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Genius Bar Appointment to Exchange iPhone 4s

C

capitaltrial

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1
0
Hi guys,

I have a genius appointment set up at 5:30 PM today (1 hour from now) and I wanted to exchange my iPhone 4S because I am appalled at my battery life. I tried restoring the phone and updating but after the update, the battery life is in fact, worse.

My Apple Store does not allow same-day exchanges (need reservation) so I set up a Genius Bar appointment to try to get an exchange.

I wanted to ask you guys what to say to the Genius Bar guy to get an exchange. I have tried repairing it and I have read lots of material on this. I know this is not "fixable" in-store and I do not want a Genius Bar guy to convince me otherwise.

Thanks,

Kevin
 
capitaltrial said:
Hi guys,

I have a genius appointment set up at 5:30 PM today (1 hour from now) and I wanted to exchange my iPhone 4S because I am appalled at my battery life. I tried restoring the phone and updating but after the update, the battery life is in fact, worse.

My Apple Store does not allow same-day exchanges (need reservation) so I set up a Genius Bar appointment to try to get an exchange.

I wanted to ask you guys what to say to the Genius Bar guy to get an exchange. I have tried repairing it and I have read lots of material on this. I know this is not "fixable" in-store and I do not want a Genius Bar guy to convince me otherwise.

Thanks,

Kevin
Click to expand...

Maybe this isn't what you want to hear but I've always just told them the truth in as much detail as possible and have so far always gotten what I went in for.

Just last weekend, the screen on my wife's 3GS stopped responding as expected so I took it in and they replaced the screen (usually USD $99) for free.
 
capitaltrial said:
Hi guys,

I have a genius appointment set up at 5:30 PM today (1 hour from now) and I wanted to exchange my iPhone 4S because I am appalled at my battery life. I tried restoring the phone and updating but after the update, the battery life is in fact, worse.

My Apple Store does not allow same-day exchanges (need reservation) so I set up a Genius Bar appointment to try to get an exchange.

I wanted to ask you guys what to say to the Genius Bar guy to get an exchange. I have tried repairing it and I have read lots of material on this. I know this is not "fixable" in-store and I do not want a Genius Bar guy to convince me otherwise.

Thanks,

Kevin
Click to expand...

Sorry to tell you but I don't think they'll be replacing the phone. My brother who has a 4S also left it off charger overnight and in the morning he dropped 30% and they wouldn't replace it for him.
 
Jordan921 said:
Sorry to tell you but I don't think they'll be replacing the phone. My brother who has a 4S also left it off charger overnight and in the morning he dropped 30% and they wouldn't replace it for him.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I recall reading that Apple had sent a bulletin to all the Genius Bars saying that the battery problem was software related and to refuse to replace the 4S for battery issues unless it was clear that it was a hardware problem. So, I'm guessing you probably won't have much luck getting them to swap the phone.

On the other hand, the anecdotal evidence on this and other forums suggests some stores are still replacing phones with battery issues. I guess you won't know until you try.
 
Good luck with that one--refurbished ones usually suck worse!!

Apple has told the guys to not replace phones for battery issues--cause its NOT the battery in most cases, a fix is in the works again:cool:
 
MacDevil7334 said:
Indeed. I recall reading that Apple had sent a bulletin to all the Genius Bars saying that the battery problem was software related and to refuse to replace the 4S for battery issues unless it was clear that it was a hardware problem. So, I'm guessing you probably won't have much luck getting them to swap the phone.

On the other hand, the anecdotal evidence on this and other forums suggests some stores are still replacing phones with battery issues. I guess you won't know until you try.
Click to expand...

Correct, I heard about that too.
They are ordered not to replace them but just do a software update.
I read a few articles and the battery issue seems to be software related and not a hardware issue.
Those who keep doing a restore/update and still have the same problem is said its because they restore from backup.
And once you do that you inherit the same bug again. Update to 5.0.1 and setup as new.
Sucks that you will lose some stuff but I heard that they battery issue will be gone.
 
Most of the people I know that complain from battery issues all setup as a backup of old iPhone
 
How would they have a refurbish this early. I would demand a new phone. Just like any gadget you buy from them. Since the item is/isn't there for repair, and since this is a new device... get a new phone.

I did that with my iPod Touch. battery shot.. got a new iPod 4G. This is however within weeks of the release.
 
They have refurbs. They wanted to give me one. I was disgusted with her behaviour. Told her I payed top whack. I didn't pay refurb price and that my phone is 23 days old not six months. Kept thinking - they are told to think what would Steve do, and so felt this is what it would be like dealing with Steve??? I felt like I was being robbed. I didn't pay refurb price so why am I being offered a refurb. Left the store disgusted and told one of the guys as I left but I couldn't be arsed to stay and explain. Had wasted enough time so thought screw it I'll report back to apple.

Most of the time I felt I was talking to siri but that's an insult to siri as she has a warmer personality. Apple care ha your kidding right. The so cAlled genius didn't have a clue about any of the error reports. All she seemed capable of was swapping the phone out. But what if there was nothing wrong with my phone? And she wanted to give me a refurb. Not even a new one. Disgusting!
 
