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Graft leverage case - I want I want I want... (Update: I got).

I am new and my iPhone 4S is on it's way. I was going to get this case in white until I read through the thread. I will be waiting it out to see how they fix the white case before I ake my decision to buy. It would be nice if they made a glossy white case to combat staining and discoloration and chipping.

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Graft Concepts posted a public response on their blog addressing all of the concerns posted in the thread. Check it out http://blog.graftconcepts.com/

Order Update
Posted on 1 November, 2011 by graftconcepts

Hey Guys,

First off, we just wanted to thank everyone who wrote to us – we have been getting great feedback from different users. We are writing to you because there are a couple of things we would like to address and bring to your attention.

For all Customers who have ordered

We take great pride in our product and pay close attention to all support e-mails and messages that come through Facebook. We’ve looked at your comments and thought long and hard about how we can give our customers the best product we can.

ANTENNA SCUFFING

Customers who have already received their case (black or white)

We will send each existing customer a clear die-stamped protective film that seamlessly covers the top antenna band of your iPhone to prevent any scuffing or additional scuffing and a one-time 50% off coupon for any future products. The film is similar to existing films in the market and once applied onto the phone, it’s almost invisible. If you are unsatisfied with this solution, you can return your case for a full refund.

Customers who have ordered but not yet received their case (black or white)

All orders that have not shipped yet will also include the protective clear film to prevent scuffing. Once again, if you are unsatisfied with our product you can return it for a full refund.

WHITE CASE

Regarding the discoloration and peeling on the white Leverage, a small portion of the white cases are having these issues. But to ensure that we are sending out high-quality products to each and every one of you, we are holding off production of additional units until we find a better solution. We may change the finish from soft touch to high-gloss or matte and will have a poll on Facebook to see which one you prefer. If you’ve ordered the white case, please look for the heading below that applies to your situation.

Customers who have received the white case

For those who have already received the white case and are not having any problems with it…Enjoy. For those who received it and are not satisfied, we can send you a replacement black unit of your choice or we can provide you with a full refund.

Customers who have ordered but not received the white case

For those who have ordered but have not received your shipping confirmation, you can request for your order to be canceled or request for an order change to black by contacting customer support. Or you can keep your existing order if you would still like to have the white. Please be sure to include your order #.

If you have additional questions or comments, please e-mail us at support@graftconcepts.com. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
TheiPhoneChick said:
I am new and my iPhone 4S is on it's way. I was going to get this case in white until I read through the thread. I will be waiting it out to see how they fix the white case before I ake my decision to buy. It would be nice if they made a glossy white case to combat staining and discoloration and chipping.

----------

Graft Concepts posted a public response on their blog addressing all of the concerns posted in the thread. Check it out http://blog.graftconcepts.com/
Click to expand...

I will say it again, great customer service.
 
Props to graft - way to differentiate yourselves from a lot of the other case makers out there by being proactive, aggressive, and quick!

Look forward to receiving the film...I have noticed a tiny shiny spot on the antenna band. Doesn't particularly bother me but hey, if they're offering a fix, I'll take it!
 
So does a full refund included refund of shipping costs? I paid $94.70 in total, which included shipping to the UK.

Parcel Force won't deliver until I pay Customs/VAT charges. I haven't bothered paying Parcel Force the £24 they have requested, instead I am going to wait the maximum 20 days for Parcel Force to return to sender.

I emailed Graft yesterday to explain that the package will be returned to them after 20 days, but have yet to receive a response.
 
For those out there that have the Black matte or chrome, how is the black case holding up after a week or two of continuos use? There were only a handful of reports claiming the black case corners were chipping so hopefully the majority are holding up well.

My major concern is how the case will stand up as us SoCal residents transition from shorts to jeans (yep, it occasionally gets below 60, pretty chilly for us) and if the corners will start to chip with continuos push in/pull out from my trouser pocket.
 
hbdude said:
For those out there that have the Black matte or chrome, how is the black case holding up after a week or two of continuos use? There were only a handful of reports claiming the black case corners were chipping so hopefully the majority are holding up well.

My major concern is how the case will stand up as us SoCal residents transition from shorts to jeans (yep, it occasionally gets below 60, pretty chilly for us) and if the corners will start to chip with continuos push in/pull out from my trouser pocket.
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Mine still same from day one. No issues at all. I've the black and matte.
 
The customer service is outstanding. I emailed them a week ago prior to there blog post and asked for a black/matte case for my white 4S. They are sending me a black one with a return label to send the white back. Don't lose faith.
 
Is that a permanent solution - sticking a layer of film over the phone's antenna? I was hoping they will come up with a re-design and I'll purchase it again....sticking a layer of film doesn't seem to a good fix for new buyers.
 
Ice-Cube said:
Is that a permanent solution - sticking a layer of film over the phone's antenna? I was hoping they will come up with a re-design and I'll purchase it again....sticking a layer of film doesn't seem to a good fix for new buyers.
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It's a band-aid to cover the problem, quite literally too.

Not a good business practice imo.. but whatever.
 
regarding customer service

I jumped ship on my white/matte Leverage case. I emailed them and told them I wanted a refund. they replied promptly and told me how to return the case. I received my refund within like 5 days.

can't get any better CS than that. I'm kinda bummed I had to spend $$$ for returning a faulty designed case but whatever. live and learn....
 
I dont want to risk getting the black one and ending up getting a case that has the pain chipping issue. I have emailed them again today asking for a proper method of returning the case.

I am just going to wait it out until I see better reviews pop up after revision have been made to the case.

It sucks cuz now i gotta go and dish out ~20 for a ****** temp case to protect my phone while I look for a new proper case..
 
