ifixdirect white conversion (NOT THE WAY TO GO, FOR NOW) (interesting story here)

[al1234]

Hello all,

Just wanted to chime in and hopefully get some help. I received my parts in yesterday from whiteiphone4us.com. I ordered the parts last Thursday, so that's a total of 3 business days shipping time. I was even provided with a tracking number that was kept up to date from the USPS, so I'm pretty happy with how smooth and fast shipping was.

As for the parts themselves, they are actually quite good. The only 2 flaws I see are that the front did not include the speaker mesh, and the home button is a tad off from the rest of the front. But really, the phone looks gorgeous. I'm very pleased with the results.

As for my question, I do have one flaw with my iPhone that I saw some of you guys had. My WiFi reception is definitely very weak. The bars constantly fluctuate, and if I move to another room in my apartment, it all but goes away. I saw some of you had this issue, any ideas? I've literally tried reseating the cable that connects on the bottom left from the speaker at least 10 times, and as per the iFixIt guide, I've even tried cleaning the metal contacts with Windex. Still nothing. Anyone have any ideas? Appreciate all the help here too guys. Thanks!

 

[jpetticrew]

Hello all,

Just wanted to chime in and hopefully get some help. I received my parts in yesterday from whiteiphone4us.com. I ordered the parts last Thursday, so that's a total of 3 business days shipping time. I was even provided with a tracking number that was kept up to date from the USPS, so I'm pretty happy with how smooth and fast shipping was.

As for the parts themselves, they are actually quite good. The only 2 flaws I see are that the front did not include the speaker mesh, and the home button is a tad off from the rest of the front. But really, the phone looks gorgeous. I'm very pleased with the results.

As for my question, I do have one flaw with my iPhone that I saw some of you guys had. My WiFi reception is definitely very weak. The bars constantly fluctuate, and if I move to another room in my apartment, it all but goes away. I saw some of you had this issue, any ideas? I've literally tried reseating the cable that connects on the bottom left from the speaker at least 10 times, and as per the iFixIt guide, I've even tried cleaning the metal contacts with Windex. Still nothing. Anyone have any ideas? Appreciate all the help here too guys. Thanks!

Yea, mine is weak too. I can't figure out why... My bluetooth range has also dropped to about two feet.

 

[al1234]

Fixed the WiFi issue. I noticed a little metal screw ring on my table after I posted, and I knew that had to be it. I went to iFixIt's teardown guide again, and looked through all of their pictures of the components until I realized where it had come from. It fell off the top screw portion of the black frame that houses the upper part of the logic board (LCD, digitizer cables). Put that back, and voila. WiFi is perfect again. Love my new(ish) white phone!

 

[obyte]

midframe

Sorry, I got swamped after work and forgot to give you a ring. I can drop you a line tomorrow if you'd like.

 

[liquik]

has anyone gotten a hold of ifixdirect recently? my emails have not been replied to and i can't get a hold of them over the phone for days.

 

[ajoj]

has anyone gotten a hold of ifixdirect recently? my emails have not been replied to and i can't get a hold of them over the phone for days.

I haven't had any luck. They don't answer calls/e-mails, Michael doesn't answer his cell, and their chat support is always "offline".

They have however taken the effort to respond twice to my PayPal dispute with lies/BS in order to avoid refunding me.

Customer service at its finest...

 

[Dyspareunia]

Just curious, for those that used ifixdirect's parts, more specifically the white backplate - Any of you guys have issues with the compass at all?

I converted mine and posted earlier that there were no problems for me, until I discovered my compass (while using my gps in the Maps app) would error out and give me the old wave-your-phone-in-a-figure-8-to-remove-interference message. Figure 8 motion does absolutely nothing and so I removed the backplate thinking it was an internal issue and notice the interference disappeared. I put back the original black backplate and compass still working great, but the moment I put the white one on the compass fails. While the compass not working with the white backplate on really isn't a dealbreaker for me. I found this problem as an incidental accidental finding, but I was curious if other people were seeing this issue too.

 

[chinggay]

uBreakiFix FTW!
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1057993/

 

[ajoj]

Just curious, for those that used ifixdirect's parts, more specifically the white backplate - Any of you guys have issues with the compass at all?

