Iphone 4s backlight not working?

[rever3nce]

Hi ,

I recently bought a iphone 4s off of someone as a "backup" phone for the mean time, and ended up selling it to someone else after only 3 weeks of use. It worked perfectly fine until maybe a few days after selling it to someone. They said the screen was not working, but they can hear sounds from the phone.

I told em to let me look at it, and sure enough, the screen works, but you can't see the actual display unless I use the "flashlight" off of another iphone and you can barely see it.

Almost seems like the backlight is broken? I did a restore and nothing, reset and nothing, fresh install and nothing. Guessing its a hardware problem. Could they have dropped it maybe?

Not trying to be a jerk, but I will NOT give them their money back due to 1) I already used it and 2) It worked perfectly fine for me when I had it.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

 

[Macman45]

It's a toughie....The buyer could have dropped the phone causing damage to the internals...Thing is, you have no way of proving this...either way, it looks like a dead backlight. You could try a full restore, but if you can't see anything that's going to be tough.

Morally...? It's your call I guess.

 

[rever3nce]

It's a toughie....The buyer could have dropped the phone causing damage to the internals...Thing is, you have no way of proving this...either way, it looks like a dead backlight. You could try a full restore, but if you can't see anything that's going to be tough.

Morally...? It's your call I guess.

I am a man of my words, but I clearly gave this guy a heads up that it was on ios6 beta and it would / may be buggy, and it was scratched up from the previous owner. it was never "broken" though. I could understand if I would have said something like " oh it works perfectly fine , mint condition etc." but I didn't.

Point is , its trying to be "returned" to me in a form that it was not previously in or when it was sold.

 

[Applejuiced]

You sold the phone to someone and then 3 weeks later the tell you out of the blue the screen doesnt work.
And why is this your problem?
Who knows, maybe they dropped it, broke it, got it wet etc...
I would tell them its not my fault or problem now. They broke it and now looking for a sucker.
Tell them to bring it to Apple since its still under warranty.

 

[rever3nce]

You sold the phone to someone and then 3 weeks later the tell you out of the blue the screen doesnt work.
And why is this your problem?
Who knows, maybe they dropped it, broke it, got it wet etc...
I would tell them its not my fault or problem now. They broke it and now looking for a sucker.
Tell them to bring it to Apple since its still under warranty.

Make a long story short, its my Managers neighbor. So he walked into my store kinda upset, I told him I could "look at it" for him, but can't refund him his money. Just trying to help the guy out I guess. Would hate if that happened to me.

 

[Macman45]

I am a man of my words, but I clearly gave this guy a heads up that it was on ios6 beta and it would / may be buggy, and it was scratched up from the previous owner. it was never "broken" though. I could understand if I would have said something like " oh it works perfectly fine , mint condition etc." but I didn't.

Point is , its trying to be "returned" to me in a form that it was not previously in or when it was sold.

Sold "As IS" is exactly what it means....You are going the extra mile to help him...I'd say you are doing more than the contract of sale requires....Who knows, a fresh install might solve the problem, but my guess is he dropped it....In which case it's nothing to do with you.

 

[rever3nce]

Thanks for the quick replies. Guess he is SOL. I tried.

 

[Applejuiced]

Make a long story short, its my Managers neighbor. So he walked into my store kinda upset, I told him I could "look at it" for him, but can't refund him his money. Just trying to help the guy out I guess. Would hate if that happened to me.

I still think he's trying to screw you.
I'd tell him I dont know what happened, when I sold it to you weeks ago it worked fine.
Its still under warranty and as long as he didnt get it wet Apple should replace it.