Ice-Cube said:
Is that a permanent solution - sticking a layer of film over the phone's antenna? I was hoping they will come up with a re-design and I'll purchase it again....sticking a layer of film doesn't seem to a good fix for new buyers.
Click to expand...

I would say that's a pretty good solution all being said. There fixing the current issue , did you expect them to dissolve the entire company and start from scratch??
 
ozziegn said:
I jumped ship on my white/matte Leverage case. I emailed them and told them I wanted a refund. they replied promptly and told me how to return the case. I received my refund within like 5 days.

can't get any better CS than that. I'm kinda bummed I had to spend $$$ for returning a faulty designed case but whatever. live and learn....
Click to expand...

I emailed them this past sat morning. I have emailed them 3 times since to provide me with proper returning procedure and have yet to receive any feedback.
 
hbdude said:
For those out there that have the Black matte or chrome, how is the black case holding up after a week or two of continuos use? There were only a handful of reports claiming the black case corners were chipping so hopefully the majority are holding up well.

My major concern is how the case will stand up as us SoCal residents transition from shorts to jeans (yep, it occasionally gets below 60, pretty chilly for us) and if the corners will start to chip with continuos push in/pull out from my trouser pocket.
Click to expand...

I've been using mine constantly since receipt and had no issues with peeling/chipping. The only problem I've noticed is that slight shiny spot where the lever contacts the antenna band and, quite frankly, it's small enough that it doesn't bother me in the least. I'll take the skin to cover it, since it's being offered, but it certainly wouldn't have been enough to make me return the case.

Overall I'm VERY pleased with it. Nice fit, nice feel, and a unique look.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

My black/matte case still looks the same as when I got it, although I have been using jacket/sweatshirt/trouser pockets to carry my phone and not jeans pockets, so I can't assess how it will hold up to that just yet. I think it will be fine though from the looks of it.

And while the protective film is more or less just a band-aid, I'm sure the company has not stopped searching for a solution upon offering this up to buyers. While a solution in and of itself may be straight-forward, implementing it into the production/manufacturing process will take time and money. I wouldn't expect it to happen so soon. I doubt they're so naive as to think that all of their customers will be satisfied with receiving a glorified piece of tape as a permanent solution to a $60 product.

With that said, I think they are doing a fantastic job of being proactive and handling customer complaints, and can only hope that they are able to resolve the issue and continue producing accessories.
 
Arnezie said:
I would say that's a pretty good solution all being said. There fixing the current issue , did you expect them to dissolve the entire company and start from scratch??
Click to expand...

I don't expect them to but they could fix the problem instead of continue to let it damage people's phones. I don't know if this decal will fix the problem or not (hopefully it does and we should know the results in a couple weeks - but you bet I'm not going to "test" this out myself).

I keep referencing Steve's biography but he had the iPhone redesigned 6 months away from introduction because he knew they messed up the design. They made it look like an iPod where the case goes in and a screen is embedded into the casing - instead of how the original iPhone's screen extends all the way to the edge. I mean that's pretty insane - if he had gone the other route our phones would look entirely different.

That being said, I like that they're trying to take care of their customers. But for a $60 case (+ more for shipping) that's made 65% out of plastic - you should be getting a flawless product.

EDIT: I also think they should have field tested the case - I mean you would think they know of this problem when they designed the prototypes. I think some companies are purposely - for the lack of a better word - screwing customers. Look at the way Element Case handled the Vapor 4 - that was a huge mess and they didn't fix the design either. I think the consumers are letting companies get away with stuff like that and it's a shame. At least Graft has better customer service - I hope they do the right thing and introduce a Version 2 or something - companies do that all the time - perfect their design.
 
Last edited:
I'm impressed by their customer service. Probably the best response to all the issues that I can think of.
 
mufadal84 said:
I emailed them this past sat morning. I have emailed them 3 times since to provide me with proper returning procedure and have yet to receive any feedback.
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Very strange. I emailed them twice and both times got a response within 12 hours. Check your junk mail maybe? Just a thought. I just emailed their customer service email that is on their website.

For those who care, I returned mine and awaiting for a refund (white/matte). Just sent it back yesterday. Mine actually came with chips/peeling already and a blue stain on the frame to boot. Oh well. :(
 
You know what's bizarre, there are places that got to review this product before it was out. And NONE of them had this problem, but most of us are having this problem. Kinda makes you question the integrity of these reviewers. I know i read GadgetMac's review and Larry's review on youtube, but none of them mentioned this flaw even though it was there.
 
applemonkey said:
You know what's bizarre, there are places that got to review this product before it was out. And NONE of them had this problem, but most of us are having this problem. Kinda makes you question the integrity of these reviewers. I know i read GadgetMac's review and Larry's review on youtube, but none of them mentioned this flaw even though it was there.
Click to expand...

I don't know if they get money for reviewing or just free products or whatever else - however I do believe that the reviewers aren't using the cases for that long (maybe at all after they review it?) so we are the real "reviewers"
 
On Facebook Graft mentioned something about redesigning the case to avoid the scuff issue. My understanding is that there is a new batch coming that "should" fix the issue. If that is the case I think they should replace all defective case with this new batch.
Does anyone heard of this?

Update: It seems that they removed that post on FB about the new case being fixed. Makes me wonder if they will address this issue permanently or just use the sticker solution.
 
AlvinNguyen said:
I don't know if they get money for reviewing or just free products or whatever else - however I do believe that the reviewers aren't using the cases for that long (maybe at all after they review it?) so we are the real "reviewers"
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That's right, but the case seems to scuff the phone almost right after you install it for the first time. It doesn't take days for the damage to occur.
 
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