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Leaked Apple Document Outlines Apple's iPhone Repair Rules
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Not really, actually they have a very controlled supply chain. They now will work on a modified iPhone so long as it is only the display that is third-party. Batteries require different safety concerns and tests. In fact, thanks to issues like Samsung’s explosive batteries, now everything regarding parts with battery require ground transport only.
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Liquid Contact Indicator. Which they won’t be tripped due to “humid environments”.
Oh. I knew about those but thought they were dye paper. Or were they before? Is the LCI status shown when they connect a phone at the Genius bar?
Yes, I do. The document (as far as I know) is restricted, though, to Apple Certified Macintosh (or iOS) technicians. However, you could always ask someone at the Genius Bar or at an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Source: am an ACMT/ACiT
No the LCI isn’t detected when plugged in. That’s why it is part of the VMI (Visual & Mechanical Inspection) however they do seem to have a coating over the top of them. The LCI have to be exposed to a significant amount of liquid for them to even trip. I’ve seen as light as pink, and as much as a bright red.
Brought my 6 in a while ago for "foam misalignment" and they wouldn't fix it. It was out of warranty and no AppleCare. Said it didn't effect the camera.
that was how I read it also. that this isn't one of their 'quality programs' but simply telling techs that that issue is not user damage.
course that document is almost 6 months old. who knows if its been updated since then. maybe now it is a 'quality program' but only if the camera is actually impacted which might be why they didn't publicly announce it. they don't want folks that don't actually have an issue flooding in and wasting parts others actually need
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wait so they said your phone was out of warranty to piss off. they wouldn't fix it even if you were okay paying for it
It’s a shame they didn’t try to clean it when they inspected your 30-pin dock connector
I've had radically different service experiences at different store locations.
In Columbia, Maryland, they went above and beyond to keep me happy, offering repairs for free when I technically should have paid. I got a warranty replacement for an iPad with a no headphone sound on one side and the replacement unit had some scuffs on the aluminum. I protested and they took it back and opened me up a brand new retail one to give me. I later restored my backup and the sound issue came back - turned out I had accidentally set an accessibility option. Felt bad for that but at the same time they should have checked that as a standard troubleshooting step. In any case, it was awesome service.
In San Francisco, I also always had a great experience, although I suspect it was in part because they got used to me coming in all the time buying more hardware.
In Salt Lake City while traveling, I saw the bad side of Apple. I took my son's Apple Watch (with AppleCare+) in with a broken screen, and they gave me two crappy options - have a replacement mailed to my home out of state where I wouldn't be for a couple months, or have it shipped to the store, interrupting my travel plans while I waited. I opted to have it mailed to my house, and have yet to see it. It didn't matter that I've spent over $10k at Apple Stores in the last year and needed a low end watch replaced- they claimed to have no replacements on hand and refused to use a retail box one for the purpose. I pointed out that sometimes exceptions are made as with the iPad above and pleaded my case, but they were just smug as hell and refused any solution that would not interrupt my travel plans or result in my son being without the watch for a couple months.
The next day (literally), my Apple Watch (this one an Edition with more expensive AppleCare+) stopped recognizing my finger on the lower left of the screen. A clear Apple defect as the watch was in perfect condition otherwise, and they even admitted it as such, but said that it wasn't covered by warranty despite only being a few months old (WTF?). They would have charged me $800 to replace it had it not been for the AppleCare+, and while they offered the same two crappy replacement options for free, it burned my AppleCare+ replacement when it clearly should not have. They promised if I had it sent to the store, it would be there in 3 days. This time, frustrated as hell, I decided to change my plans and stay in town to await the replacement. I went back on day 3, having heard nothing, and they said it was in transit but had no idea when it would get there - probably another couple days. They made a half-hearted apology and said they'd give feedback to the guy who told me it would be there sooner. Finally it showed up on day six. That cost me a lot of time and expense that I never would have invested had they been honest up front.