I converted mine and posted earlier that there were no problems for me, until I discovered my compass (while using my gps in the Maps app) would error out and give me the old wave-your-phone-in-a-figure-8-to-remove-interference message. Figure 8 motion does absolutely nothing and so I removed the backplate thinking it was an internal issue and notice the interference disappeared. I put back the original black backplate and compass still working great, but the moment I put the white one on the compass fails. While the compass not working with the white backplate on really isn't a dealbreaker for me. I found this problem as an incidental accidental finding, but I was curious if other people were seeing this issue too.

Yep. I had the same issue verbatim. Compass wouldn't work at all with white backplate (same issue as you described), but works perfectly with the black one.

 

[Dnunez926]

Fixed the WiFi issue. I noticed a little metal screw ring on my table after I posted, and I knew that had to be it. I went to iFixIt's teardown guide again, and looked through all of their pictures of the components until I realized where it had come from. It fell off the top screw portion of the black frame that houses the upper part of the logic board (LCD, digitizer cables). Put that back, and voila. WiFi is perfect again. Love my new(ish) white phone!

can you explain in detail exactly what screw your talking about, cuz im having the same issue id really appreciate it, maybe a pic would help

 

[cwsm]

has anyone gotten a hold of ifixdirect recently? My emails have not been replied to and i can't get a hold of them over the phone for days.

+1

 

[Raska]

+1

As an update, the 5 day waiting period is over for the Google Checkout dispute so I indicated I wanted a refund and am still waiting for my CC company to complete their investigation. At least they gave me a chargeback.

 

[Tamasi]

Hey guys,

I finally decided to signup at this forum as well in order to share my frustration and possibly synergize some powers in dealing with ifixdirect.

Jeeezzz, ifixidirect has got my phone now for a whole month.. (Yes, I initiated my order while the reviews were still nothing but positive) Unfortunately at this point I deem it more likely that I have been scammed and will never see my phone back than that my phone will actually still be sent back to me.

I have been trying to contact ifixdirect and Michael in specific for countless times, and I am 100% positive by now that Michael is consciously evading my contact attempts (and most likely your attempts -of other ifixdirect customers- as well). Whenever I try to contact him at his personal e-mail address with a new fake e-mail account about a fake subject, he actually always does respond within hours! The first time I called him at his personal cell he picked up, now I have to wait for voicemail each and every time.

Disputing my Google Checkout payment won't be enough, since ifixdirect still has got my phone. I guess many other customers must be in the same situation? What are you guys doing, who are facing this same problem? (Or alternatively, what would you suggest to do)

I have got some unconventional ideas about how to have this issue resolved, but won't type them down here publicly.

Cheers, Tamasi

 

[brandonD101]

jeeeez this company went to ****! makes me realize how lucky i am to be rocking a problem free white iphone

 

[Dnunez926]

Hey guys,

I finally decided to signup at this forum as well in order to share my frustration and possibly synergize some powers in dealing with ifixdirect.

Jeeezzz, ifixidirect has got my phone now for a whole month.. (Yes, I initiated my order while the reviews were still nothing but positive) Unfortunately at this point I deem it more likely that I have been scammed and will never see my phone back than that my phone will actually still be sent back to me.

I have been trying to contact ifixdirect and Michael in specific for countless times, and I am 100% positive by now that Michael is consciously evading my contact attempts (and most likely your attempts -of other ifixdirect customers- as well). Whenever I try to contact him at his personal e-mail address with a new fake e-mail account about a fake subject, he actually always does respond within hours! The first time I called him at his personal cell he picked up, now I have to wait for voicemail each and every time.

Disputing my Google Checkout payment won't be enough, since ifixdirect still has got my phone. I guess many other customers must be in the same situation? What are you guys doing, who are facing this same problem? (Or alternatively, what would you suggest to do)

I have got some unconventional ideas about how to have this issue resolved, but won't type them down here publicly.

Cheers, Tamasi

Just to let you know i actually went to Michaels house and he informed me that the company is currently switching owners at the time and hes been left with all of the orders since currently hes by himself and the owners of the company sold it. He told me all the phones he currently has are going to be shipped back white he gets the company up and running again.

 

[Tamasi]

Just to let you know i actually went to Michaels house and he informed me that the company is currently switching owners at the time and hes been left with all of the orders since currently hes by himself and the owners of the company sold it. He told me all the phones he currently has are going to be shipped back white he gets the company up and running again.

Yea that's what he told me as well. Not sure what to believe anymore..

Read the OP of this thread. That post dates November 7, and apparently Michael already was 'involved' back then. Before I had my phone shipped to iFixdirect I have posed quite some questions; all were answered relatively quickly. Since they got me phone, they have promised me (different people, different times, Michael himself, Jake and a girl called Maryanne) that my phone would be shipped to me that same day/evening or the next day. The first time this was promised to me was already at the end of November.