Zxxv said:
They have refurbs. They wanted to give me one. I was disgusted with her behaviour. Told her I payed top whack. I didn't pay refurb price and that my phone is 23 days old not six months. Kept thinking - they are told to think what would Steve do, and so felt this is what it would be like dealing with Steve??? I felt like I was being robbed. I didn't pay refurb price so why am I being offered a refurb. Left the store disgusted and told one of the guys as I left but I couldn't be arsed to stay and explain. Had wasted enough time so thought screw it I'll report back to apple.

Most of the time I felt I was talking to siri but that's an insult to siri as she has a warmer personality. Apple care ha your kidding right. The so cAlled genius didn't have a clue about any of the error reports. All she seemed capable of was swapping the phone out. But what if there was nothing wrong with my phone? And she wanted to give me a refurb. Not even a new one. Disgusting!
Click to expand...

I am curious: did she actually said I am giving you refurbished phone? Over 2 years I replaced like 6 times and they never said if its refur or not. They always take them out of black boxes so there is really no way to tell. Unless you can see cosmetic defects or something. Right now I have iPhone 4S that was replaced twice (first for bad speaker, second time for dead pixel). Serial starts with C39 so 44th week of 2011 that's like last week. Hopefully not enough time for somebody to owned it, return it and then Apple sending it to China and back here to give it to me.
 
vonWachtstain said:
I am curious: did she actually said I am giving you refurbished phone? Over 2 years I replaced like 6 times and they never said if its refur or not. They always take them out of black boxes so there is really no way to tell. Unless you can see cosmetic defects or something. Right now I have iPhone 4S that was replaced twice (first for bad speaker, second time for dead pixel). Serial starts with C39 so 44th week of 2011 that's like last week. Hopefully not enough time for somebody to owned it, return it and then Apple sending it to China and back here to give it to me.
Click to expand...

My personal experience is that they only tell me that it's a refurb when I ask them if it's new. I've dealt with this on my 3G and my 4 after one month after release.
 
Yea. Asked her straight. Is it a new one. No she said its Refurb. I said I payed for new. Phone is 23 days old not 6 mnths. She said even if I came in a day or two after buying it she would have given me refurb. I couldnt belive it. My first expereince of apple care and I was gobsmacked. Told her you wouldn't go to a shoe shop and buy shoes. Take them back a day or two later with soles falling off and be offered refurbs. She said thats not the sAme. I said its exactly the same!

I drove one hour each way and got treated like that. Disgusted because I have read over and over how nice they are and how nothing is too much trouble and your made to feel welcome and part of a unique family but I felt a cold horroble unwelcoming presence. **** its not like I went there of my own accord. I was sent there by the phone tech to have the phone looked at by a genius.

Total waste of my time and totally a bad experiece.
 
Zxxv said:
They have refurbs. They wanted to give me one. I was disgusted with her behaviour. Told her I payed top whack. I didn't pay refurb price and that my phone is 23 days old not six months. Kept thinking - they are told to think what would Steve do, and so felt this is what it would be like dealing with Steve??? I felt like I was being robbed. I didn't pay refurb price so why am I being offered a refurb. Left the store disgusted and told one of the guys as I left but I couldn't be arsed to stay and explain. Had wasted enough time so thought screw it I'll report back to apple.

Most of the time I felt I was talking to siri but that's an insult to siri as she has a warmer personality. Apple care ha your kidding right. The so cAlled genius didn't have a clue about any of the error reports. All she seemed capable of was swapping the phone out. But what if there was nothing wrong with my phone? And she wanted to give me a refurb. Not even a new one. Disgusting!
Click to expand...

23 days old ? I think they give you 30 days to return it for a refund. Why not just cancel the service all together and later get another one with all the updates ?
 
SR45 said:
23 days old ? I think they give you 30 days to return it for a refund. Why not just cancel the service all together and later get another one with all the updates ?
Click to expand...

yea I could but there may not be anything wrong with the phone Thats why I was sent to the genius. I just do not want my brand new phone swapped for a refurb. Its not what I payed for. And to be honst I dont want to send it back under the 30day rule. Its not what I expected to do. In all honesty I drove the hour home with this rattling around my head thinking I do not want to be paying the wages of someone like her... and almost sent it back and said screw apple. What made me see sense is not everyone is like her and to give apple a chance to put this right.

I would have loved to have removed a mask and revealed my self to be Steve Jobs or someone of equally higher standing and said get the **** out of my building! and any of you others who feel like being this way watch out!
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Seriously? They offered to fix the problem and you refused? You paid for an iPhone. You were offered an iPhone. There is nothing wrong with refurbs, and you still have a warranty.
 
Refuurbs are sold cheaper arent they? I payed alot more. I didnt pay refurb price and its not like its six months old. Its 23 days old and she said she would have given me a refurb if it had been 2 days old. So why not charge me refurb price in the first place?
 