During this time, since I was stuck in town, I took my iPhone 7+ in for a screen replacement as it had some minor cracks. As with all my devices, it had AppleCare+. Nothing at all wrong with the phone - I just wanted it to look better cosmetically so I figured a $30 screen replacement was in order. Hours later, I came back to find my phone not even touched - the original cracked screen in place. They said it was because there was a tripped water sensor inside. For one - B/S - the phone has never been near water, and secondly, the 7's are supposed to be pretty water resistant anyways. Again no problem with the phone at all, but I had to burn one of the $100 AppleCare+ replacements on this since that's all they were willing to do.
How is it they have replacements ready to go for 256GB iPhone 7+'s in the back, but no aluminum watches?
If you live in SLC and have ever needed service, you must hate Apple. Or maybe Apple hates you. Really unfortunate as this was the polar opposite of all previous Apple service experiences in other cities.
I have nothing against the perfectly reasonable guide shown in this article, but Apple should really focus on making the experience more consistent across their stores. If I lived in SLC my whole life, I'd surely have ditched Apple long ago and been a Windows and Android user (*gag*).
In Columbia, Maryland, they went above and beyond to keep me happy, offering repairs for free when I technically should have paid. I got a warranty replacement for an iPad with a no headphone sound on one side and the replacement unit had some scuffs on the aluminum. I protested and they took it back and opened me up a brand new retail one to give me. I later restored my backup and the sound issue came back - turned out I had accidentally set an accessibility option. Felt bad for that but at the same time they should have checked that as a standard troubleshooting step. In any case, it was awesome service.
In San Francisco, I also always had a great experience, although I suspect it was in part because they got used to me coming in all the time buying more hardware.
In Salt Lake City while traveling, I saw the bad side of Apple. I took my son's Apple Watch (with AppleCare+) in with a broken screen, and they gave me two crappy options - have a replacement mailed to my home out of state where I wouldn't be for a couple months, or have it shipped to the store, interrupting my travel plans while I waited. I opted to have it mailed to my house, and have yet to see it. It didn't matter that I've spent over $10k at Apple Stores in the last year and needed a low end watch replaced- they claimed to have no replacements on hand and refused to use a retail box one for the purpose. I pointed out that sometimes exceptions are made as with the iPad above and pleaded my case, but they were just smug as hell and refused any solution that would not interrupt my travel plans or result in my son being without the watch for a couple months.
The next day (literally), my Apple Watch (this one an Edition with more expensive AppleCare+) stopped recognizing my finger on the lower left of the screen. A clear Apple defect as the watch was in perfect condition otherwise, and they even admitted it as such, but said that it wasn't covered by warranty despite only being a few months old (WTF?). They would have charged me $800 to replace it had it not been for the AppleCare+, and while they offered the same two crappy replacement options for free, it burned my AppleCare+ replacement when it clearly should not have. They promised if I had it sent to the store, it would be there in 3 days. This time, frustrated as hell, I decided to change my plans and stay in town to await the replacement. I went back on day 3, having heard nothing, and they said it was in transit but had no idea when it would get there - probably another couple days. They made a half-hearted apology and said they'd give feedback to the guy who told me it would be there sooner. Finally it showed up on day six. That cost me a lot of time and expense that I never would have invested had they been honest up front.
During this time, since I was stuck in town, I took my iPhone 7+ in for a screen replacement as it had some minor cracks. As with all my devices, it had AppleCare+. Nothing at all wrong with the phone - I just wanted it to look better cosmetically so I figured a $30 screen replacement was in order. Hours later, I came back to find my phone not even touched - the original cracked screen in place. They said it was because there was a tripped water sensor inside. For one - B/S - the phone has never been near water, and secondly, the 7's are supposed to be pretty water resistant anyways. Again no problem with the phone at all, but I had to burn one of the $100 AppleCare+ replacements on this since that's all they were willing to do.
How is it they have replacements ready to go for 256GB iPhone 7+'s in the back, but no aluminum watches?
If you live in SLC and have ever needed service, you must hate Apple. Or maybe Apple hates you. Really unfortunate as this was the polar opposite of all previous Apple service experiences in other cities.
I have nothing against the perfectly reasonable guide shown in this article, but Apple should really focus on making the experience more consistent across their stores. If I lived in SLC my whole life, I'd surely have ditched Apple long ago and been a Windows and Android user (*gag*).
Blendtec leaves a little pile of dust, not something that can be recognised as "was a phone once".
