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iPhone 5 Woes: Looking At The Bigger Picture (Rant)

A

anonjd

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 23, 2012
58
0
Sorry in advance, this is going to get long but I just need to get this off my chest.

I was having a really ****** few weeks and I didn't have any intentions of getting a new phone until I finished my contract, which was extended to three years in March when I lost my phone and my carrier was kind enough to send me a new iPhone 4 at a discounted price, but would extend my contract.

Anyways, I purchased an iPhone 5 from my carrier and decided I'd extend my contract to another 3 years and I'd just live with the iPhone 5 for 3 years. They told me it would take 2-3 weeks to get to me, but I was lucky and had it shipped the next day, a Monday, and I received the phone on Wednesday. I loved everything about it, but I noticed it had a serious battery issue. Plus, the scratches that everyone else was complaining about. I didn't care about the scratches, but, the battery issue was really bad. I setup an appointment and told the genius I did everything from restoring the phone as new, turning off all location services, Siri's raise to speak, recalibrating the battery, and even running just the stock apps the phone comes with; I really don't need LTE, so I had turned that off after a day of using it.

This genius was extremely rude and didn't even run any diagnostic test. One problem was that the battery would never charge to 100%, it would stick at 97%, even if I left it on the charger overnight.

He wouldn't replace the phone and refused to run any tests and told me to just give it a few more days to see if it would fix itself. I walked out, because I knew I'd get upset and act stupid if I stuck around. I even called Apple, but hung up after being on hold. Call me stupid, but, I really didn't want to cause the genius any problems.

I decided I'd just sell this one and order one from Apple, since I was going to the US anyways and was planning on using one of those unlock guys, as I actually really needed to use my phone on this trip. I sold my iPhone 5, at a $75 loss, after a day of dealing with people who kept lowballing me with offers; the highest offer I got was for $780. I was trying to sell it for $850, which I thought was reasonable.

So, just now, I realized it would be about 20-30 days before I'd have a phone, and I was going crazy thinking of how I could go this long. I use my iPhone all the time for school and work, and like everyone else, my phone is my lifeline.

Then, I realized, I should stop complaining. Seriously, think about the **** people go through and the real life problems individuals face on a daily basis. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford a 1K+ phone (I'm not rich by any means) and sure, a month is a long time to go without a phone in this day and age, but, it's not something I should beat myself over.

The whole reason for this post is not to belittle the people who complain about how long it takes to get your order, trust me, I understand and I'm the same boat as you. But, just try looking on the bright side, at least you have something that many people can't afford.

Sorry, just wanted to rant about this issue I was having. And again, I really am not trying to be rude about those posting.
 
Can't you return the phone? I don't know what your rights are in your country but generally you have 30 days to return the phone if you're unhappy with it.
 
I could have returned it to my carrier, for a full refund and my contract would go back to how it was, before I did a hardware upgrade. Only problem is that it has to be under 14 days and you can't use more than 30 minutes. I had my birthday the Sunday before this entire fiasco happened and I received many calls and went well over 30 minutes.
 
You could have just waited a few days and went back to Apple and got a replacement, odds are you would be dealing with a different genuis and would have got a replacement on the spot.
 
jeremiah239 said:
You could have just waited a few days and went back to Apple and got a replacement, odds are you would be dealing with a different genuis and would have got a replacement on the spot.
Click to expand...

I went back on Friday. I intended to buy a phone from the store, but they told me unlocked ones are only sold online. I talked to a manager there and he said he would have taken a closer look at it but that this particular store doesn't have any refurbished phones and only replaces phones if you purchased it from them. I never heard this before, and I've received four refurbished iPhones before because my phone had problems.
 
You're surprised people are 'lowballing' you on the price when you're selling an iPhone with problems? Unless you didn't mention it in your ad, which I'd find worse.
 
You don't want to get the genius in trouble but are willing (and did) pass the problem to someone else for close to $800. I don't even know what to say. I seriously hope that you informed the person who bought it of all the problems you've had. If not your morals are upside down and inside out.
 
It sounds to me like you made some terrible decisions that contributed to your situation:

- Failed to return phone.
- Failed to effectively manage the genius at the Apple Store.
- Failed to endure hold time on Apple support line (lol).
- Failed to consider ramifications of selling phone before having a new one lined up (20-30 days without a phone).
- Sold the broken phone to an excited, innocent person.

No sympathy, bro.
 
You're all missing the point - the OP is not looking for you to critique his actions (obviously some of you can't help yourselves).
He is observing that he has had some frustrations with acquiring an iPhone 5 but has realized that there is more to life than fretting over a phone. Can't anybody agree with that? I do.

Here's to looking on the bright side...
 
I told the person who purchased my phone that it had a battery issue and showed him the scratches. He actually found an additional dent and i knocked off $20 the price. The person I bought it from said if the battery was really bad he'd just get a refurbished on later on. I even gave him a week to give the phone back if he had any issues. I could care less if you guys believed me, but I'll go ahead and post screen shots of the emails we sent back and forth.