Seriously, whatever is going on there, there simply is no valid excuse for keeping a customer's phone this long.

 

[Dnunez926]

Yea that's what he told me as well. Not sure what to believe anymore..

Read the OP of this thread. That post dates November 7, and apparently Michael already was 'involved' back then. Before I had my phone shipped to iFixdirect I have posed quite some questions; all were answered relatively quickly. Since they got me phone, they have promised me (different people, different times, Michael himself, Jake and a girl called Maryanne) that my phone would be shipped to me that same day/evening or the next day. The first time this was promised to me was already at the end of November.

Seriously, whatever is going on there, there simply is no valid excuse for keeping a customer's phone this long.

honeslty if you can go to his house as fast as possible before he moves idk if hes in your area

 

[liquik]

anyone else get this generic reply from them?


We apologize for the delay in answering emails, but we are currently working on getting more staff to meet the huge demand for our product. As of right now we have no more units in stock until further notice. We assure you that once we have things back in order we will have someone contact you about your order. Thank you for shopping with Ifixdirect -- Professional Apple Repair/Warranty & Accessories http://www.ifixdirect.com/

 

[fender57]

anyone else get this generic reply from them?


We apologize for the delay in answering emails, but we are currently working on getting more staff to meet the huge demand for our product. As of right now we have no more units in stock until further notice. We assure you that once we have things back in order we will have someone contact you about your order. Thank you for shopping with Ifixdirect -- Professional Apple Repair/Warranty & Accessories http://www.ifixdirect.com/

More staff? This guy runs his outfit from his apartment, right? Where will they work, in the kitchen nook? The bathroom?

 

[ajoj]

LOL read the very last comment on this article (along with who posted it)
http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/971072

In the mean time, as I'm sure many of you are as well, I'm still waiting on my PayPal dispute/credit card chargeback to go through....just happy to have my phone in my possession I guess

 

[jpetticrew]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148)

LOL read the very last comment on this article (along with who posted it)
http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/971072

In the mean time, as I'm sure many of you are as well, I'm still waiting on my PayPal dispute/credit card chargeback to go through....just happy to have my phone in my possession I guess

Well, any benefit of the doubt I ever gave this guy is out the window. I consider myself lucky that I got my phone back within a week and that it still worked!

Lesson learned.

 

[Raska]

Here's the email I received from Google after filing against ifixdirect:

Thank you for contacting us about Google Order <Redacted>. We no longer allow Ifixdirect to process orders using Google Checkout. As your account shows that you have already been charged for this order, we have issued you a refund to the credit card used to place this order.

If anyone has used Google Checkout to order, I suggest filing immediately. At least there is some resolution to this.

 

[Tamasi]

Here's the email I received from Google after filing against ifixdirect:

If anyone has used Google Checkout to order, I suggest filing immediately. At least there is some resolution to this.

Thanks for the suggestion. But if I go to the 'Google checkout buyer help'-area I read:

File a Google Checkout Claim
If you have a problem with an order and the seller has been unresponsive to your requests, you can file a Google Claim. Google will mediate the issue by contacting the seller on your behalf. Mediation service is only available for orders placed in the last 90 days.

So I guess there's no real hurry to 'file a claim'. I'll personally wait a little longer with filing a dispute, until I get my phone back.. I don't want to frustrate that process; getting my phone back really is number one priority atm. Filing a claim will probably be honored by Google without any problems during the next few months anyway.

 

[xlnzee]

The worst experiance!

Wow! So I am not the only one!

 

[Raska]

Thanks for the suggestion. But if I go to the 'Google checkout buyer help'-area I read:

So I guess there's no real hurry to 'file a claim'. I'll personally wait a little longer with filing a dispute, until I get my phone back.. I don't want to frustrate that process; getting my phone back really is number one priority atm. Filing a claim will probably be honored by Google without any problems during the next few months anyway.

If I were you I would file anyways. When you first file, you have to wait 5 business days for Google to get in touch with the seller. If you don't hear anything within 5 days, you can escalate it and tell them you want a refund. I heard back from Google quickly (I escalated Friday night, and last night I received their response), plus since they no longer do business with them I expect you to have a quick resolution. If you don't receive your phone back, I'm fairly confident you can sue for the value of the phone, but don't quote me on that.