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IP67 doesn't mean it can't have water damage. Actually, if it has water damage then there must have been some significant incident, not a little bit of rain.
I can't help but wonder why you have so many problems with your Apple products? An iPad, two watches, and a phone all needed repairs or replacement? You must be really active.
I have 11 Apple devices including laptop computers, iPads, AppleTV's, phones, and desktop computers, but have have zero issues with my devices. I know everyone is different, but I am surprised at the amount of issues you have had. I hope I don't have to take anything in for repair. I never buy AppleCare. Never needed it.
I’ve had a number of Apple devices over the years ... an old 80GB iPod I got in 2006 (or was that 2007?), iPod Nano I bought in December, 2013, two gen3 AppleTV’s, gen4 AppleTV, iPad 2, iPad Air, iPad Pro, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, early 2008 15” MacBook Pro, mid 2012 non-retina 15” MacBook Pro, and a 2011 Mac Mini.
Out of all those, these did not exhibit problems: iPods, AppleTV’s, iPad Air, iPhone 4S, iPhone 7 Plus, Mac Mini, and the mid-2012 MacBook Pro. The rest required in-warranty service, with all needing to be replaced except for the early-2008 MBP (they just replaced the battery and left fan.) iPad Pro was replaced, iPad 2 replaced, iPhone 5 was replaced, iPhone 6 Plus was replaced. All replaced items were due to either battery or charging-related issues, except for the iPad 2 ... the camera died on that, and went through two other replacements before I got one that didn’t suffer image retention (3 replacements in total.)
So, for me, I’d say my rate of failures has been above average, on a pure percentage base of the items I own (5 devices out of 15 needing warranty support, with 4 of those being replaced.) I usually get AppleCare on everything, except for the AppleTVs, so it’s been totally worth the cost for me given the issues I’ve had.
My iPhone 7 128GB recently had a NAND Flash memory failure. Infamous error 4013! I got the runaround at the Apple store for 2 hours and was told to come back when they were less busy. Even though I had warranty and insurance I wrote the phone off and slipped my SIM into a new Android model!
Apple also has a special set of rules for water damage. Employees are instructed to look for signs of water damage both internally and externally when diagnosing issues, and if there is evidence of contact with water, employees are told to deny some in-warranty repairs and instead offer an out-of-warranty repair.
Article Link: Leaked Apple Document Outlines Apple's iPhone Repair Rules
The crooks at Apple Store Amsterdam refused to change, let alone repair - My unibody 17" MacBook Pro dead battery (worse yet - while still under Apple Care!) under a pretext that "they discovered water in the machine".
I'm reality, My MacBook Pro had never been near water - not a drop of it inside!
Now, years later it is swollen and the entire assembly feels like a thawed watermelon, although, other than the battery, it still works (touch wood!).
Bloody charlatans!..
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Opposite for me too I have had 7 iPhones, three iPads, , an iBook and a MacBook Pro, one 2010 MacPro and several iPods including my iPod Classic - zero issues. Tim is doing all right by me bud and by Apple's current worth pretty much everyone else to.....
That issue seems to not be too uncommon it seems. I had an iPhone with that issue once but didn’t bring it in for repair/replacement as I didn’t know it’s covered (or even that it’s a “foam misalignment”)..
I’ve just tried ringing Apple care to get my iPhone 7 repaired because it meets the criteria of a single hairline crack across the screen with no point of impact evident and they are still trying to charge me for the repair even though it is under warrenty and the document clearly says it would be repaired under warrenty. Any suggestions anyone? Better luck taking it into a store to assess it?
Apple does have a recycling program. They also have a trade-up program (don't dispose of your iPhone 6 when you can get money for it).
This document isn't about either of those things.
Hope you don't feel the same way about health insurance, lol!
I've only needed it once and it was amazing. The ambient mic went out on an iPhone 5. I called Apple and the tech actually walked me through a way for him to determine that the mic was indeed fried, all while he had me on the phone. He then annotated this on my AC account and, when I arrived at the Genius Bar, they had a new phone ready to go. No hold time on the phone, no wait time in the store. I'll bet the mic was even repairable but new phone better!
Even if you haven't had issues, I've found that having AC on a device can grease the wheels if you ever call Apple even just for tech support.