And I did call Apple Care, I said I hung up the time I called with intentions of filing a complaint about the genius. Apple Care gave me two options: ship the phone to them and wait 3-4 weeks plus the time it would take them to get the phone or to give them my credit card info and have them ship me a phone (again, a 3-4 week wait) and ship them my phone when I got the new one.

Since I knew I'd have to pay $130-$160 to pay for an unlock, which I need for next month when I visit the states, I chose to just fork over some extra cash for a factory unlocked phone.

@JayLenochiniMac, I live in Canada and I'm with Rogers.

@QuasarZ, I gave my iPhone 4 to my mom and thought her how to use it (she's 62 and isn't tech savvy at all, and now she's fully accustomed to using a smartphone). I'd wouldn't want to ask her to give it back to me.

@KeepCalmPeople, thank you. That was exactly my point. Like I said, I'm not an optimistic person at all, however, I'm not going to be down and miserable for a month because I don't have a phone.

Trust me, I use my iPhone a lot for school and work, like I previously stated, but I can find alternatives. And, it feels nice not constantly checking my phone. I think I can actually learn and get a lot out of this experience.

Feel free to go back to trashing me; have fun.
 
anonjd said:
Sorry in advance, this is going to get long but I just need to get this off my chest.

I was having a really ****** few weeks and I didn't have any intentions of getting a new phone until I finished my contract, which was extended to three years in March when I lost my phone and my carrier was kind enough to send me a new iPhone 4 at a discounted price, but would extend my contract.

Anyways, I purchased an iPhone 5 from my carrier and decided I'd extend my contract to another 3 years and I'd just live with the iPhone 5 for 3 years. They told me it would take 2-3 weeks to get to me, but I was lucky and had it shipped the next day, a Monday, and I received the phone on Wednesday. I loved everything about it, but I noticed it had a serious battery issue. Plus, the scratches that everyone else was complaining about. I didn't care about the scratches, but, the battery issue was really bad. I setup an appointment and told the genius I did everything from restoring the phone as new, turning off all location services, Siri's raise to speak, recalibrating the battery, and even running just the stock apps the phone comes with; I really don't need LTE, so I had turned that off after a day of using it.

This genius was extremely rude and didn't even run any diagnostic test. One problem was that the battery would never charge to 100%, it would stick at 97%, even if I left it on the charger overnight.

He wouldn't replace the phone and refused to run any tests and told me to just give it a few more days to see if it would fix itself. I walked out, because I knew I'd get upset and act stupid if I stuck around. I even called Apple, but hung up after being on hold. Call me stupid, but, I really didn't want to cause the genius any problems.

I decided I'd just sell this one and order one from Apple, since I was going to the US anyways and was planning on using one of those unlock guys, as I actually really needed to use my phone on this trip. I sold my iPhone 5, at a $75 loss, after a day of dealing with people who kept lowballing me with offers; the highest offer I got was for $780. I was trying to sell it for $850, which I thought was reasonable.

So, just now, I realized it would be about 20-30 days before I'd have a phone, and I was going crazy thinking of how I could go this long. I use my iPhone all the time for school and work, and like everyone else, my phone is my lifeline.

Then, I realized, I should stop complaining. Seriously, think about the **** people go through and the real life problems individuals face on a daily basis. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford a 1K+ phone (I'm not rich by any means) and sure, a month is a long time to go without a phone in this day and age, but, it's not something I should beat myself over.

The whole reason for this post is not to belittle the people who complain about how long it takes to get your order, trust me, I understand and I'm the same boat as you. But, just try looking on the bright side, at least you have something that many people can't afford.

Sorry, just wanted to rant about this issue I was having. And again, I really am not trying to be rude about those posting.
Click to expand...

Why didnt you demand the manager or another dumb genius? Sounds like you just had a prick. Something was up that guys ass
 
Not sure what type of replies you are looking for but life is about choices you made them and thats that.

It just sounds like if you had a little more patience in all instances you describe something different may have occurred.
 
The OP had a case of first world problems and then he got over them, something a lot of people on here struggle to do.
 
anonjd said:
This genius was extremely rude and didn't even run any diagnostic test. One problem was that the battery would never charge to 100%, it would stick at 97%, even if I left it on the charger overnight.
Click to expand...

While it's bad that he was so dismissive about your issue. You should have given it more than 2 days of owning it to break in the battery.
 
eelw said:
While it's bad that he was so dismissive about your issue. You should have given it more than 2 days of owning it to break in the battery.
Click to expand...

Where did I say that I only gave it two days? I used this phone for close to two weeks and spent 2-3 days just restoring, doing a battery calibration, etc.
 
anonjd said:
I could have returned it to my carrier, for a full refund and my contract would go back to how it was, before I did a hardware upgrade. Only problem is that it has to be under 14 days and you can't use more than 30 minutes. I had my birthday the Sunday before this entire fiasco happened and I received many calls and went well over 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

30 minutes? Gosh, that is a horrible requirement, haha. I wonder if you could have just told them about your birthday. :) But good post. In the whole scheme of things having to wait for an iphone 5 really is not a big deal!
 
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