Zxxv said:
Yea. Asked her straight. Is it a new one. No she said its Refurb. I said I payed for new. Phone is 23 days old not 6 mnths. She said even if I came in a day or two after buying it she would have given me refurb. I couldnt belive it. My first expereince of apple care and I was gobsmacked. Told her you wouldn't go to a shoe shop and buy shoes. Take them back a day or two later with soles falling off and be offered refurbs. She said thats not the sAme. I said its exactly the same!

I drove one hour each way and got treated like that. Disgusted because I have read over and over how nice they are and how nothing is too much trouble and your made to feel welcome and part of a unique family but I felt a cold horroble unwelcoming presence. **** its not like I went there of my own accord. I was sent there by the phone tech to have the phone looked at by a genius.

Total waste of my time and totally a bad experiece.
Click to expand...

That is their policy and she was doing her job right.
I don't know why people like you act like it's the end of the world when they get a refurb replacement. 99% of the time you can't even tell and it's in perfect working order. I guess it's all in their head thinking if they get a refurb it will be old used and falling apart but that is not the case with iPhone refurbs from Apple.
I bet if she lied you wouldn't be able to tell anyway and you would have felt a lot better.
And all that nonsense you posted about Steve jobs or you removing a mask makes no sense.
You sound like you have many issues...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

The point I'm trying to make is that your phone is considered used as is the refurb. If the refurb fixes your issue then why not take the refurb.
 
Zxxv said:
Yea. Asked her straight. Is it a new one. No she said its Refurb. I said I payed for new. Phone is 23 days old not 6 mnths. She said even if I came in a day or two after buying it she would have given me refurb. I couldnt belive it. My first expereince of apple care and I was gobsmacked. Told her you wouldn't go to a shoe shop and buy shoes. Take them back a day or two later with soles falling off and be offered refurbs. She said thats not the sAme. I said its exactly the same!

I drove one hour each way and got treated like that. Disgusted because I have read over and over how nice they are and how nothing is too much trouble and your made to feel welcome and part of a unique family but I felt a cold horroble unwelcoming presence. **** its not like I went there of my own accord. I was sent there by the phone tech to have the phone looked at by a genius.

Total waste of my time and totally a bad experiece.
Click to expand...

You should just return your 4s and every Apple product you own. Apple employees do not need to deal with people like you.
 
because thats not what I payed for. In the UK they cant make up their own laws as they are governeed by the sale of goods act.

dude above, the jobs thing was a joke to show my level of frustration. Thats all. She said she would exchange for refurb even if I brought it in 2 days after purchase. This is clearly not how things are done in retail in the UK.

----------
Vudoo said:
You should just return your 4s and every Apple product you own. Apple employees do not need to deal with people like you.
Click to expand...


that makes no sense what so ever :D

----------
tremlock said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

The point I'm trying to make is that your phone is considered used as is the refurb. If the refurb fixes your issue then why not take the refurb.
Click to expand...

It wasnt used when I bought it. Thats uk law. I bought a brand new product as refelected by the price and terms that came with the sale. I did not buy a used product. Now I agree if it had been months old but its not. Its weeks old.
 
Last edited:
Zxxv said:
They have refurbs. They wanted to give me one. I was disgusted with her behaviour. Told her I payed top whack. I didn't pay refurb price and that my phone is 23 days old not six months. Kept thinking - they are told to think what would Steve do, and so felt this is what it would be like dealing with Steve??? I felt like I was being robbed. I didn't pay refurb price so why am I being offered a refurb. Left the store disgusted and told one of the guys as I left but I couldn't be arsed to stay and explain. Had wasted enough time so thought screw it I'll report back to apple.

Most of the time I felt I was talking to siri but that's an insult to siri as she has a warmer personality. Apple care ha your kidding right. The so cAlled genius didn't have a clue about any of the error reports. All she seemed capable of was swapping the phone out. But what if there was nothing wrong with my phone? And she wanted to give me a refurb. Not even a new one. Disgusting!
Click to expand...

I think you're more the problem.

I had a problem with the touch screen on my old iPhone 4 & I received a refurbished replacement. The phone was EXACTLY the same, if not better than it was when I first received the phone brand new.

I hate consumers like you - you're offered something which is perfect free of charge and you complain about it?

Also - just saying but you didn't have to drive the whole 2 hours return journey. You could have called AppleCare using your FREE phone support and they would have sent a box out so you can return the phone via FREEPOST.

The refurbished units are probably better as they're fully checked & any faulty products are replaced. They probably receive more care & attention than brand new units.

Don't waste your time complaining to Apple - I disagree with you and I'm sure many others do too.

--

As per the OP, I think it's 50/50. I read about a notice being sent out to service technicians not to replace any 'faulty' iPhones due to battery issues. It's also down to what genius you get & whether they're kind enough to give you a replacement.
 
Zxxv said:
that makes no sense what so ever :D
Click to expand...

You said...
In all honesty I drove the hour home with this rattling around my head thinking I do not want to be paying the wages of someone like her... and almost sent it back and said screw apple.
Click to expand...

If you don't want to pay wages of someone like her, then you should return your 4s because every Apple product you buy goes to paying the wages of someone like her.
 
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