. (pics below). I asked applecare and they said to invoke consumer law and to get my retailer to do it as apple would consider it accidental damage and charge me out of warranty. They are guessing the retailer probably dropped the phone for it to be damaged.

However I read some service guides I found online and some of them regarding iPads and iPhones consider a single hairline crack as a reasonable claim under applecare.

I checked the rest of the handset and box and there is no damage. The reason I'd rather have apple handle it is because the retailer has notoriously bad customer service and would take months issuing a refund.

Is there any way I can get apple to consider this a manufacturing defect ?

 

[Brian Y]

Where did you buy the phone from?

Given there is a scratch on the metal ring too, I'd say it has been dropped.

 

[eelw]

Someone accidentally punch the Touch ID with a diamond ring?

 

[willmtaylor]

Contact AppleCare, tell them you purchased a new iPhone and when you opened it, it was damaged. Don't tell them where you bought it; it isn't their business. Of you purchased a new phone that was damaged out of the box, AppleCare is obligated to replace/repair it under warranty.

 

[momo77735]

There's no scratch on the ring that's just a piece of dust.

I bought it from CEX. Apple would probably know it's not direct from them anyway as it's locked to Three and the manufacturing week is from Oct 2013.

The guy said they don't cover accidental damage and that because it's not bought directly from them they would treat it as such.

 

[Juub]

That will count as manufacturing defect as there is no point of impact and it is a single hairline crack. Can you go to an Apple retail store?

Edit: The guy is wrong. Apple will service its products wherever they come from as long as they are not modified. This should be covered by your standard warranty.

 

[The Doctor11]

I would call it a defect. Its tiny and kinda hard to drop your phone and have impact only and only on the home button. It would take some serious skill.

 

[Brian Y]

There's no scratch on the ring that's just a piece of dust.

I bought it from CEX. Apple would probably know it's not direct from them anyway as it's locked to Three and the manufacturing week is from Oct 2013.

The guy said they don't cover accidental damage and that because it's not bought directly from them they would treat it as such.

Ah cool, if that's dust then yeah, Apple will probably cover that in a store.

 

[momo77735]

Ahh so they have to take it regardless ? His point was that the retailer could have dropped it etc so it's up to them to replace and that apple would consider it physical damage and not cover it.

Might have to complain if this isn't true.

Too late now anyway I sent it back to the retailer. Dreading it now as the retailer has notoriously bad service.

edit: I remember last year I bought a HTC One from Three but HTC repair serviced it. So maybe the guy at Apple was wrong? hmm